New Living Translation
Lamentations 3:40
40Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord.
Lamentations 3:40 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.
- New International Version (NIV)Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!
- New King James Version (NKJV)Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord;
Context of Lamentations 3:40
38Does not the Most High send both calamity and good? 39Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins? Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord. 41Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say, 42“We have sinned and rebelled, and you have not forgiven us.
Read all of Lamentations 3Lamentations 3:40 word by word
נַחְפְּשָׂ֤ה דְרָכֵ֙ינוּ֙ וְֽנַחְקֹ֔רָה וְנָשׁ֖וּבָה עַד־יְהוָֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Lamentations 3:40
- 1 Chronicles 15:12He said to them, “You are the leaders of the Levite families. You must purify yourselves and all your fellow Levites, so you can bring the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it.
- Job 11:13“If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer!
- Job 34:31“Why don’t people say to God, ‘I have sinned, but I will sin no more’?
- Psalms 4:4Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent. Interlude
- Psalms 119:59I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your laws.
- Psalms 139:23Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
- Ezekiel 18:28They will live because they thought it over and decided to turn from their sins. Such people will not die.
- Haggai 1:5This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you!
- 1 Corinthians 11:28That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.
- 2 Corinthians 13:5Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.
- Deuteronomy 4:30“In the distant future, when you are suffering all these things, you will finally return to the Lord your God and listen to what he tells you.
- 2 Chronicles 30:6At the king’s command, runners were sent throughout Israel and Judah. They carried letters that said: “O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he will return to the few of us who have survived the conquest of the Assyrian kings.
- Isaiah 55:7Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.
- Hosea 6:1“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds.
- Hosea 12:6So now, come back to your God. Act with love and justice, and always depend on him.
- Hosea 14:1Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sins have brought you down.
Commentaries on Lamentations 3:40
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 40Let us search - How are we to get the pardon of our sins? The prophet tells us: Let us examine ourselves. "Let us turn again to the Lord." "Let us lift up our heart;" let us make fervent prayer and supplication for mercy. "Let us lift up our hand;" let us solemnly promise to be his, and bind ourselves in a covenant to be the Lord's only: so much lifting up the hand to God implies. Or, let us put our heart on our hand, and offer it to God; so some have…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 40-42Verses 40-42 The prophet urges men to search out their faults and amend them. Lamentations 3:40 And turn again to the Lord - Or, “and return to Yahweh.” The prep. (to) in the Hebrew implies not half way, but the whole. Lamentations 3:41 Literally, “Let us lift up our heart unto our hands unto God in heaven;” as if the heart first lifted up the hands, and then with them mounted up in prayer to God. In real prayer the outward expression is caused by the…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 37-41Verses 37-41 While there is life there is hope; and instead of complaining that things are bad, we should encourage ourselves with the hope they will be better. We are sinful men, and what we complain of, is far less than our sins deserve. We should complain to God, and not of him. We are apt, in times of calamity, to reflect on other people's ways, and blame them; but our duty is to search and try our own ways, that we may turn from evil to God. Our…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 40-42Repentance is essential for receiving salvation (Isaiah 1:27; Jeremiah 3:22; Ezekiel 3:21).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 40-4240-42. us--Jeremiah and his fellow countrymen in their calamity. search--as opposed to the torpor wherewith men rest only on their outward sufferings, without attending to the cause of them (Psa 139:23, 24).Read the comment
Topics related to Lamentations 3:40
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Lamentations 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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