Lamentations 3:51
What does Lamentations 3:51 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 3:51 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 3:51 means
What his eyes see—ruin and suffering—affects his soul deeply, especially regarding the daughters of his city. The verse acknowledges the psychological and spiritual toll of prolonged exposure to devastation. Compassionate sight leads to inward pain, not indifference. This is part of true leadership and faithful lament: allowing the needs of others to move the heart, propelling further prayer. The focus on the daughters suggests concern for the vulnerable and for the community’s future, both gravely harmed by the catastrophe.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862My eye affecteth my soul, Because of all the daughters of my city.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
Context
Concluding the section on tears, this verse links seeing to inner grief. The narrative will now shift in verses 52–54 to describe personal persecution—being hunted like a bird, cast into a pit, and overwhelmed. This personal testimony of near-death will set up the following remembrance that God heard and drew near (vv. 55–58).
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Lamentations 1:18
Jehovah is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and behold my sorrow: My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
- Jeremiah 19:9
And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall distress them.
- Jeremiah 14:16
And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them—them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.
- Lamentations 5:11
They ravished the women in Zion, The virgins in the cities of Judah.
- Jeremiah 14:18
If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then, behold, they that are sick with famine! for both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.
- Jeremiah 11:22
therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;
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