Lamentations 3:11

He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.

דְּרָכַ֥י my ways H1870

דְּרָכַ֥י my ways

Strong's: H1870

Word #: 1 of 5

a road (as trodden); figuratively, a course of life or mode of action, often adverb

סוֹרֵ֛ר He hath turned aside H5493

סוֹרֵ֛ר He hath turned aside

Strong's: H5493

Word #: 2 of 5

to turn off (literally or figuratively)

וַֽיְפַשְּׁחֵ֖נִי and pulled me in pieces H6582

וַֽיְפַשְּׁחֵ֖נִי and pulled me in pieces

Strong's: H6582

Word #: 3 of 5

to tear in pieces

שָׂמַ֥נִי he hath made H7760

שָׂמַ֥נִי he hath made

Strong's: H7760

Word #: 4 of 5

to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)

שֹׁמֵֽם׃ me desolate H8074

שֹׁמֵֽם׃ me desolate

Strong's: H8074

Word #: 5 of 5

to stun (or intransitively, grow numb), i.e., devastate or (figuratively) stupefy (both usually in a passive sense)

Analysis & Commentary

God pulls victim off path like predator dragging prey. Total helplessness before divine power. Romans 9:19-21 addresses sovereignty questions.

Military conquest dragged people from homes to exile—literal fulfillment of being pulled off the path.

When life violently changes direction, how do we trust sovereignty?
How does this image of being hunted and torn apart express the totality of suffering under God's judgment?
What can believers learn about facing seasons when God seems to have become an adversary?

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