Lamentations 3:56 · Bible study
Lamentations 3:56 Commentary: Plea or Affirmation?
Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Is Lamentations 3:56 a cry for God to hear or a statement that He already has? Explore the Hebrew grammar, interpretive options, and pastoral hope.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The speaker affirms (or pleads) that God hears his prayer, both the faint sigh and the urgent cry.
- Key words: שָׁמַע (hear), עָלַם (hide/conceal), רַוְחָה (relief/breathing), שַׁוְעָה (cry for help).
- Main debate: Whether the verb תַּעְלֵם is a plea ('do not hide') or an affirmation ('you did not hide').
- Theological theme: God hears the prayers of the desperate, from the quietest gasp to the loudest shout.
- Best use: A model for lament that combines honest complaint with trust in God's faithful hearing.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
WEB World English Bible 2000
You heard my voice: “Don’t hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.”
KJV King James Version 1769
Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Thou heardest my voice; hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
My voice Thou hast heard, Hide not Thine ear at my breathing--at my cry.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my sighing, at my cry.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Oiste mi voz; no escondas tu oído á mi clamor, para mi respiro.
Ouviste minha voz: não escondas o teu ouvido ao meu suspiro, ao meu clamor.
Tu as entendu ma voix:
und du erhörtest meine Stimme: Verbirg deine Ohren nicht vor meinem Seufzen und Schreien!
Koph. Gij hebt mijn stem gehoord, verberg Uw oor niet voor mijn zuchten, voor mijn roepen.
tu hai udito la mia voce; non nascondere il tuo orecchio al mio sospiro, al mio grido!
Głos mój wysłuchiwałeś; nie zatulajże ucha twego przed wzdychaniem mojem, i przed wołaniem mojem.
Ты слышал голос мой; не закрой уха Твоего от воздыхания моего, от вопля моего.
你曾聽見 我的聲音；我求你解救，你不要 掩 耳不聽。
My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Lamentations 3:56
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that Lamentations 3:56 sits within a prayer that moves from deep distress to trust. The speaker has called out to God from a dungeon (v.55), and now asserts that God has heard his voice. But the second half of the verse hinges on a single Hebrew verb: תַּעְלֵם (ta'Lem), a Hiphil imperfect second-person masculine singular from עָלַם (to conceal). Its form can be read either as a jussive (a plea: 'do not hide') or as an indicative past ('you did not hide').
Gill and Calvin both note the ambiguity. Gill cites Grotius who reads it as an affirmation, which fits the flow: 'Thou hast heard my voice… thou didst not hide thine ear.' The particle אַל is typically used with a jussive, but can appear in past-tense constructions (see Gesenius). The Cambridge Bible suggests that the word for 'breathing' (רַוְחָה) means 'relief' in its only other occurrence (Exodus 8:15), supporting a cry for respite. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown call the two terms 'breathing' and 'cry' two kinds of prayer: a silent sigh and a loud plea.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Petitionary reading: The particle אַל is typically used with a jussive verb; the verse sounds like a plea: 'Do not hide your ear.' This fits the immediate context of a sufferer still in distress (v.52-55).
- Affirmative reading: The verb form can be read as a past tense; the surrounding context (v.55 'I called,' v.57 'you came near') suggests that God has already answered, so the second half should be read as 'you did not hide.' Gill and Grotius support this.
