Lamentations 3:54
New International Version
the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish.

New Living Translation
The water rose over my head, and I cried out, “This is the end!”

English Standard Version
water closed over my head; I said, ‘I am lost.’

Berean Standard Bible
The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.

King James Bible
Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.

New King James Version
The waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!”

New American Standard Bible
Waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!”

NASB 1995
Waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!”

NASB 1977
Waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!”

Legacy Standard Bible
Waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!”

Amplified Bible
The waters ran down on my head; I said, “I am cut off (destroyed)!”

Christian Standard Bible
Water flooded over my head, and I thought, “I’m going to die! ”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Water flooded over my head, and I thought: I’m going to die!

American Standard Version
Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off.

Contemporary English Version
Water covered my head--I thought I was gone.

English Revised Version
Waters flowed over mine head; I said, I am cut off.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Water flowed over my head. I thought I was finished.

Good News Translation
Water began to close over me, and I thought death was near.

International Standard Version
Water closed over my head, and I said, "I'm a dead man."

Majority Standard Bible
The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.

NET Bible
The waters closed over my head; I thought I was about to die.

New Heart English Bible
Waters flowed over my head; I said, 'I am finished.'

Webster's Bible Translation
Waters flowed over my head; then I said, I am cut off.

World English Bible
Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.”
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Waters have flowed over my head, I have said, I have been cut off.

Young's Literal Translation
Flowed have waters over my head, I have said, I have been cut off.

Smith's Literal Translation
Waters were spread over my head; I said I was cut off.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off.

Catholic Public Domain Version
SADE. The waters have flooded over my head. I said, “I am lost.”

New American Bible
The waters flowed over my head: and I said, “I am lost!”

New Revised Standard Version
water closed over my head; I said, “I am lost.”
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Water flowed over my head; then I said, I am cast far off.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
The waters flowed above my head. I said, “I am taken far away!”
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Waters flowed over my head; I said: 'I am cut off.'

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Water flowed over my head: I said, I am cut off.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God's Justice
53They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me. 54The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.

Cross References
Psalm 69:1-2
For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David. Save me, O God, for the waters are up to my neck. / I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me.

Jonah 2:3-5
For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me. / At this, I said, ‘I have been banished from Your sight; yet I will look once more toward Your holy temple.’ / The waters engulfed me to take my life; the watery depths closed around me; the seaweed wrapped around my head.

Psalm 42:7
Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.

Psalm 88:6-7
You have laid me in the lowest Pit, in the darkest of the depths. / Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah

Isaiah 43:2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Psalm 18:4-5
The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me. / The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

Psalm 124:4-5
then the floods would have engulfed us, then the torrent would have overwhelmed us, / then the raging waters would have swept us away.

Job 30:19
He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.

Psalm 40:12
For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.

Psalm 130:1
A song of ascents. Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD!

2 Samuel 22:5
For the waves of death engulfed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.

Matthew 12:40
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Romans 8:35
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

2 Corinthians 1:8-10
We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. / Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead. / He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us,

2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; / persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.


Treasury of Scripture

Waters flowed over my head; then I said, I am cut off.

waters

Psalm 18:4
The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.

Psalm 69:1,2,15
To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David. Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul…

Psalm 124:4,5
Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: …

I said

Lamentations 3:18
And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:

Job 17:11-16
My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart…

Psalm 31:22
For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.

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Lamentations 3
1. The prophet bewails his own calamities
22. By the mercies of God, he nourishes his hope
37. He acknowledges God's justice
55. He prays for deliverance
64. And vengeance on his enemies














The waters
In the Hebrew text, the word used here is "מַיִם" (mayim), which is often symbolic of chaos, distress, or overwhelming circumstances in the Old Testament. Water, in the ancient Near Eastern context, was both a source of life and a symbol of uncontrollable forces. In Lamentations, "the waters" metaphorically represent the overwhelming grief and suffering experienced by the people of Jerusalem after the Babylonian conquest. This imagery evokes the feeling of being engulfed by troubles, much like the floodwaters that covered the earth in the time of Noah.

closed over my head
The phrase "closed over my head" suggests a sense of being trapped or suffocated by one's circumstances. In Hebrew, the word "סָבַב" (sabab) means to surround or encircle, indicating a complete and inescapable encroachment. Historically, this reflects the siege of Jerusalem, where the city was surrounded by enemy forces, leaving the inhabitants with no escape. Spiritually, it speaks to the feeling of being overwhelmed by sin or despair, where one's own efforts seem futile, and divine intervention is desperately needed.

I thought
The Hebrew word "אָמַר" (amar) is used here, which can mean to say, think, or declare. This introspective moment reveals the internal struggle and despair of the speaker. It is a moment of personal reflection, where the individual acknowledges their dire situation. In the broader context of Lamentations, this reflects the communal lament and the personal acknowledgment of the consequences of sin and disobedience to God.

I am cut off
The phrase "I am cut off" uses the Hebrew "נִגְזַרְתִּי" (nigzar'ti), which conveys a sense of being severed or separated. This can be understood as a feeling of being cut off from God, hope, or life itself. In the historical context, it reflects the exile and the separation of the Israelites from their homeland and their temple, which was the center of their spiritual life. Spiritually, it resonates with the feeling of alienation from God due to sin, yet it also sets the stage for a yearning for reconciliation and redemption.

Verse 54. - I am cut off. Some words have to be supplied, and Psalm 31:22 suggests which these are: - "I am cut off from before thine eyes," i.e. from the region on which the eyes of God rest.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The waters
מַ֥יִם (ma·yim)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4325: Water, juice, urine, semen

flowed
צָֽפוּ־ (ṣā·p̄ū-)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 6687: To flow, overflow

over
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

my head,
רֹאשִׁ֖י (rō·šî)
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 7218: The head

and I thought
אָמַ֥רְתִּי (’ā·mar·tî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

I was going to die.
נִגְזָֽרְתִּי׃ (niḡ·zā·rə·tî)
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 1504: To cut down, off, to destroy, divide, exclude, decide


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OT Prophets: Lamentations 3:54 Waters flowed over my head (Lam. La Lm)
Lamentations 3:53
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