He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him; let him be filled full with reproach.
- BSB Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
- NKJV Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, And be full of reproach.
- NASB Let him give his cheek to the one who is going to strike him; Let him be filled with shame.
- NLT Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies.
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
The afflicted one should patiently endure insult and injury rather than retaliate.
Overview
Offering the cheek and absorbing reproach describes nonretaliatory endurance under suffering ordained by God. It teaches submission and trust that vindication belongs to the Lord. Jesus deepens this teaching, calling His followers to turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:39), and Himself gave His cheek to those who struck Him (Isa. 50:6; Matt. 26:67).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Isa 50:6I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
- Job 16:10They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.
- Matt 26:67Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands,
- Matt 5:39But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
- 2 Cor 11:20For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.
- Ps 69:20Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
- Luke 6:29And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.
- Mic 5:1Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
- Ps 123:3Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
- Ps 69:9For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
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 3:30 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.