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Lamentations 3:44

You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
Lamentations 3:44 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
  • BSB You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
  • NKJV You have covered Yourself with a cloud, That prayer should not pass through.
  • NASB You have veiled Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through.
  • NLT You have hidden yourself in a cloud so our prayers cannot reach you.

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

They feel God has hidden Himself behind a cloud so that their prayers seem unanswered.

Overview

The image of God veiled in a cloud expresses the agony of seemingly unheard prayer during judgment. This is the experience of God's hiddenness, a real anguish in seasons of discipline. Yet Scripture assures that God does hear the penitent, and in Christ the veil is finally removed for access to God (Heb. 4:16; 10:19-22).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 6

  • Lam 3:8Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
  • Zech 7:13It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,” said Yahweh of Armies;
  • Ps 97:2Clouds and darkness are around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
  • Jer 15:1Then Yahweh said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go out!
  • Jer 14:11Yahweh said to me, “Don’t pray for this people for their good.
  • Ps 80:4Yahweh God of Armies, How long will you be angry against the prayer of your people?

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 3:44YouTube · 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 3:44 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.