Lamentations 3:20

20 They are always on my mind; this is why I am so depressed.

Lamentations 3:20 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 3:20

My soul hath [them] still in remembrance
That is, according to our version, affliction and misery, compared to wormwood and gall: but the words, "my soul", are fetched from the next clause, where they ought to stand, and this to be rendered, "in remembering thou wilt remember" F20; or, "thou wilt surely remember", and so expresses the confidence of the prophet, and his firm belief, his faith and hope increasing in prayer, that God would in much mercy remember his people, and their afflictions, and save them out of them: and is humbled in me;
both under the afflicting hand of God, and in view and hope of his mercy: though rather it should be rendered, "and" or "for my soul meditateth within me" F21; says or suggests such things to me, that God will in wrath remember mercy; see ( Psalms 77:7 ) . So Jarchi makes mention of a Midrash, that interprets it of his soul's waiting till the time that God remembers.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 (rwkzt rwkz) "recordando recordaberis", Luther, Michaelis.
F21 (yvpn yle xyvtw) "meditatur apud me anima mea", Junius & Tremellius; "et animo meo meditor", Castalio.

Lamentations 3:20 In-Context

18 that I think, "My strength is gone, and so is my hope in ADONAI."
19 Remember my utter misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 They are always on my mind; this is why I am so depressed.
21 But in my mind I keep returning to something, something that gives me hope -
22 that the grace of ADONAI is not exhausted, that his compassion has not ended.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.