What is clear: Both readings affirm that the speaker cries out to God and trusts that God hears — whether as a present plea or a past record, the sufferer rests on God's faithful attention.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Interpretation of the verb 'hide' (תַּעְלֵם) | The Hebrew grammar allows both a petitionary reading ('do not hide') and a declarative reading ('you did not hide'). Commentators across traditions note this ambiguity. | Petitionary reading (Clarke, Geneva Bible, KJV) sees it as a plea for present help. Declarative reading (Gill, Grotius) sees it as a statement of past deliverance, making v.56 a continuation of the confidence in v.55. |
| Meaning of רַוְחָה (sighing / relief / breathing) | The word is rare (only twice in OT) and refers to a gasp or a pause from affliction, either the sound of one breathing under duress or the relief of a momentary respite. | Clarke and many older translations render it 'breathing,' focusing on the faintness of the prayer. The Cambridge Bible and others, following its use in Exodus 8:15, prefer 'relief', a cry for a break from suffering. |
| Whether this verse is a plea or a statement of fact | The verse is part of an extended prayer in which the speaker expresses trust in God's hearing, regardless of the verb's mood. | Pastoral tradition often reads it as a request (teaching persistence in prayer). Exegetes note that the surrounding context (v.55 'I called,' v.57-58 God's response) supports the declarative reading, the speaker has already experienced God's deliverance. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Lamentations is a collection of five poems mourning the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 587 BC. The city was destroyed, the temple burned, and the people exiled. The book is traditionally attributed to Jeremiah, who witnessed the catastrophe and who himself suffered persecution (Jeremiah 38:6, a dungeon). Chapter 3 is the center of the book, both structurally and emotionally. It is an acrostic poem: each set of three verses begins with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This artificial structure frames raw emotion in ordered art, grief given shape.
In verses 52-66, the speaker describes being hunted, trapped in a pit, and overwhelmed by waters. He calls out 'out of the lowest dungeon' (v.55). The dungeon is both literal (Jeremiah's cistern) and metaphorical: the bottom of despair, where hope seems lost. In ancient Near Eastern lament literature, such cries often move from complaint to appeal to a past memory of deliverance. The shift here from petition to declaration (if the verb is past tense) mirrors that pattern.
The Hebrew word רַוְחָה (re.vachah) occurs only twice in the Old Testament. Here it likely means 'relief' or 'respite', the opposite of the crushing pressure that fills the chapter. The second term, שַׁוְעָה (shav.ah), is a sharp cry for help. Together they capture the whole range of pain: the choked whisper and the desperate shout. The speaker lays both before God.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Lamentations 3:56. The Hebrew text is stable across manuscripts. One minor issue: the word רַוְחָה occurs only here and in Exodus 8:15 (where it means 'relief'). Some scholars, cited by the Cambridge Bible, propose emending it by one consonant to read 'my cry,' considering the following phrase 'my cry' a gloss. This emendation is not widely adopted and is not supported by the major manuscripts.
Reception History
In Jewish tradition, this verse has been recited in times of national mourning and individual distress, often paired with the surrounding acrostic as an ordered lament. Christian commentators from the Reformation onward, Calvin, Gill, Matthew Henry, saw it as a pattern for faith under trial. The ambiguity of whether it is plea or statement has allowed both streams to use it: as a prayer to offer when words fail, and as a testimony to look back on after deliverance. It has been set to music in some Psalm-based hymns of lament, though no specific hymn title from the early church survives. Modern devotional use often focuses on the phrase 'my breathing, my cry' to affirm that God hears both the silent sob and the loud plea.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The foundation of faith: 'You heard my voice.' The speaker begins with a settled certainty that God hears. This is past experience that fuels present prayer.
- The raw honesty of need: Whether a plea or affirmation, the verse names both the sigh (relief) and the cry (shout). God welcomes both, the quiet gasp and the loud demand.
- The move from memory to trust: The next verse (57) says God drew near and said, 'Fear not.' The hearer becomes the responder. Prayer opens the door to comfort.
Five-point outline
- The context: a pit of despair (vv.52-55)
- The memory: 'You heard my voice', ground for confidence
- The ambiguity: is v.56 a plea or an affirmation? Both teach reliance
- The language of desperation: the quiet breathing and the loud cry
- The outcome: God draws near and speaks peace (v.57)
Illustration hooks
- A parent who hears their child's cry from another room, even before words form, they know the need. So God discerns the heart's faintest breathing.
- The difference between whispering a prayer in a hospital waiting room and shouting it in the middle of a storm. Both reach heaven.
- Recalling a past answered prayer when current circumstances seem hopeless, the memory becomes a rope tossed into the pit.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Does God hear me when I can barely pray, when all I have is a sigh?
