Lamentations 3:47 — Word Study
WLCפַּ֧חַד וָפַ֛חַת הָ֥יָה לָ֖נוּ הַשֵּׁ֥את וְהַשָּֽׁבֶר׃
BSAPanicpachad [fear, dread] and pitfallpachath [snare, trap] have comehâyâh■ devastationshêʼth△ [desolation, ruin] and destructionsheber [breaking, shattering]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| פַּ֧חַד | terror | Noun common, masculine singular absolute |
| וָפַ֛חַת | and a pit | Conjunction, noun common masculine singular absolute |
| הָ֥יָה | it has happened | Verb, Qal, perfect third person masculine singular |
| לָ֖נוּ | to us | Preposition, suffix |
| הַשֵּׁ֥את | devastation | Particle, noun common feminine singular absolute |
| וְהַשָּֽׁבֶר׃ | and brokenness | Conjunction, particle, noun common masculine singular absolute |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction. |
| KJV | Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction. |
| ASV | Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and destruction. |
| YLT | Fear and a snare hath been for us, Desolation and destruction. |
| WEB | Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.” |
| BBE | Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction. |
All translations agree on the key terms used in this verse.
The sentence has two main clauses that express the overwhelming feelings and consequences faced by the people.
7 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them ›
clause
verbהָיָה
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
1 of 6 occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament — a word chosen on purpose.
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 3:47
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 the Peoplegenerated
Lamentations 3:47 reflects the deep anguish of the people as they confront the overwhelming fear and destruction that has come upon them. This verse captures the essence of their despair, emphasizing the panic that has gripped them and the devastation they face. The surrounding verses describe the broader context of their suffering, as they feel besieged by enemies and are filled with sorrow over the fate of their community.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isaiah 24:17–18 | Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of the earth. |
| 2 | Isaiah 51:19 | These pairs have befallen you: devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will grieve for you? Who can comfort you? |
| 3 | Jeremiah 48:43–44 | Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of Moab,” declares the LORD. |
| 4 | Luke 21:35 | For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of all the earth. |
| 5 | Lamentations 1:4–13 | The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 6 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — פַּחַד, Pa.chadgenerated
The word פַּחַד (pachad) is a noun that signifies a feeling of dread or terror. It is derived from a root meaning to be alarmed, and it encompasses various aspects of fear, often associated with sudden or frightening events. In this verse, it conveys the overwhelming panic that has overtaken the people, indicating a deep sense of vulnerability and distress.
This word appears frequently in the Hebrew Bible, often in contexts that describe the fear of God or the dread of His judgment. Here, it captures the emotional state of the people as they experience calamity.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
Translations of this verse generally agree on the meanings of the key terms.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The verse consists of two main clauses: the first describes the fear and pitfall that have come upon the people, while the second details the resulting devastation and destruction. The finite verb הָיָה (hayah), meaning 'it has happened', serves as a pivotal point, linking the experience of fear with the consequences of devastation.
The structure emphasizes the immediacy of the panic and the severity of the destruction, highlighting the overwhelming nature of the events described.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
In the Septuagint, the Hebrew word פַּחַד is rendered as φόβος (phobos), which also means fear. This choice reflects a direct correspondence in meaning, emphasizing the terror experienced by the people.
The word וָפַחַת is translated as θυμὸς (thymos), which can imply a sense of wrath or anger, suggesting a deeper emotional context to the pitfall described.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Lamentations 3:47 describes the overwhelming panic and traps that have come upon the people, leading to devastation and destruction. This verse reflects their deep sorrow and fear as they confront their dire circumstances.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
In this context, 'panic' refers to an overwhelming feeling of fear and dread that has suddenly come upon the people.
The term 'pitfall' signifies a trap or snare, indicating a situation that has ensnared the people and contributed to their distress.
This verse encapsulates the themes of suffering and despair found throughout Lamentations, illustrating the emotional turmoil faced by the people.
The word 'devastation' highlights the extent of destruction and ruin that has affected the community, emphasizing their plight.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- In what ways do I experience feelings of panic or dread in my own life?
- How can I find hope in the midst of overwhelming circumstances, as the people did in Lamentations?
- What are some 'pitfalls' I should be aware of in my daily life?
- How can I support others who are facing feelings of devastation and destruction?
The early church on this verse — how the Fathers read it
Early commentators reference this verse to illustrate the intense fear and destruction experienced by the people, highlighting their need for protection against enemies.
Second, there is a description of prophets whom they ought to be protected against their enemies. Since Verse 47 says: "panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction." That is, sheer panic,Early Church Fathers on Lamentations 3 →
Commentators on this verse — 7 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Lamentations 3:47 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleFear and a snare is come upon us,.... Or, "fear and a pit" (m); the fear of failing into the pit of ruin and destruction, on the brink of which they saw themselves; or fear seized us, and caused us
Read John Gill on Lamentations 3 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryAll our enemies have opened their mouths against us. Pe is put before Ain, as in Elegy 2:16,17; 4:16,17. Verse 46. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us - (Lamentations 2:16). Verse 47.
