Lamentations 3:4 — Word Study
WLCבִּלָּ֤ה בְשָׂרִי֙ וְעוֹרִ֔י שִׁבַּ֖ר עַצְמוֹתָֽי׃
BSAHe has worn awaybâlâh■ [made old, decayed] my fleshbâsâr [body, living being] and skinʻôwr [human hide, outer covering] He has shatteredshâbar■ [broken, ruptured] my bonesʻetsem [the substance of my being, my inner self]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| בִּלָּ֤ה | he has made to waste away | Verb, Piel, perfect third person masculine singular |
| בְשָׂרִי֙ | flesh my | Noun common masculine singular construct, suffix |
| וְעוֹרִ֔י | and skin my | Conjunction, noun common masculine singular construct, suffix |
| שִׁבַּ֖ר | he has broken | Verb, Piel, perfect third person masculine singular |
| עַצְמוֹתָֽי׃ | bones my | Noun common feminine plural construct, suffix |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones. |
| KJV | My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. |
| ASV | My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. |
| YLT | He hath worn out my flesh and my skin. He hath broken my bones. |
| WEB | He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones. |
| BBE | My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken. |
Translations agree on the key themes of suffering and loss in this verse.
The sentence consists of two main clauses that express the speaker's suffering, emphasizing the physical and emotional toll of their experiences.
8 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them ›
clause
verbבָּלָה
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
Every word here is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — Lamentations 3:4
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — The Lament of Sufferinggenerated
Lamentations 3:4 captures the profound despair of the speaker, who feels as if their very being is being consumed by pain. This verse is part of a larger lament that articulates the intensity of suffering and the feeling of being besieged by hardship, as seen in the surrounding verses. The speaker expresses a deep sense of loss, both physically and emotionally, which resonates throughout the text.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Job 16:8–9 | You have bound me, and it has become a witness; my frailty rises up and testifies against me. |
| 2 | Psalm 31:9–10 | Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes fail from sorrow, my soul and body as well. |
| 3 | Psalm 32:3 | When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. |
| 4 | Psalm 38:2–8 | For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me. |
| 5 | Psalm 102:3–5 | For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 9 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — בִּלָּ֤ה, bi.Lahgenerated
The verb בָּלָה (balah) means to wear out or become old, suggesting a process of decay or depletion. It is a Piel form, indicating an intensive action, and is used here to describe the speaker's flesh being worn away over time due to suffering.
This sense of wearing away emphasizes the toll that ongoing distress takes on the body and spirit, highlighting the speaker's vulnerability and exhaustion.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
Translations generally agree on the meaning of the verse, consistently conveying the sense of physical and emotional deterioration.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The verse comprises two main clauses, each with a finite verb: בִּלָּ֤ה (he has worn away) and שִׁבַּ֖ר (he has shattered). The structure emphasizes the sequential nature of the speaker's suffering, with each clause expressing a different aspect of physical and emotional pain.
The first clause describes the wearing away of the flesh and skin, while the second clause conveys the breaking of bones, illustrating a comprehensive sense of loss and destruction.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates בִּלָּה as ἐπαλαίωσεν (to wear away), which maintains the original meaning of decay and deterioration. This choice reflects the translators' understanding of the speaker's suffering as a gradual process.
The choice of συνέτριψεν for שִׁבַּ֖ר (to break) reinforces the intensity of the speaker's pain, suggesting a violent rupture rather than a simple break.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Lamentations 3:4 expresses the speaker's deep anguish, describing how their flesh and skin have been worn away and their bones shattered. This verse captures the intensity of suffering and the feeling of being overwhelmed by hardship.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
This phrase indicates a sense of physical and emotional depletion, suggesting that the speaker feels exhausted and consumed by their suffering.
The breaking of bones symbolizes a profound level of pain and vulnerability, representing not just physical suffering but also a deeper emotional and spiritual distress.
This verse encapsulates the themes of suffering and despair that permeate Lamentations, as the speaker articulates their anguish in the face of overwhelming hardship.
The verse highlights the reality of pain and the importance of acknowledging one's suffering, which can be a step towards healing and restoration.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- In what ways have I experienced feelings of exhaustion or depletion in my own life?
- How can I better support those who are going through difficult times, as expressed in this verse?
- What does this verse teach me about the nature of suffering and its impact on the human experience?
- How can I find hope and healing in the midst of my own struggles, reflecting on the speaker's lament?
Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Lamentations 3:4 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleMy flesh and my skin hath he made old,.... His flesh with blows, and his skin with smiting, as the Targum; his flesh was so emaciated, and his skin so withered and wrinkled, that he looked like an
Read John Gill on Lamentations 3 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryMy flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. My flesh and my skin hath he made old - (Job 16:8, "Thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me, and my leanness rising up"). Verse 5.
