Lamentations 3:56

56 Hear my voice. Don't close your ear to my need for relief, to my cry for help.

Lamentations 3:56 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 3:56

Thou hast heard my voice
Either in times past, when he cried unto him, and was delivered; and this was an encouragement to call upon him again in such extremity, who had shown himself to be a God hearing and answering prayer; hence it follows: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry;
turn not a deaf ear to me, who hast been wont to hear me heretofore; stop not thine ear at my cry now, at my prayer, which he calls his "breathing"; prayer is the breath of a soul regenerated by the Spirit, and is a sign and evidence of life, when it is spiritual; in it a soul pants after God, and communion with him, and salvation by him. Some render it, "at my gasping" ^F19; or "panting", for breath; just ready to expire, unless immediate help is given: or else the whole of this refers to the present time, when the Lord heard and answered, not only the first clause, but this also; which may be rendered, not by way of petition, but affirmation, "thou didst not hide thine ear at my breathing, at my cry" {t}; and this agrees both with what goes before, and with what is expressed in ( Lamentations 3:57 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (ytxwrl) "ad anhelitum meum", Cocceius; "ad respirationem meam", Pagnius, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
F20 (Mlet la) "non avertisti", Grotius.

Lamentations 3:56 In-Context

54 water flowed over my head. I thought: I'm finished.

55 I call on your name, LORD, from the depths of the pit.

56 Hear my voice. Don't close your ear to my need for relief, to my cry for help.

57 Come near to me on the day I call to you. Say to me, "Don't be afraid."

58 My Lord! Plead my desperate case; redeem my life.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or You didn’t close your ear.
• [b]. Or You have heard my voice.