What Does Lamentations 3:28 Mean in the King James?
He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The root behind “keepeth silence” also means to be still, so this quiet is not empty; it is stillness held beneath a weight.
THE MEANING
When weight rests on you, this verse gives solitude and quiet a place within the bearing of it. The silence does not erase the weight; it names a stillness held beneath it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that a burden is being borne only when it is answered with words or visible struggle; here, silence is also part of bearing it.
THE ROOT
יִדֹּם
yiddom
GROWS FROM
דמם
D-M-M
To be silent, still, or cease.
The verb yiddom comes from a root that carries both silence and stillness. English can make “keepeth silence” sound like only a lack of speech; the Hebrew also evokes coming to quiet beneath what has been laid upon you.
ALSO GROWS
demamah: Stillness, quiet, or silence.
דְּמָמָה
This related noun shows that the root names a state of quiet, not just the act of saying nothing.
dumiyyah: Silence or stillness.
דּוּמִיָּה
This branch appears in verses about waiting upon God, linking quiet with remaining present under expectation.
THE PATTERN
Stillness becomes a way of meeting what presses on a person, even while the burden or trouble remains.
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.THE THREAD
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.“Rest” here comes from the same Hebrew root דמם as “keepeth silence” in Lamentations. In one verse the quiet is held beneath a weight; in the other it becomes waiting while another’s way seems to prosper.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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