Lamentations 3:7

ג (Gimel)

3:7 He has walled me in so that I cannot get out;

he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains.

Lamentations 3:9

3:9 He has blocked every road I take with a wall of hewn stones;

he has made every path impassable.


tn The verb גָּדַר (garad) has a two-fold range of meanings: (1) “to build up a wall” with stones, and (2) “to block a road” with a wall of stones. The imagery depicts the Lord building a wall to seal off personified Jerusalem with no way of escape out of the city, or the Lord blocking the road of escape. Siege imagery prevails in 3:4-6, but 3:7-9 pictures an unsuccessful escape that is thwarted due to blocked roads in 3:7 and 3:9.

tn Heb “he has made heavy my chains.”

tn The verb גָּדַר (garad) has a two-fold range of meanings: (1) “to build up a wall” with stones, and (2) “to block a road” with a wall of stones. The collocated terms דְּרָכַי (dÿrakhay, “my roads”) in 3:9 clearly indicate that the second category of meaning is in view.

tn Heb “my roads.”

tn Heb “he had made my paths crooked.” The implication is that the paths by which one might escape cannot be traversed.