Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.

LAMENTATIONS 1:22KJV
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Lamentations 1:22 (KJV)

What does Lamentations 1:22 mean?

Lamentations 1:22 is a plea for God to see the wickedness of Jerusalem’s enemies and to judge them in the same way He has judged Jerusalem for her own sins. The speaker, overwhelmed by suffering and sorrow, asks God to treat others as He has treated her people, because her pain and exhaustion are great.

The verse is spoken by the personified city of Jerusalem, crying out to God after experiencing devastation and exile. Jerusalem acknowledges her own “transgressions” but now asks God to notice the wrongs done by others and to bring justice. The verse ends with a picture of deep grief: many sighs and a faint heart, showing the emotional and physical toll of the city’s suffering.

The Hebrew behind Lamentations 1:22

  • “wickedness” (רָעָה, ra‘ah): This word often means evil or harm, and here it refers to the wrongs committed by Jerusalem’s enemies. The speaker wants God to pay attention to these acts, not just her own sins.
  • “transgressions” (פֶּשַׁע, pesha‘): This word means rebellion or breaking away from what is right. Jerusalem admits her own guilt, which is why she has suffered, but now asks for the same standard to be applied to her enemies.
  • “sighs” (נְאָקָה, ne’akah): This word describes deep groaning or moaning, highlighting the intense suffering and grief Jerusalem feels.
  • “faint” (דָּוֶה, davveh): This word means weak, sick, or faint-hearted, showing that the speaker’s suffering has left her emotionally and physically drained.

Why Lamentations 1:22 matters

  • Lamentations 1:22 shows that Jerusalem recognizes her own guilt but also longs for fairness, asking God to judge others by the same measure.
  • The verse highlights the depth of Jerusalem’s suffering, not just as punishment but as something that leaves her desperate and exhausted.
  • This plea connects to the larger theme of Lamentations, where the city mourns her fate but still turns to God, hoping for justice and restoration.

Where else these words appear

“faint” Hebrew H1742 · used in 3 verses

  • Isaiah 1:5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
  • Jeremiah 8:18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.

“sighs” Hebrew H585 · used in 11 verses

  • Job 3:24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
  • Psalms 31:10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.
  • Isaiah 21:2 A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.

“do” Hebrew H5953 · used in 18 verses

  • Exodus 10:2 And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the LORD.
  • Judges 20:45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.
  • Isaiah 3:12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

“transgressions” Hebrew H6588 · used in 90 verses

  • Genesis 31:36 And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?
  • Psalms 51:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
  • Lamentations 1:5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.