Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, August 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Lamentations 3:7

God built a fence around me that I cannot climb over, and he chained me down.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Chains;   Despondency;   Hedge;   Thompson Chain Reference - Human;   Limitations, Human;   Man;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Hedges;   Judgments;  

Dictionaries:

- Fausset Bible Dictionary - Lamentations;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Hedge;   Lamentations, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Acrostic;   Lamentations, Book of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Chains;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Chain;   Hedge;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Fence;   Heavy;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Arabia;   Chains;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He has walled me in so I cannot get out;he has weighed me down with chains.
Hebrew Names Version
He has walled me about, that I can't go forth; he has made my chain heavy.
King James Version
He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
English Standard Version
He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy;
New American Standard Bible
He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.
New Century Version
He shut me in so I could not get out; he put heavy chains on me.
Amplified Bible
He walled me in so that I cannot get out; He has weighted down my chain.
World English Bible
He has walled me about, that I can't go forth; he has made my chain heavy.
Geneva Bible (1587)
He hath hedged about mee, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chaines heauy.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.
Legacy Standard Bible
He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;He has made my chain heavy.
Berean Standard Bible
He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
Complete Jewish Bible
He has walled me in, so I can't escape; he has weighed me down with chains.
Darby Translation
He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
Easy-to-Read Version
He shut me in, so I could not get out. He put heavy chains on me.
George Lamsa Translation
He has hedged me about, that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy.
Good News Translation
He has bound me in chains; I am a prisoner with no hope of escape.
Lexham English Bible
He has built a wall around me, I cannot go out; he has made my bronze fetters heavy.
Literal Translation
He walled around me and I cannot go out; He has made heavy my bronze chain .
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He hath so hedged me in, that I can not get out, & hath layed heuy lynckes vpon me.
American Standard Version
He hath walled me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain heavy.
Bible in Basic English
He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
He hath hedged me about, that I cannot go forth; He hath made my chain heavy.
King James Version (1611)
He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: hee hath made my chaine heauie.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
He hath so hedged me in, that I can not get out, and hath layde heauie linkes vpon me.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
He has builded against me, and I cannot come forth: he has made my brazen chain heavy.
English Revised Version
He hath fenced me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain heavy.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Gymel. He bildide aboute ayens me, that Y go not out; he aggregide my gyues.
Update Bible Version
He has walled me about, that I can't go forth; he has made my chain heavy.
Webster's Bible Translation
He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
New English Translation

ג (Gimel)

He has walled me in so that I cannot get out; he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains.
New King James Version
He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy.
New Living Translation
He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains.
New Life Bible
He has put a wall around me so that I cannot go out. He has put heavy chains on me.
New Revised Standard
He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me;
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
He hath walled up around me, that I cannot get out, hath weighted my fetter;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.
Revised Standard Version
He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me;
Young's Literal Translation
He hath hedged me about, and I go not out, He hath made heavy my fetter.
THE MESSAGE
He shuts me in so I'll never get out, manacles my hands, shackles my feet. Even when I cry out and plead for help, he locks up my prayers and throws away the key. He sets up blockades with quarried limestone. He's got me cornered.

Contextual Overview

1 The Prophet Speaks: I have suffered much because God was angry. 2 He chased me into a dark place, where no light could enter. 3 I am the only one he punishes over and over again, without ever stopping. 4 God caused my skin and flesh to waste away, and he crushed my bones. 5 He attacked and surrounded me with hardships and trouble; 6 he forced me to sit in the dark like someone long dead. 7 God built a fence around me that I cannot climb over, and he chained me down. 8 Even when I shouted and prayed for help, he refused to listen. 9 God put big rocks in my way and made me follow a crooked path. 10 God was like a bear or a lion waiting in ambush for me;

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

hedged: Lamentations 3:9, Job 3:23, Job 19:8, Psalms 88:8, Jeremiah 38:6, Hosea 2:6

made: Lamentations 1:14, Lamentations 5:5, Daniel 9:12

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 33:11 - among the thorns Job 7:12 - I a sea Psalms 107:10 - bound Lamentations 3:5 - builded Ezekiel 7:23 - a chain

Cross-References

Genesis 2:25
Although the man and his wife were both naked, they were not ashamed.
Genesis 3:5
"God understands what will happen on the day you eat fruit from that tree. You will see what you have done, and you will know the difference between right and wrong, just as God does."
Genesis 3:10
The man answered, "I was naked, and when I heard you walking through the garden, I was frightened and hid!"
Genesis 3:11
"How did you know you were naked?" God asked. "Did you eat any fruit from that tree in the middle of the garden?"
Deuteronomy 28:34
What you see will be so horrible that you will go insane,
2 Kings 6:20
When all the soldiers were inside the city, Elisha prayed, " Lord , now let them see again." The Lord let them see that they were standing in the middle of Samaria.
Isaiah 28:20
Your bed is too short, your blanket too skimpy.
Isaiah 59:6
but you can't make clothes with those webs or hide behind them. You're sinful and brutal.
Luke 16:23
He went to hell and was suffering terribly. When he looked up and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He hath hedged me about, that I cannot go out,.... When in prison, or in the dungeon, or during the siege of Jerusalem; though the phrase may only denote in general the greatness of his troubles, with which he was encompassed, and how inextricable they were; like a hedge about a vineyard, or a wall about a city, which could not easily be got over:

he hath made my chain heavy; his affliction intolerable. It is a metaphor taken from malefactors that have heavy chains put upon their legs, that they may not make their escape out of prison: or, "my brass" g; that is, chains, or a chain made of brass; so the Targum,

"he hath made heavy upon my feet fetters of brass.''

g נחשתי χαλκον μου Sept. "aes meum, [vel] chalybem meum", Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The prophet feels as if enclosed within walls, and fettered.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 7. He hath hedged me about — This also may refer to the lines drawn round the city during the siege. But these and similar expressions in the following verses may be merely metaphorical, to point out their straitened, oppressed, and distressed state.


 
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