He has made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
Parallel translations
- KJV He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
- BSB He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.
- NKJV He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago.
- NASB He has made me live in dark places, Like those who have long been dead.
- NLT He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead.
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 feels confined to darkness like one long dead. It expresses the deathlike heaviness of his despair.
Overview
To 'dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead' depicts the sufferer as if entombed, cut off from life and light. The verse captures despair so deep it resembles the grave. This descent into deathlike darkness anticipates the gospel hope of resurrection, for Christ entered the grave and rose, bringing life and light to those in the shadow of death (2 Timothy 1:10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Ps 88:5–6set apart among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more. They are cut off from your hand.
- Ps 143:3For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
- Ps 143:7Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 3:6 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.