Lamentations 3:8

8 though ¹I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;

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 made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.

7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy;

8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;

9 he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked.

10 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;

Cross References

• 1. 3:8 Job 19:7; 30:20; Ps. 22:2