Lamentations 3:36-38
New English Translation
מ (Mem)
37 Whose command was ever fulfilled[c]
unless the Lord[d] decreed it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes—
both calamity and blessing?[e]
Footnotes
- Lamentations 3:36 tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.
- Lamentations 3:36 tn Heb “the Lord does not see.” The verb רָאָה (raʾah, “to see”) is here used in reference to mental observation and approval: “to gaze at” with joy and pleasure (e.g., 2 Kgs 10:16; Mic 7:9; Jer 29:32; Isa 52:8; Job 20:17; 33:28; Pss 54:9 HT [54:7 ET]; 106:5; 128:5; Song 3:11; 6:11; Eccl 2:1). If the line is parallel to the end of v. 35, then a circumstantial clause, “the Lord not seeing,” would be appropriate. The infinitives in 34-36 would then depend on the verbs in v. 33; see D. R. Hillers, Lamentations (AB), 71.
- Lamentations 3:37 tn Heb “Who is this, he spoke and it came to pass?” The general sense is to ask whose commands are fulfilled. The phrase “he spoke and it came to pass” is taken as an allusion to the creation account (see Gen 1:3).
- Lamentations 3:37 tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.
- Lamentations 3:38 tn Heb “From the mouth of the Most High does it not go forth, both evil and good?”
Lamentations 3:36-38
King James Version
36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
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Lamentations 3:36-38
New International Version
36 to deprive them of justice—
    would not the Lord see such things?(A)
Lamentations 3:36-38
New King James Version
36 Or subvert a man in his cause—
(A)The Lord does not approve.
37 Who is he (B)who speaks and it comes to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That (C)woe and well-being proceed?
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