Lamentations 3:28-30

28-30. He sitteth The verbs commencing these verses are apocopated futures, and should be rendered with a passive sense, as: Let him sit alone and keep silence; Let him put his mouth in the dust; Let him give his cheek, etc. The second clause of Lamentations 3:28 should read: For He (God) hath laid on him the burden. “There is a certain gradation in the three verses that is quite unmistakable. The sitting alone and in silence is comparatively the easiest; it is harder to place the mouth in the dust, and yet cling to hope; it is most difficult of all to give the cheek to the smiter, and to satiate one’s self with dishonour.” Keil.