Read Robert Jamieson on Lamentations 3 →Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy BibleI was a virgin, young and fair, but I am quite altered, and am now as an old woman whose flesh is decayed, and my skin wrinkled; all my beauty is gone, and all my strength is gone; my bones, those in whom my strength consisted, are slain and broken.
Read Matthew Poole on Lamentations 3 →John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New TestamentsLamentations 3:4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.Ver. 4. My flesh and my skin hath he made old.] Withered it and wanzed it, so that I am not like myself; facta videbor anus, as she said. See Psalms 32:3. He hath broken my bones.] Decayed and impaired, and that with greatest torment, as befalleth when bones are broken.
Read John Trapp on Lamentations 3 →Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) Hath he made old.—Better, He hath wasted, the verb describing the wear and tear of life rather than the effects of age. “Flesh,” “skin,” “bones,” are grouped together as representing the whole being of the mourner.
Read Charles John Ellicott on Lamentations 3 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges4. Here commences a series of figures illustrating the miseries endured. They find many parallels in the Psalms and Job. For instances of the latter see Lamentations 3:7. he hath broken my bones] For this phrase cp. Isaiah 38:13; Jeremiah 50:17.
Read Cambridge on Lamentations 3 →Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the BibleMade old - Or, wasted: his strength slowly wasted as he pined away in sorrow. He hath broken my bones - This clause completes the representation of the sufferer’s physical agonies. Here the idea is that of acute pain.
Read Albert Barnes on Lamentations 3 →Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the Bible4. Flesh and… skin… made old — The verb means to wear out by rubbing. Flesh, skin, and bones make up the whole body; the softer and the firmer parts.
Read Daniel Denison Whedon on Lamentations 3 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.
He has made my mortal skin waste away; he has broken my bones.
Tyndale line
My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
My flesh and my skinne hath he caused to waxe olde, and he hath broken my bones.
Strictly literal
My flesh and my skin hath he wasted away, he hath broken my bones.
He hath worn out my flesh and my skin. He hath broken my bones.
He has worn out my flesh and my skin. He has broken my bones.
He hath caused my flesh and my skin to wear out, he hath broken my bones.
He made my flesh and my skin waste away; he broke my bones.
From the Latin
Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.
Simplified
He has worn me out; he has broken me in pieces.
My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken.
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text and the Septuagint largely agree, with four out of five words matched between the two texts. This alignment indicates a consistent understanding of the speaker's suffering across both versions.
בִּלָּ֤ה בְשָׂרִי֙ וְעוֹרִ֔י שִׁבַּ֖ר עַצְמוֹתָֽי׃
4 of the 5 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in Lamentations 3:4
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
בָּלָה (balah) is a Hebrew verb meaning to become old or worn out. It encompasses the ideas of wearing out through use, enjoying something to the fullest, and implies decay or consumption. The entries indicate that it can be used in both a simple form (Qal) and a causative form (Piel), with a related Aramaic term noted.
[בָּלָה] vb. become old and worn out
Qal wear out
Pi. caus. of Qal.
wear out (trans.)
wear out by use, use to the full, enjoy
base
H1086 [בָּלָה] become old and worn out .wear out
. caus. of Qal. . wear out (trans.)
. wear out by use, use to the full, enjoy
1086 balah baw-law'
a primitive root; to fail; by implication to wear out, decay
(causatively, consume, spend):--consume, enjoy long, become
(make, wax) old, spend, waste.
בָּלָה (ba.lah) — to become old.
1) to wear out, become old
1a) (Qal) to wear out
1b) (Piel)
1b1) to wear out
1b2) to wear out by use, use up completely
1b3) to enjoy, use to the full
Aramaic equivalent: be.la (בְּלָא "to wear out" H1080)
V-Piel-Perf-3ms — Verb · Piel · perfect third person masculine singularHVpp3ms
בָּשָׂר (basar) means 'flesh' and encompasses various meanings, including the physical body, kinship, and a euphemism for male genitalia. It can refer to humans, animals, and all living things, highlighting the frailty of man in relation to God. The entries consistently emphasize its bodily and relational aspects.
בָּשָׂר 266 n.m. flesh
of the body
flesh for the body itself
male organ of generation (euphemism)
flesh for kindred, blood-relations
man over against God as frail or erring
base
H1320 בָּשָׂר flesh . of the body
. flesh for the body itself
. male organ of generation (euphemism)
. flesh for kindred, blood-relations
. man over against God as frail or erring
1320 basar baw-sawr'
from 1319; flesh (from its freshness); by extension, body,
person; also (by euphem.) the pudenda of a man:--body, (fat,
lean) flesh(-ed), kin, (man-)kind, + nakedness, self, skin.
see HEBREW for 01319
בָּשָׂר (ba.sar) — flesh.