Read Robert Jamieson on Lamentations 3 →Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy BibleAll manner of misery was come upon them. They were seized first with fears and terrors; going to escape these they fell into a snare, or (as it is in the Hebrew) into a pit, out of which they could not get; they were wasted, made desolate, and destroyed.
Read Matthew Poole on Lamentations 3 →John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New TestamentsLamentations 3:47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.Ver. 47. Fear and a snare is come upon us.] Heb., A pit; great terror, and no way to escape. See Isaiah 24:17-18.
Read John Trapp on Lamentations 3 →Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(47) Fear and a snare.—A quotation from Jeremiah 48:43, and Isaiah 24:17. Desolation.—Better, devastation. The Hebrew noun is not found elsewhere, but the cognate verb in Isaiah 37:26 is rendered “to lay waste.”
Read Charles John Ellicott on Lamentations 3 →AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the BibleVerse 47. Fear and a snare] See Clarke on Jeremiah 48:13.
Read AdamClarke on Lamentations 3 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges47. Fear and the pit] See on Jeremiah 48:43, of which this reminds us, and cp. Isaiah 24:17 f. devastation] mg. tumult. The original word occurs here only.
Read Cambridge 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
Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction.
Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.”
Panic and pitfall have come upon us—devastation and destruction.
Panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.
Tyndale line
Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and destruction.
Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and destruction.
Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
Feare, and a snare is come vpon vs with desolation and destruction.
Strictly literal
Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and ruin.
Fear and a snare hath been for us, Desolation and destruction.
Fear and a snare has been for us, || Desolation and destruction.
Terror and a snare are come upon us, [with] desolation and breaches.
panic and pitfall have come upon us, ruin and destruction.
From the Latin
Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction.
Simplified
We're terrified and trapped, devastated and destroyed.
Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction.
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
Both the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint agree on the wording of this verse, with all six words matched in the Hebrew and Greek translations. This indicates a consistent understanding of the text across these ancient witnesses.
פַּ֧חַד וָפַ֛חַת הָ֥יָה לָ֖נוּ הַשֵּׁ֥את וְהַשָּֽׁבֶר׃
6 of the 6 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 3:47
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.
פַּ֫חַד (pachad) refers to the concept of dread or terror, often indicating both the feeling of fear and the object that inspires it. The word is derived from a root meaning to be alarmed, and it encompasses a range of meanings related to fear and terror.
פַּ֫חַד 49 n.m. dread
dread
= object of dread
as design. dei
base
H6343 פַּ֫חַד dread . dread
. = object of dread
. as design. dei
6343 pachad pakh'-ad
from 6342; a (sudden) alarm (properly, the object feared, by
implication, the feeling):--dread(-ful), fear, (thing) great
(fear, -ly feared), terror.
see HEBREW for 06342
פַּ֫חַד (pa.chad) — dread.
1) terror, dread
1a) dread
1b) object of dread
N-ms — Noun common · masculine singular absoluteHNcmsa
פַּ֫חַת (pachath) refers to a pit or hole, often associated with trapping animals. It is likely derived from a root meaning to dig. The entries consistently describe it as a snare or pit, without significant disagreement among the lexicons.
פַּ֫חַת n.m. pit
base
H6354 פַּ֫חַת pit
6354 pachath pakh'-ath
probably from an unused root apparently meaning to dig; a
pit, especially for catching animals:--hole, pit, snare.
פַּ֫חַת (pa.chat) — pit.
pit, hole
Conj | N-ms — Conjunction · noun common masculine singular absoluteHC/Ncmsa
The word translates different Hebrew words of which the most important are:
(1) bor, "pit" or "cistern," made by digging, (Ge 37:20); hence, "dungeon" (Jer 38:6, margin "pit");
(2) be'er, "pit" or "well" made by digging (Ge 21:25);
(3) she'ol, generally rendered "hell" in the King James Version (see HELL);
Pit
A hole in the ground (Ex. 21:33, 34), a cistern for water (Gen. 37:24; Jer. 14:3), a vault (41:9), a grave (Ps. 30:3). It is used as a figure for mischief (Ps. 9:15), and is the name given to the unseen place of woe (Rev. 20:1, 3). The slime-pits in the vale of Siddim were wells which yielded asphalt (Gen. 14:10).
[HELL]
A reservoir, either natural or artificial, for water. Pits were sometimes used as dungeons, Ge 37:20; Jer 38:6; or being slightly covered, and baited, they served as traps to catch wild beasts, a device which illustrates the plots of designing men and women, Ps 119:85; Pr 22:14; 26:27; Eze 19:4. The word pit is also used to denote the grave, Ps 28:1; 30:3,9; and hell, Re 20:1.
The Hebrew word הָיָה (hayah) is a primitive root meaning to exist or become, and it encompasses a range of meanings including to happen, occur, and come to pass. It is often used in narrative contexts, particularly in phrases like "and it came to pass." The word can also denote a state of being or existence, and it appears frequently in various forms throughout the Old Testament.
