What does Lamentations 3:56 mean?
"Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry." - Lamentations 3:56

The verse Lamentations 3:56 from the King James Version of the Bible reads: "Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry." This verse comes from the book of Lamentations, which is a collection of five poems mourning the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The book is traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah and reflects the intense emotions of grief, despair, and lamentation felt by the Jewish people at that time.
The context of Lamentations 3:56 is one of deep anguish and desperation. In the preceding verses, the author laments the suffering and affliction that he has endured, feeling abandoned and forsaken by God. He cries out to God, pleading for mercy and for his prayers to be heard. The verse captures the sentiment of the author's earnest plea for God to not ignore his suffering but to listen and respond to his cries for help.
One of the prominent themes in this verse is the idea of divine attentiveness and responsiveness. The author expresses a sense of longing for God to acknowledge his pain and to provide comfort and relief in his distress. Through the imagery of God hearing the author's voice and not hiding his ear at his breathing or cry, there is a profound sense of vulnerability and dependency on the part of the author, as well as an expectation of God's compassionate and merciful response.
The verse also conveys the intimate relationship between the author and God. Despite the author's feelings of abandonment and despair, there is an underlying faith and trust in God's willingness to hear and respond to his pleas. This reflects the enduring hope and belief in God's compassion and faithfulness, even in the darkest moments of suffering and grief.
Symbolically, the act of God hearing the author's voice and not hiding his ear at his breathing or cry represents a deep spiritual connection between the human and the divine. It signifies the belief that God is attentive and responsive to the prayers and supplications of his people, even in the midst of profound suffering and despair. It also reflects the power of prayer as a means of communication and communion with God, and the belief in the transformative and healing potential of divine intervention.
Overall, Lamentations 3:56 from the King James Version of the Bible conveys a powerful expression of human suffering and longing for divine comfort and intervention. It captures the deep emotional and spiritual turmoil experienced by the author in the face of overwhelming adversity and loss. Through its themes of divine attentiveness, intimate relationship with God, and the symbolism of prayer and spiritual connection, the verse resonates with the universal human experience of enduring hardship and turning to faith and hope for solace and redemption.
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Lamentations 3:56 Artwork
Lamentations 3:56 - "Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry."
"Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry." - Lamentations 3:56
Isaiah 56:3-5
Psalms 56:3
Psalms 56:3 - "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee."
Lamentations 3:13
Lamentations 3:1-18
Lamentations 3:31 - "For the Lord will not cast off for ever:"
Lamentations 3:23 - "They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."
Lamentations 5:3 - "We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows."
Lamentations 3:36 - "To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not."
Lamentations 3:3 - "Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day."
Lamentations 3:27 - "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth."
Lamentations 3:38 - "Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?"
Lamentations 3:47 - "Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction."
Lamentations 3:19 - "Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall."
Lamentations 3:34 - "To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,"
Lamentations 3:50 - "Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven."
Lamentations 3:37 - "ΒΆ Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?"
Lamentations 3:29 - "He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope."
Lamentations 3:2 - "He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light."
Lamentations 3:21 - "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope."
Lamentations 3:45 - "Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people."
Lamentations 3:49 - "Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,"
Lamentations 3:20 - "My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me."
Lamentations 3:35 - "To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,"
Lamentations 3:46 - "All our enemies have opened their mouths against us."
Lamentations 3:63 - "Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick."
Lamentations 3:33 - "For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men."
Lamentations 3:65 - "Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them."