Lamentations 3:46 (ASV)

Passage

All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.

Nearby Context

Lamentations 3:44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.

Lamentations 3:45 Thou hast made us an off-scouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.

Lamentations 3:46 All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.

Lamentations 3:47 Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and destruction.

Lamentations 3:48 Mine eye runneth down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "enemies", "opened", "mouth", "wide", and "against". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "enemies" and "opened", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 45's "Thou hast made us an off-scouring and..." into verse 47's "Fear and the pit are come upon...", so "enemies" and "opened" belong inside that flow. In Lamentations context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "enemies" and "opened" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.