Lamentations 3:27 - Jeremiah's Hope

(27) Bear the yoke in his youth.--The words have been pressed "with a strange literalism" in favour of the view that the Lamentations were written in the youth of Jeremiah and on the death of Josiah. It may fairly be contended, on the other hand, that the tone of the maxim is that of one who looks back from the experience of age on the passionate complaints of his earlier years (Jeremiah 15:10; Jeremiah 20:7-18).

Verse 27. - In his youth. The thought of this verse reminds us of Psalm 119:71. Youth is mentioned as the time when it is easier to adapt one's self to circumstances, and when discipline is most readily accepted. The words do not prove that the writer is young, any more than vers. 9 and 100 of Psalm 119. prove that the psalmist was an aged man (against this view, see vers. 84-87). There is no occasion, therefore, for the textual alteration (for as such I cannot help regarding it), "from his youth," found in some Hebrew manuscripts in Theodotion, in the Aldine edition of the Septuagint, and in the Vulgate. The reading was probably dictated by the unconscious endeavour to prop up the theory of Jeremiah's authorship. The scribes and translators remembered, inopportunely, that the trials of Jeremiah began in early manhood. Parallel Commentaries ...

Hebrew

It is good
ט֣וֹב (ṭō·wḇ)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 2896: Pleasant, agreeable, good

for a man
לַגֶּ֔בֶר (lag·ge·ḇer)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1397: A valiant man, warrior, a person simply

to bear
יִשָּׂ֥א (yiś·śā)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5375: To lift, carry, take

the yoke
עֹ֖ל (‘ōl)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5923: A yoke

while he is still young.
בִּנְעוּרָֽיו׃ (bin·‘ū·rāw)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 5271: Youth, the state, the persons

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Lamentations 3:27 Catholic BibleOT Prophets: Lamentations 3:27 It is good for a man that (Lam. La Lm)