Lamentations 3:8

8 And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers.

Lamentations 3:8 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 3:8

Also when I cry and shout
Cry, because of the distress of the enemy within; "shout", or cry aloud for help from others without; as persons in a prison do, to make them hear and pity their case: thus the prophet in his affliction cried aloud to God; was fervent, earnest, and importunate in prayer; and yet not heard: he shutteth out my prayer;
shuts the door, that it may not enter; as the door is sometimes shut upon beggars, that their cry may not be heard. The Targum is,

``the house of my prayer is shut.''
Jarchi interprets it of the windows of the firmament being shut, so that his prayer could not pass through, or be heard; see ( Lamentations 3:44 ) . The phrase designs God's disregard, or seeming disregard, of the prayer of the prophet, or of the people; and his shutting his ears against it. Of this, as the Messiah's case, see ( Psalms 22:2 ) .

Lamentations 3:8 In-Context

6 He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead.
7 He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains.
8 And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers.
9 He has blocked my way with a high stone wall; he has made my road crooked.
10 He has hidden like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.