Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Lamentations 3:48 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 48. 48Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse makes the speaker's eye pour rivers for the destruction of Daughter Zion's people.
Confession is followed by a cloud over prayer
This verse is one part of that explanation in Lamentations 3:43-48. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Lamentations 3:43-48
Read Lamentations 3:48 with 3:43-48. This verse makes the speaker's eye pour rivers for the destruction of Daughter Zion's people. The complete unit establishes this movement: Immediately after confession, the communal voice says divine anger has pursued and killed without pity and blocked prayer; enemies gape, fear and devastation arrive, and the individual voice weeps for Daughter Zion.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The poem reopens the complaint after self-examination, preventing a linear move from sin to simple reassurance. Within that movement, this verse makes the speaker's eye pour rivers for the destruction of Daughter Zion's people.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water”
In plain language: This verse makes the speaker's eye pour rivers for the destruction of Daughter Zion's people.
Tears can be communal witness.
Why it matters: The wording marks this verse's distinct contribution to the poem.
How certain? strongWhat Remains True
Tears can be communal witness.
How It Can Shape Life
- Allow grief to testify without demanding composure.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Lamentations 3:43-48 — Anger, Blocked Prayer, Enemies, and Tears ReturnSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and canonical verse coverage.
Exact location: Lamentations 3:43-48, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Lamentations
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, alphabet sequence, person and number, repeated vocabulary, and translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lam.xml, OSIS Lam.3.43-Lam.3.48
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Lamentations with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew, syntax, textual, acrostic, literary, historical, and translation notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Lamentations PDF, printed pp. 1565-1571, translation and notes on 3:43-48
Open source ↗