Lamentations 3:43

43 “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity.

Lamentations 3:43 in Other Translations

KJV
43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
ESV
43 "You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity;
NLT
43 “You have engulfed us with your anger, chased us down, and slaughtered us without mercy.
MSG
43 "You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back. You chased us and cut us down without mercy.
CSB
43 You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without compassion.

Lamentations 3:43 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 3:43

Thou hast covered with anger
Either himself; not as a tender father, that cannot bear to see the affliction of a child; this does not suit with anger; but rather as one greatly displeased, in whose face anger appears, being covered with it; or who covers his face with it, that he may not be seen, withdrawing his gracious presence; or hast put anger as a wall between thee and us, as Jarchi: so that there was no coming nigh to him: or else it means covering his people with it; so the Targum,

``thou hast covered "us" with anger;''
denoting the largeness and abundance of afflictions upon them; they were as it were covered with them, as tokens of the divine displeasure; one wave and billow after another passing over them. Sanctius thinks the allusion is to the covering of the faces of condemned malefactors, as a token of their being guilty: and persecuted us;
the Targum adds, in captivity; that is, pursued and followed us with fresh instances of anger and resentment; to have men to be persecutors is bad, but to have God to be a persecutor is dreadful: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied;
had suffered them to be stain by the sword of the enemy, and had shown no compassion to them; (See Gill on Lamentations 2:21); here, and in some following verses, the prophet, or the people he represents, are got to complaining again; though before he had checked himself for it; so hard it is under afflictions to put in practice what should be done by ourselves and others.

Lamentations 3:43 In-Context

41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say:
42 “We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.
43 “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.
45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.

Cross References 2

  • 1. ver 66; Psalms 35:6
  • 2. S La 2:2,17,21
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