Lamentations 3:65 Meaning: Praying for Justice or for Curse?
You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.
Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
Thou wilt give them hardness of heart, thy curse unto them.
Thou givest to them a covered heart, Thy curse to them.
give them obduracy of heart, thy curse unto them;
Meaning in one sentence
Lamentations 3:65 asks God to give enemies hardness of heart. How does this fit with loving enemies? Understand this hard verse in its context.
Context
The Book of Lamentations gathers five poems of grief over Jerusalem’s fall. In chapter 3, one speaker pours out personal anguish, then slowly turns toward hope. By verse 64, he shifts from petition to imprecation: he asks God to repay the enemies who have mocked and persecuted him. Verse 65 sits inside that request. This is not a private grudge. The enemies are those who oppose God’s purposes and have crushed His people. The prophet is speaking within the covenant framework of Deuteronomy, where blessing follows obedience and curse follows rebellion. He calls on God to act as the righteous Judge.
Key Words
The Hebrew word behind “hardness of heart” is meginnat lev, literally a “covering of the heart.” Translators wrestle with it: the Septuagint gives “a shield,” the Syriac “sorrow,” and most modern versions settle on “blindness” or “obstinacy.” What the prophet asks is that God would remove their inner sight, closing them off from repentance. It is a severe request, and it echoes what God did to Pharaoh (Exodus) and to Sihon (Deuteronomy 2:30): giving people over to the hardness they have already chosen.
The word for “curse” is ta’alah, a term used in covenant curses (Deuteronomy 27, 28). It is not a casual wish but a formal appeal to the justice of God. And the verb “give” (natan) means to deliver, set, or bring upon. The prophet is not inventing a new punishment; he is asking God to bring the covenant curses that have already been threatened. It is raw, honest, and painful, but it is justice, not vengeance.
How Christians Read This Verse
Historic Christian readings of this verse are cautious. Calvin saw it as a prayer that God would give enemies a reprobate mind, a judicial hardening that leads to self-destruction, an extremity of evil that drives them to stupor rather than prayer. The Cambridge Bible notes that the “covering of the heart” parallels the veil over Israel’s heart in 2 Corinthians 3:15. Matthew Henry reads it within the context of the covenant: the curse is what the law itself pronounces. Across traditions, the verse is not treated as a model for personal imprecation but as a cry within the Old Testament economy of justice, looking forward to a time when the curse would be carried by Christ.
A common misunderstanding
People sometimes think this verse gives them permission to pray that God would harden and curse their personal enemies, a spouse, a neighbor, a coworker. In fact, the prophet is speaking about those who persecute God’s people and oppose His covenant. The “hardness” is God’s judicial response to persistent rebellion, not a weapon for personal grievances. The New Testament does not give believers an example of praying this way against personal enemies; rather, it calls us to bless and pray for those who persecute us.
Main takeaway: In raw honesty we can bring our desire for justice to God, trusting Him to judge rightly while we extend mercy as Christ has shown us.
Questions People Ask
Does Lamentations 3:65 tell me to pray for God to curse my enemies?
No. This verse is part of a lament over enemies who persecuted God’s people. It expresses a desire for divine justice within the Old Covenant framework. In the New Testament, Jesus commands us to love and pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44). The imprecation is an honest cry, not a pattern to repeat against personal foes.
What does 'hardness of heart' mean in this verse?
The Hebrew phrase means a 'covering of the heart', spiritual blindness or obstinacy. It is a state where a person cannot see their sin or turn to God. The prophet asks God to give this to enemies as a judgment, similar to how God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. It is not a random cruelty but a consequence of persistent rebellion.
How can this verse be in the Bible if God is love?
The Bible shows both God’s love and His justice. In Lamentations, the enemies have committed terrible violence and rejected God. The prophet asks for justice, not personal revenge. The same Bible that records this cry also points to the cross, where Jesus bore the curse for all who repent. God’s love does not cancel His justice; it fulfills it through Christ.
Is Lamentations 3:65 an imprecatory psalm?
Yes, it fits the category of imprecatory prayer found in several psalms and here in Lamentations. These prayers ask God to bring judgment on the wicked. Christians interpret them as cries for God’s justice, often seeing them as pointing to the final judgment and to Christ who took the curse on Himself.
Why do some translations say 'sorrow of heart' instead of 'hardness of heart'?
The Hebrew word 'meginnat' is rare and difficult. The KJV translated it as 'sorrow' based on the Syriac. Most modern translations, informed by the Hebrew and the Septuagint, render it as 'hardness,' 'blindness,' or 'covering.' The sense is a spiritual condition that prevents repentance, whether that is expressed as sorrow or hardness depends on the interpretive tradition.
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