Ekhah 3:8

8 Also when I cry and call out, He shutteth out my tefillah.

Ekhah 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 ) .

Ekhah 3:8 In-Context

6 He hath set me in dark places, like the mesei olam (long dead).

7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot escape; He hath made my chain heavy.

8 Also when I cry and call out, He shutteth out my tefillah.

9 He hath barred my ways with hewn stone, He hath made my paths crooked.

10 He was unto me like a dov (bear) lying in wait, and like an aryeh in mistarim (hiding places).