הָיָה 3570 vb. fall out, come to pass, become, be
Qal
Fall out, happen
occur, take place, come about, come to pass
esp. & very oft., come about, come to pass
וַיְהִי and it came to pass that, most often (c. 292 t.)
rarely also Pf. c. וְ conj. וְהָיָה
less oft. וְהָיָה Pf. consec. and it shall come to pass, or frequentat. came to pass (repeatedly, etc.)
Come into being, become
abs., in lively narrative, arise, appear, come
sq. prep.
become
sq. pred. noun (to be viewed as implicit accus.)
sq. pred. adj.
become like
sq. pred. לְ pers.
sq. לְ pred.
oft. c. לְ pred. לְ pers.
with עַל and לְ
sts. c. לְ pers. only = became the property of, come into the possession of
Be (often with subbordinate idea of becoming)
exist, be in existence
abide, remain, continue
with word of locality, be in or at a place, be situated, stand, lie
as copula, joining subj. & pred.
H1961 הָיָה fall out, come to pass, become, be .. . . Fall out, happen
. occur, take place, come about, come to pass
. esp. & very oft., come about, come to pass . . וַיְהִי and it came to pass that, most often (c. 292 t.)
. rarely also Pf. c. וְ conj. וְהָיָה
. less oft. וְהָיָה Pf. consec. and it shall come to pass, or frequentat. came to pass (repeatedly, etc.)
. Come into being, become . . abs., in lively narrative, arise, appear, come
. sq. prep.
. become . sq. pred. noun (to be viewed as implicit accus.)
. sq. pred. adj.
. become like
. sq. pred. + לְ pers.
. sq. לְ pred.
. oft. c. לְ pred. + לְ pers.
. with עַל and לְ
. sts. c. לְ pers. only = became the property of, come into the possession of
. Be (often with subbordinate idea of becoming) . exist, be in existence
. abide, remain, continue
1961 hayah haw-yaw
a primitive root (compare 1933); to exist, i.e. be or become,
come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or
auxiliary):--beacon, X altogether, be(-come), accomplished,
committed, like), break, cause, come (to pass), do, faint,
fall, + follow, happen, X have, last, pertain, quit
(one-)self, require, X use.
see HEBREW for 01933
הָיָה (ha.yah) — to be.
1) to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out
1a) (Qal)
1a1) ---
1a1a) to happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come to pass
1a1b) to come about, come to pass
1a2) to come into being, become
1a2a) to arise, appear, come
1a2b) to become
1a2b1) to become
1a2b2) to become like
1a2b3) to be instituted, be established
1a3) to be
1a3a) to exist, be in existence
1a3b) to abide, remain, continue (with word of place or time)
1a3c) to stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated (with word of locality)
1a3d) to accompany, be with
1b) (Niphal)
1b1) to occur, come to pass, be done, be brought about
1b2) to be done, be finished, be gone
V-Qal-Perf-3ms — Verb · Qal · perfect third person masculine singularHVqp3ms
נוּ (nu) — us.
Personal object pronoun - suffix for propositions and verbs without an object: 1st person plural
HR/Sp1bp — Preposition · suffixHR/Sp1bp
US, pronoun objective case of we.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Us , pron. [OE. us, AS. s; akin to OFries. & OS. s, D. ons, G. uns, Icel. & Sw. oss, Dan. os, Goth. uns, L. nos we, us, Gr. we, Skr. nas us. . Cf. Nostrum, Our.] The persons speaking, regarded as an object; ourselves; — the objective case of we. See We. “Tell us a tale.” Chaucer.
Give us this day our daily bread. Matt. vi. 11.
Us, pron. oblique case of we
שֵׁאת n.f. doubtful word; perh. din of battle; Thes al. devastation
base
H7612 שֵׁאת
7612 she'th shayth
from 7582; devastation:--desolation.
see HEBREW for 07582
שֵׁאת (shet) — devastation.
1) ruin, devastation
1a) meaning doubtful
Art | N-fs — Particle · noun common feminine singular absoluteHTd/Ncfsa
שֶׁ֫בֶר (sheber) refers to breaking or fracturing, encompassing meanings like crash, ruin, and destruction. It can also denote the breaking of a dream and its interpretation. The term appears in various contexts, including physical damage and emotional distress.
שֶׁ֫בֶר, שֵׁ֫בֶר n.m. breaking, fracture, crushing, breach, crash
base
H7667 שֶׁ֫בֶר, שֵׁ֫בֶר breaking, fracture, crushing, breach, crash
7667 sheber sheh'-ber
or sheber {shay'-ber}; from 7665; a fracture, figuratively,
ruin; specifically, a solution (of a dream):--affliction,
breach, breaking, broken(-footed, -handed), bruise, crashing,
destruction, hurt, interpretation, vexation.
see HEBREW for 07665
שֶׁ֫בֶר (she.ver) — breaking.
1) breaking, fracture, crushing, breach, crash, ruin, shattering
1a) breaking, fracture, shattering, crushing
1b) crashing
1c) breaking (of a dream), interpretation
1d) quarries
Conj | Art | N-ms — Conjunction · particle · noun common masculine singular absoluteHC/Td/Ncmsa