- Is it okay to remind God of how He helped me before? Does that show faith or doubt?
- How do I move from crying out to actually hearing God's answer?
Leading a Discussion
This verse sits at the turning point of Lamentations 3, complaint begins to give way to confidence. The group should consider how memory, honesty, and trust intertwine in prayer. Use these questions to guide your discussion.
Discussion questions
- Read Lamentatians 3:55-58. What do you notice about the speaker's situation and his attitude toward God?
- The Hebrew verb for 'hide' can be read either as a command ('do not hide') or a past statement ('you did not hide'). Which reading seems to fit the flow of verses 55-58 better? Why?
- The word translated as 'sighing' or 'relief' (רַוְחָה) occurs only twice in the Old Testament. In Exodus 8:15 it means 'respite.' How does that meaning shape your understanding of this verse?
- What does it mean that the speaker mentions both a 'sigh' and a 'cry'? What kinds of prayer do these represent?
- How does the memory of God hearing in the past (v.56a) support the request (or the trust) in the rest of the verse?
- Why might it matter whether this verse is a petition or an affirmation? What difference does it make for how we pray today?
- Verse 57 says God drew near and said, 'Fear not.' What does that tell us about God's response to honest lament?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| II Chronicles 33:13 | He prayed to him; and he was entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God. |
| II Chronicles 33:19 | His prayer also, and how God listened to his request, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places and set up the Asherah poles and the engraved images before he humbled himself: behold, they are written in the history of Hozai. |
| Job 34:28 | so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him. He heard the cry of the afflicted. |
| Psalms 3:4 | I cry to Yahweh with my voice, and he answers me out of his holy hill. Selah. |
| Psalms 6:8 | Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for Yahweh has heard the voice of my weeping. |
| Psalms 6:9 | Yahweh has heard my supplication. Yahweh accepts my prayer. |
| Psalms 34:6 | This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. |
| Psalms 55:1 | For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David. Listen to my prayer, God. Don’t hide yourself from my supplication. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
9 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke highlights the extreme fear and desperation in this prayer: the speaker dares not cry out or even complain aloud but can only whisper to God. For Clarke, the phrase refers to a prayer reduced to nothing more than a breath.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin stresses that many boast of fervent prayer but only the prophet can truly summon God as a witness to his earnestness. He interprets the Hebrew word for "dilation" as the deep groaning of a soul that expands in grief, distinguishing genuine, heartfelt crying from hollow claims.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator notes the Hebrew word for "breathing" is rare, appearing elsewhere only in the sense of "respite" or "relief." Scholar Ewald proposes changing one consonant to read "my cry" instead, and considers the nearby phrase "at my cry" to be a later explanatory gloss.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note observes that the speaker appeals to God's past faithfulness in hearing his voice as grounds for a present plea. He asks God not to close His ear even to the faintest expressions of distress—a sigh or a cry—showing that the petitioner relies on God's continued attention to every level of need.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill highlights that the verse can be read two ways. It may be a plea based on past answered prayer, asking God not to hide His ear now. Or it can be read as an affirmation that God already heard and did not hide His ear. He notes that the word "breathing" pictures prayer as the soul's gasp for help.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB distinguishes two forms of prayer mentioned in the verse: the silent, inwardly breathed sigh and the loud, earnest cry. Both are genuine prayer, and God hears them equally, whether spoken or unspoken.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange treats Lamentations 3 as the deliberate climax of the whole book, arguing its triple-alphabet structure and three-part movement prove a unified plan. The middle section of consolation is artistically framed by darkness on both sides, so that the chapter teaches hope ultimately triumphs over suffering.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry observes that throughout this chapter the prophet's heart wavers between fear and hope, complaint and comfort, but faith always has the final word. The prophet strengthens himself by recalling that God heard his prayers even from the depths of affliction, and this personal experience of God's goodness becomes his anchor.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley observes that the psalmist appeals to God's past faithfulness: because God heard him in earlier afflictions, he now asks God not to hide but to show him the same favour again. The plea rests on the pattern of God's previous mercy.