Lamentations 3:4

4 He turned me into a scarecrow of skin and bones, then broke the bones.

Lamentations 3:4 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 3:4

My flesh and my skin hath he made old
His flesh with blows, and his skin with smiting, as the Targum; his flesh was so emaciated, and his skin so withered and wrinkled, that he looked like an old man; as our Lord, when little more than thirty years of age, what with his sorrows and troubles, looked like one about fifty: he hath broken my bones;
that is, his strength was greatly weakened, which lay in his bones; and he could not stir to help himself, any more than a man whose bones are broken; and was in as much pain and distress as if this had been his case; otherwise it was not literally true, either of the Jews, or of Jeremiah, or of Christ.

Lamentations 3:4 In-Context

2 He took me by the hand and walked me into pitch-black darkness.
3 Yes, he's given me the back of his hand over and over and over again.
4 He turned me into a scarecrow of skin and bones, then broke the bones.
5 He hemmed me in, ganged up on me, poured on the trouble and hard times.
6 He locked me up in deep darkness, like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.