It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
Parallel translations
- WEB It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
- KJV It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
- NKJV It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth.
- NASB It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth.
- NLT And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline:
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
It is good to learn submission and discipline early in life. Bearing the 'yoke' of hardship in youth shapes character.
Overview
Continuing the chapter's turn toward hope, the poet commends accepting God's discipline rather than resisting it. A yoke borne while young teaches patience and humility before God. Such schooling in suffering prepares the heart to trust God, a posture Jesus invites when He says His own yoke is easy and His burden light (Matt. 11:29-30).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Eccl 12:1Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, “I find no pleasure in them,”
- Matt 11:29–30Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
- Ps 119:71It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.
- Ps 94:12Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law,
- Heb 12:5–12And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.
- Ps 90:12So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 3:27 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.