Lamentations 3:56

What does Lamentations 3:56 mean?

A plain-English look at Lamentations 3:56 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Lamentations 3:56 means

He testifies that God heard his voice, and he pleads that the Lord not hide His ear from his faint breathing and cry. Even the weakest sigh counts with Jehovah. The verse conveys both assurance and petition: assurance that God has listened before, and a plea that He continue to be attentive. It comforts those whose prayers feel too feeble—God measures not volume but heart. The remembrance of being heard becomes fuel for present faith, encouraging persistence in calling upon God until full deliverance comes.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Thou heardest my voice; hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Thou heardest my voice; hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

My voice Thou hast heard, Hide not Thine ear at my breathing--at my cry.

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my sighing, at my cry.

Context

The account of prayer from the depths continues. Verse 57 will reach its high point: God drew near and spoke comfort. Then verse 58 will declare that the Lord took up his cause and redeemed his life. These recollections counter earlier feelings of divine distance, grounding new appeals for justice in remembered mercies.

v.55I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, out of the lowest dungeon.

v.56This passage

v.57Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou saidst, Fear not.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Isaiah 38:5

    Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.

  • Psalms 116:1

    I love Jehovah, because he heareth My voice and my supplications.

  • Psalms 3:4

    I cry unto Jehovah with my voice, And he answereth me out of his holy hill. [Selah

  • 2 Chronicles 33:19

    His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up the Asherim and the graven images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the history of Hozai.

  • Psalms 55:1

    Give ear to my prayer, O God; And hide not thyself from my supplication.

  • 2 Chronicles 33:13

    And he prayed unto him; and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah he was God.

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