1) flesh
1a) of the body
1a1) of humans
1a2) of animals
1b) the body itself
1c) male organ of generation (euphemism)
1d) kindred, blood-relations
1e) flesh as frail or erring (man against God)
1f) all living things
1g) animals
1h) mankind
Aramaic equivalent: be.shar (בְּשַׁר "flesh" H1321)
N-ms | Suff — Noun common masculine singular construct · suffixHNcmsc/Sp1bs
עוֹר (owr) means skin or hide, specifically referring to the skin of humans and the hides of animals. It is derived from a root that implies nakedness. The term appears frequently in the Old Testament, with 55 occurrences related to human skin and 44 to animal hides.
עוֹר 99 n.m. skin
of men (55 t.)
hide of animals (44 t.)
base
H5785 עוֹר skin . of men (55 t.)
. hide of men (44 t.)
5785 `owr ore
from 5783; skin (as naked); by implication, hide,
leather:--hide, leather, skin.
see HEBREW for 05783
עוֹר (or) — skin.
1) skin, hide
1a) skin (of men)
1b) hide (of animals)
Conj | N-ms | Suff — Conjunction · noun common masculine singular construct · suffixHC/Ncmsc/Sp1bs
שָׁבַר (shabar) means to break or shatter, with various nuances including breaking in pieces, causing to break out (like bringing to birth), and being broken or crushed. It appears in different forms, such as Qal, Niphal, Piel, Hiphil, and Hophal, indicating active and passive meanings. The lexicons do not present any significant disagreements.
שָׁבַר 148 vb. break, break in pieces
Qal 53 break, lit.
Niph. 57 be broken
Pi. 26 shatter, break
Hiph. cause to break out, i.e. bring to the birth
Hoph. be broken, shattered (in heart)
base
H7665 שָׁבַר break, break in pieces .break, lit.
. be broken
. shatter, break
. cause to break out, i.e. bring to the birth
. be broken, shattered (in heart)
7665 shabar shaw-bar'
a primitive root; to burst (literally or
figuratively):--break (down, off, in pieces, up),
broken((-hearted)), bring to the birth, crush, destroy, hurt,
quench, X quite, tear, view (by mistake for 7663).
see HEBREW for 07663
שָׁבַר (sha.var) — to break.
1) to break, break in pieces
1a) (Qal)
1a1) break, break in or down, rend violently, wreck, crush, quench
1a2) to break, rupture (fig)
1b) (Niphal)
1b1) to be broken, be maimed, be crippled, be wrecked
1b2) to be broken, be crushed (fig)
1c) (Piel) to shatter, break
1d) (Hiphil) to cause to break out, bring to the birth
1e) (Hophal) to be broken, be shattered
Aramaic equivalent: te.var (תְּבַר "to break" H8406)
V-Piel-Perf-3ms — Verb · Piel · perfect third person masculine singularHVpp3ms
bro'-k'-n: Occurs both as past participle of the verb translated "to break" and as an adjective, the former use will be dealt with here only so far as verbs occur which are thus translated but do not present the non-participial forms. Such are: meroach = "bruised," "emasculated" (Le 21:20); chathath = "to frustrate," hence, "to break down" either by violence or by confusion and fear (1Sa 2:10; Jer 48:20,39); dakhah = "to collapse" (Ps 44:19; 51:8); ratsats = "to crack in pieces" "crush" (Ec 12:6); kathath = "to bruise or violently strike," "break in pieces" (Isa…
עֶ֫צֶם (etsem) primarily means 'bone' but extends to concepts of substance and self. It can refer to the physical body, limbs, or essence. The word is derived from a root related to strength, indicating a connection between physicality and identity.
עֶ֫צֶם 125 n.f. bone, substance, self
base
H6106 עֶ֫צֶם bone, substance, self
6106 `etsem eh'tsem
from 6105; a bone (as strong); by extension, the body;
figuratively, the substance, i.e. (as pron.) selfsame:--body,
bone, X life, (self-)same, strength, X very.
see HEBREW for 06105
עֶ֫צֶם (e.tsem) — bone.
: bone/limb
1) bone, essence, substance
1a) bone
1a1) body, limbs, members, external body
1b) bone (of animal)
1c) substance, self
עֶ֫צֶם (e.tsem) — bone: same.
: same/very
1) bone, essence, substance
1a) bone
1a1) body, limbs, members, external body
1b) bone (of animal)
1c) substance, self
עֶ֫צֶם (e.tsem) — bone: body.
: body
1) bone, essence, substance
1a) bone
1a1) body, limbs, members, external body
1b) bone (of animal)
1c) substance, self
N-fp | Suff — Noun common feminine plural construct · suffixHNcfpc/Sp1bs