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Lamentations 1:13

He sent fire from on high, and it overpowered my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long.
Lamentations 1:13 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB “From on high has he sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them; He has spread a net for my feet. He has turned me back. He has made me desolate and faint all day long.
  • KJV From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
  • NKJV “From above He has sent fire into my bones, And it overpowered them; He has spread a net for my feet And turned me back; He has made me desolate And faint all the day.
  • NASB “From the height He sent fire into my bones, And it dominated them. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back; He has made me desolate, Faint all day long.
  • NLT “He has sent fire from heaven that burns in my bones. He has placed a trap in my path and turned me back. He has left me devastated, racked with sickness all day long.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

God has sent fire into her bones, snared her feet, and left her desolate and faint all day. It depicts judgment as relentless, inescapable affliction.

Overview

The imagery of fire in the bones, a net for the feet, and being turned back conveys total entrapment under God's discipline. Every avenue of escape is closed, leaving only weakness and desolation. The crushing weight of this lament magnifies the relief of the gospel, where Christ breaks the snare and lifts the fallen (Psalm 124:7).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 27

  • Hab 3:16I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the people who invade us.
  • Job 30:30My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
  • Ps 22:14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.
  • Ezek 17:20I will spread My net over him and catch him in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment upon him there for the treason he committed against Me.
  • Job 19:6then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.
  • Ezek 12:13But I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, and there he will die.
  • Heb 12:29“For our God is a consuming fire.”
  • Ps 66:11You led us into the net; You laid burdens on our backs.
  • Nah 1:6Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; even rocks are shattered before Him.
  • Isa 42:17But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.
  • Deut 32:21–25They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.
  • Jer 44:6Therefore My wrath and anger poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so that they have become the desolate ruin they are today.
  • Jer 4:19–29My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.
  • Hos 7:12As they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the air. I will chastise them when I hear them flocking together.
  • 2 Th 1:8in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
  • Ps 70:2–3May those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded; may those who wish me harm be repelled and humiliated.
  • Deut 28:65Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul.
  • Lam 2:3–4In fierce anger He has cut off every horn of Israel and withdrawn His right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it.
  • Lam 5:17Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
  • Ps 35:4May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plan to harm me be driven back and confounded.
  • Lam 1:22Let all their wickedness come before You, and deal with them as You have dealt with me because of all my transgressions. For my groans are many, and my heart is faint.
  • Ps 102:3–5For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.
  • Ps 129:5May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.
  • Job 18:8For his own feet lead him into a net, and he wanders into its mesh.
  • Lam 4:17–20All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us.
  • Ps 31:10For my life is consumed with grief and my years with groaning; my iniquity has drained my strength, and my bones are wasting away.
  • Ezek 32:3This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will spread My net over you with a company of many peoples, and they will draw you up in My net.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Lamentations videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Lamentations 1:13YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on LamentationsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The weeping over a ruined city and the steadfast mercies that are new every morning point to the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem and whose mercy rises new from the grave.

How Lamentations 1:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.