Till the Lord from heaven Looks down and sees.
Parallel translations
- WEB until Yahweh looks down, and sees from heaven.
- KJV Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
- BSB until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
- NASB Until the Lord looks down And sees from heaven.
- NLT until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees.
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
He will weep until the Lord looks down and sees from heaven.
Overview
The tears of verse 49 continue 'until Yahweh looks down,' tying the lament to hope that God will intervene. The poet waits for God to take notice and act in mercy. This expectant waiting reflects faith that God is not indifferent and will, in time, regard His people, supremely shown in His sending of Christ (Ps. 102:19-20).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Isa 63:15Look down from heaven, and see from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory. Where are your zeal and your mighty acts? The yearning of your heart and your compassion is restrained toward me.
- Lam 5:1Remember, Yahweh, what has come on us: Look, and see our reproach.
- Ps 80:14–16Turn again, we beg you, God of Armies. Look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vine,
- Ps 102:19–20For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven, Yahweh saw the earth;
- Lam 2:20“Look, Yahweh, and see to whom you have done thus! Shall the women eat their offspring, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
- Isa 64:1Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence.
- Dan 9:16–19Lord, according to all your righteousness, let your anger and please let your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.
- Isa 62:6–7I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. They will never be silent day nor night. You who call on Yahweh, take no rest,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 3:50 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.