Here's another one of those, 'I just can't tell who's doing what' :

Lamentations 3:26

"It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD'

Shouldn't that be Man's (mankind's) salvation? Who's being saved here?

I don't know if I fully understand what you're asking here.. but I think you are just looking at the sentence the wrong way..
It is saying that it is good to have hope and patience for the Lord to save us.

Yeah, but it says 'for the salvation of the LORD'
shouldn't that read 'for the salvation of man'

Maybe I need to recheck the definition of salvation'...?? this verse makes it sound as if the LORD is the one being saved...or maybe it's just me, LOL!
Thanks for your reply, bleach'

Methinks you have misunderstood the grammar. It might help to go in context with verse 24-26.

24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;

26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.

One would think the person writing this is waiting for the salvation of the Lord - or in other words, the salvation that the Lord offers.

Just a thought

Thanks so much for your response, Paranoid Android
Maybe I should being using 'Paranoid' in my screen name, I'm very paranoid of my own thinking...I don't think the left side of my brain as every met the right side!
I'm still seeing this sentence as implying that the LORD is having salvation extended to him...??? the act of saving or state of being saved
'for the salvation of the LORD'

salvation of man from or through the LORD...salvation of the LORD It's got me confused! Thanks again!

The Lord is the one who will bring salvation to man not the other way around. I think you are just misunderstanding the sentence.



Exactly, since this is found in the old testament.

This verse has a lovely Quaker ring to it.

.... ... ...sorry .... !!

On a serious note guys...If I said wait for the salvation of man, there would be very little question to what the meaning of that is "man being saved"
so what gives this salvation of any different meaning when the LORD is placed after the of'? I just don't get it??

In both expressions, salvation of the Lord and salvation of man, the prepositional phrase is the dative case of the personal noun, here, the "relative dative." Each asserts that there is some relationship between the Lord or man, respectively, and salvation.

The tricky part, of course, is that it is not the same relationship in each expression, even if it is the same dative case.

Language expects you to sort this out, based on your understanding of what salvation is, who the Lord is, and where men fit in to all of this.


The intentions of the author, who was a very holy dude.

Thanks so much Eight bits
Relative data' and tricky parts' ??

Salvation: the act of saving or state of being saved, as from danger or destruction. A means or agent of salvation??

The sentence still reads the salvation of the LORD, hence, (the act or state of being saved) of the LORD...implying the LORD is the one being acted upon...that's without the tricky parts though'

I like that 'very holy dude' LOL!

I'm curious if there is another intent for this thread? Surely you can see it is just saying the salvation the Lord brings. His plan of salvation.

Sorry, Bleach
I mean no offense and I am grateful for everyone's input on the questions I ask.
'Many blessings

No need to apologize for anything Ciss. I was just wondering if you were trying to show us something or point something out.