He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
Parallel translations
- WEB He has walled me about, that I can’t go out; he has made my chain heavy.
- BSB He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
- NKJV He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy.
- NASB He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.
- NLT He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains.
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 walled in and weighed down with heavy chains, unable to escape. It pictures the captivity of unrelieved suffering.
Overview
The sufferer is hemmed in by a wall and burdened with a heavy chain, imagery of imprisonment and bondage. Every path of escape seems blocked. This experience of being bound under affliction heightens the gospel proclamation that Christ came to set captives free (Luke 4:18).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Job 19:8He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
- Job 3:23Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
- Jer 38:6Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.
- Jer 40:4And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee: whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go.
- Ps 88:8Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
- Lam 1:14The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the LORD hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.
- Hos 2:6Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
- Lam 3:9He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
- Lam 5:5Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.
- Dan 9:12And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
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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 3:7 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.