Lamentations 3:65 · Bible study
Lamentations 3:65 Commentary: Imprecatory Prayer for Hardness of Heart
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Lamentations 3:65 asks God for hardness of heart and curse on enemies. This study examines the imprecatory prayer and the Christian call to love enemies.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The prophet asks God to give his enemies a hardened, covered heart and to place His curse upon them as just recompense.
- Key words: meginat lev (covering/blindness/hardness of heart, H4044), ta’alah (curse, H8381).
- Main debate: Does God actively harden or passively permit the consequences of a stubborn heart? Both views are present in the commentaries.
- Theological theme: Divine judgment through judicial hardening; justice that sometimes means giving people over to their sin (Romans 1).
- Best use: Understood within the lament tradition as an appeal for God to vindicate the innocent, not as a personal template for vengeful prayer.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
WEB World English Bible 2000
You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.
KJV King James Version 1769
Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Thou wilt give them hardness of heart, thy curse unto them.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
Thou givest to them a covered heart, Thy curse to them.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
give them obduracy of heart, thy curse unto them;
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Dales ansia de corazón, tu maldición á ellos.
Dá-lhes angústia de coração, tua maldição a eles.
Tu les livreras à l’ endurcissement de leur cœur,
Laß ihnen das Herz erschrecken, laß sie deinen Fluch fühlen!
Thau. Geef hun een deksel des harten; Uw vloek zij over hen!
Darai loro induramento di cuore, la tua maledizione.
Dajże im zatwardziałe serce, i przeklęstwo swe na nich;
пошли им помрачение сердца и проклятие Твое на них;
你要使 他們 心裡 剛硬，使你的咒詛 臨到他們。
You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Lamentations 3:65
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree Lamentations 3:65 petitions God to impose a hardened, covered heart and a curse as just recompense for enemies who persecute the righteous. The Hebrew word meginat (from H4044) means “covering,” and the Septuagint renders it a “covering of the heart.” Calvin and Gill read this as God giving them over to a reprobate mind and judicial blindness. Clarke describes the enemies as “on the utmost verge of final reprobation,” where God acts without reserve in vindictive justice. The Cambridge Bible connects the covering to the veil in 2 Corinthians 3:15. While the language is severe, all agree the prophet is not issuing a personal curse, but appealing to God as the only just judge to act according to His covenant and the enemies’ own deeds.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Active judicial hardening: God directly gives a covered, hard heart as a punitive act (Calvin, Gill, Clarke).
- Permission / withdrawal of mercy: God removes restraint and allows the already-stubborn heart to become fully hard (supported by Romans 1 and the broader biblical pattern).
What is clear: The verse is an appeal to God to execute justice on enemies, grounded in the covenant curses, and expresses the prophet’s trust that God will set things right.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning of 'meginat lev' | The Hebrew word indicates a covering or veil over the heart, resulting in blindness, hardness, or stupidity. | Some (Calvin, Gill) see it as active divine imposition; others (modern interpreters) view it as passive withdrawal of grace. |
| Imprecatory nature of the prayer | All agree the verse is a petition for God to judge the enemies of the righteous. | Some readers treat it as a prescriptive model for prayer; others insist it is a descriptive cry that must be read in light of New Testament love for enemies. |
| Application for Christians today | Christians should not use this verse to justify personal vengeful attitudes. | Traditions differ: some see the imprecation as completely superseded by Jesus’ teaching; others argue that crying out for God’s justice remains valid within lament, as long as it is accompanied by love for the enemy. |
| The 'curse' and covenant theology | The curse (ta’alah) is grounded in the covenant sanctions of Deuteronomy. | Whether the curse is a specific malediction or an appeal for God to enforce covenant penalties is debated among commentators. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Lamentations is set in the ashes of Jerusalem after its destruction by Babylon in 586 BC. Tradition ascribes the book to Jeremiah, a prophet who had been mocked, imprisoned, and threatened. The chapter is an acrostic poem; verses 55, 66 form the final stanza, where the speaker moves from confession and hope to a cry for divine justice. The enemies are likely the Babylonian oppressors or Judean collaborators who persecuted the faithful.
In the ancient Near Eastern lament genre, such imprecations were not a license for personal revenge but a legal appeal to the covenant King. The word “curse” (ta’alah, H8381) echoes the covenant curses of Deuteronomy 27, 28, where God promises to judge covenant-breakers. The heart covering (meginat lev) is not a wish for the enemies’ misery but a request for God to withdraw mercy so they experience the full weight of their sin, a form of divine judgment already known from passages like Isaiah 6:10.
This verse sits in a section where the prophet also testifies to God’s faithfulness (v. 22, 23). The tension between hope and imprecation is characteristic of biblical lament: the sufferer speaks honestly to God, trusting Him to set things right even when that includes judgment.
