Lamentations 3:4 (DBY)

Passage

My flesh and my skin hath he wasted away, he hath broken my bones.

Nearby Context

Lamentations 3:2 Me hath he led, and brought into darkness, and not into light.

Lamentations 3:3 Surely against me hath he turned again and again his hand all the day.

Lamentations 3:4 My flesh and my skin hath he wasted away, he hath broken my bones.

Lamentations 3:5 He hath built against me, and encompassed [me] with gall and toil.

Lamentations 3:6 He hath made me to dwell in dark places as those that have been long dead.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "flesh", "skin", "hath", "wasted", "away", "broken", and "bones". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "flesh" and "skin", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "Surely against me hath he turned again..." into verse 5's "He hath built against me and encompassed...", so "flesh" and "skin" 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 "flesh" and "skin" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.