Textual Notes
Consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Lamentations 3:65. The Masoretic Text is stable; the Septuagint renders the phrase as “covering of the heart,” which aligns with the Hebrew meginat lev. The verse is part of the acrostic structure and is well attested.
Reception History
Within Jewish tradition, this verse has been interpreted as a righteous plea for God to execute justice on oppressors. Early Christian readers struggled with the imprecatory tone, often allegorizing the enemies as spiritual forces. Calvin, in his commentary, read it as a prayer for God’s just hardening of the reprobate. In modern evangelical use, the verse is frequently cited as an example of the tension between Old Testament cries for judgment and the New Testament command to love enemies. It continues to provoke reflection on how to pray honestly about anger and injustice without losing sight of the gospel’s call to forgiveness.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- Justice entrusted to God, The prophet does not strike back but hands the case over to the only righteous judge.
- Hardness as divine judgment, God can give people over to their own stubborn hearts, a sobering reality seen in Romans 1.
- From imprecation to enemy love, The New Covenant calls believers to pray for enemies while still longing for justice; Jesus absorbs the curse on the cross.
Five-point outline
- Context: the sufferer’s protest, The prophet had been mocked and plotted against (vv. 61, 63).
- The petition: a covering of heart, Blindness and hardness as God’s passive or active judgment.
- The curse as covenant sanction, Oath language ties back to Deuteronomy curses.
- Genre: lament, not model, Scripture records raw emotions; not every prayer is prescriptive.
- New Covenant transformation, Christ commands love for enemies, turning the cry for vengeance into a call for grace.
Illustration hooks
- A victim of betrayal cries out in a journal for God to “make them pay,” then wrestles with what that means.
- A judge in court must deliver a sentence that holds the offender accountable, not out of hatred but justice.
- A parent watches a child stubbornly refuse help and wonders when to intervene and when to let consequences teach.
Questions your congregation is asking
- If God is love, why does the Bible include prayers for people to be cursed?
- When I feel anger toward someone who hurt me, is it a sin to even feel that way?
- How do I pray imprecatory psalms honestly without becoming bitter?
Leading a Discussion
Start by acknowledging that Lamentations 3:65 can feel jarring. It invites us to consider how people in extreme suffering cried out to God, and how the whole Bible, from imprecation to enemy love, shapes our response to injustice.
Discussion questions
- What emotions surface for you when you read this verse? Is it difficult to imagine praying this way?
- Why does the context of the fall of Jerusalem matter for understanding the prophet’s words?
- The Hebrew word meginat means “covering” or “veil.” What does it suggest about God’s role in hardening hearts (see also Isaiah 6:10)?
- How does the covenant curse language of Deuteronomy compare with verses like Psalm 109:17, 18?
- How does Jesus’ command to “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44) challenge or deepen our reading of this verse?
- Is it legitimate to ask God to “give someone what they deserve”? What does that reveal about our own hearts?
- How can we hold together the cry for justice and the call to forgiveness in our own prayers?
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)
| Deuteronomy 2:30 | But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as it is today. |
| Deuteronomy 27:15 | ‘Cursed is the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to Yahweh, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’ |
| Deuteronomy 27:26 | ‘Cursed is he who doesn’t uphold the words of this law by doing them.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’” |
| Psalms 109:17 | Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He didn’t delight in blessing, and it was far from him. |
| Psalms 109:18 | He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones. |
| Isaiah 6:10 | Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.” |
| I Corinthians 16:22 | If any man doesn’t love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be cursed. Come, Lord! |
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
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke sees this as God giving the rebellious over to complete spiritual hardness, no longer holding back judgment. The curse now comes freely and without reluctance, because every hope of amendment is gone. They stand on the edge of final ruin, with only one step left before eternal loss.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin sees the curse as something far worse than physical pain: a deliberate blindness of heart that leaves a person spiritually stupefied. To be so crushed by evil that you no longer have the sense to pray is, for him, the ultimate judgment God can send.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator notes that "hardness" means a covering, as in 2 Corinthians 3:15. The phrase "thy curse unto them" should not be read as a prayer for a curse. It is either dependent on "wilt give" or stands as a straightforward statement of consequence.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
Giue them sorow of heart, euen thy curse to them.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill points out a wordplay between the phrase "sorrow of heart" and the word for "music" in Lamentations. Since the enemies made God's people an object of mocking songs, he argues, God will give them a different kind of music—a doleful, grieving one.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB argues that the word commonly translated as sorrow here should actually be rendered blindness or hardness. It refers to a veil covering the heart, a condition that allows people to rush headlong toward their own destruction.
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.