Lamentations 3:19-66

Hope of Relief in God's Mercy

19 Remember my affliction and my wandering, the ¹wormwood and bitterness.

20 Surely ²my soul remembers And is ³bowed down within me.

21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore * I have ⁴hope.

22 The LORD'S ⁵lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, ⁶For His compassions never fail.

23 They are new ⁷every morning; Great is ⁸Your faithfulness.

24 "The LORD is my ⁹portion," says my soul, "Therefore * I ¹⁰have hope in Him."

25 The LORD is good to those who ¹¹wait for Him, To the person who ¹²seeks Him.

26 It is good that he ¹³waits silently For the salvation of the LORD.

27 It is good for a man that he should bear The yoke in his youth.

28 Let him ¹⁴sit alone and be silent Since He has laid it on him.

29 Let him put his mouth in the ¹⁵dust, Perhaps there is ¹⁶hope.

30 Let him give his ¹⁷cheek to the smiter, Let him be filled with reproach.

31 For the Lord will ¹⁸not reject forever,

32 For if He causes grief, Then He will have ¹⁹compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness.

33 For He ²⁰does not afflict willingly * Or grieve the sons of men.

34 To crush under His feet All the prisoners of the land,

35 To deprive a man of ²¹justice In the presence of the Most High,

36 To ²²defraud a man in his lawsuit - Of these things the Lord does not approve.

37 Who is there who speaks and it ²³comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it?

38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That ²⁴both good and ill go forth?

39 Why should any living mortal, or any man, Offer ²⁵complaint in view of his sins?

40 Let us ²⁶examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.

41 We ²⁷lift up our heart and hands Toward God in heaven;

42 We have ²⁸transgressed and rebelled, You have ²⁹not pardoned.

43 You have covered Yourself with ³⁰anger And ³¹pursued us; You have slain and ³²have not spared.

44 You have ³³covered Yourself with a cloud So that ³⁴no prayer can pass through.

45 You have made us mere ³⁵offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples.

46 All our enemies have ³⁶opened their mouths against us.

47 ³⁷Panic and pitfall have befallen us, Devastation and destruction;

48 My ³⁸eyes run down with streams of water Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 My eyes pour down ³⁹unceasingly *, Without stopping,

50 Until the LORD ⁴⁰looks down And sees from heaven.

51 My eyes bring pain to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city.

52 My enemies ⁴¹without cause Hunted me down ⁴²like a bird;

53 They have silenced me ⁴³in the pit And have ⁴⁴placed a stone on me.

54 Waters flowed ⁴⁵over my head; I said, "I am cut off!"

55 I ⁴⁶called on Your name, O LORD, Out of the lowest pit.

56 You have ⁴⁷heard my voice, "⁴⁸Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief, From my cry for help."

57 You ⁴⁹drew near when I called on You; You said, "⁵⁰Do not fear!"

58 O Lord, You ⁵¹have pleaded my soul's cause; You have ⁵²redeemed my life.

59 O LORD, You have ⁵³seen my oppression; ⁵⁴Judge my case.

60 You have seen all their vengeance, All their ⁵⁵schemes against me.

61 You have heard their ⁵⁶reproach, O LORD, All their schemes against me.

62 The ⁵⁷lips of my assailants and their whispering Are against me all day long.

63 Look on their ⁵⁸sitting and their rising; ⁵⁹I am their mocking song.

64 You will ⁶⁰recompense * them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands.

65 You will give them ⁶¹hardness of heart, Your curse will be on them.

66 You will ⁶²pursue them in anger and destroy them From under the ⁶³heavens of the LORD!

Lamentations 3:19-66 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 3

This chapter is a complaint and lamentation like the former, and on the same subject, only the prophet mixes his own afflictions and distresses with the public calamities; or else he represents the church in her complaints; and some have thought him to be a type of Christ throughout the whole; to whom various things may be applied. It is indeed written in a different form from the other chapters, in another sort of metre; and though in an alphabetical manner as the rest, yet with this difference, that three verses together begin with the same letter; so that the alphabet is gone through three times in it. Here is first a complaint of the afflictions of the prophet, and of the people, expressed by a rod, by darkness, by wormwood and gall, and many other things; and especially by the Lord's appearing against them as an enemy, in a most severe and terrible manner; shutting out their prayer; being as a bear and lion to them; and giving them up to the cruelty and scorn of their enemies, La 3:1-21; then follows some comfort taken by them, from the mercy, faithfulness, and goodness of God; from the usefulness of patience in bearing afflictions; and from the end of God in laying them upon men; and from the providence of God, by which all things are ordered, La 3:22-38; wherefore, instead of complaining, it would be better, it is suggested, to attend to the duties of examination of their ways, and of repentance, and of prayer, La 3:39-41; and a particular prayer is directed to, in which confession of sin is made, and their miseries deplored, by reason of the hidings of God's face, and the insults of their enemies, La 3:42-47; and then the prophet expresses his sympathy with his people under affliction, and declares what he himself met with from his enemies, La 3:48-54; and relates bow he called upon the Lord, and he heard and delivered him, La 3:55-58; and concludes with a request that he would judge his cause, and avenge him on enemies, La 3:59-66.

Cross References

• 1. Jeremiah 9:15; Lamentations 3:5, 15
• 2. Job 21:6
• 3. Ps 42:5, 6, 11; Psalms 43:5; Psalms 44:25
• 4. Psalms 130:7
• 5. Psalms 78:38; Jeremiah 3:12; Jeremiah 30:11
• 6. Malachi 3:6
• 7. Isaiah 33:2; Zephaniah 3:5
• 8. Hebrews 10:23
• 9. Psalms 16:5; Psalms 73:26
• 10. Psalms 33:18
• 11. Psalms 27:14; Isaiah 25:9
• 12. Isaiah 26:9
• 13. Psalms 37:7
• 14. Jeremiah 15:17
• 15. Job 16:15; Job 40:4
• 16. Jeremiah 31:17
• 17. Job 16:10; Isaiah 50:6
• 18. Psalms 77:7; Psalms 94:14; Isaiah 54:7-10
• 19. Psalms 78:38; Psalms 106:43-45; Hosea 11:8
• 20. Ps 119:67, 71, 75; Ezekiel 33:11; Hebrews 12:10
• 21. Psalms 140:12; Proverbs 17:15
• 22. Jeremiah 22:3; Habakkuk 1:13
• 23. Psalms 33:9-11
• 24. Job 2:10; Isaiah 45:7; Jeremiah 32:42
• 25. Jeremiah 30:15; Micah 7:9; Hebrews 12:5, 6
• 26. Psalms 119:59; Psalms 139:23, 24; 2 Corinthians 13:5
• 27. Psalms 25:1; Psalms 28:2; Psalms 141:2
• 28. Nehemiah 9:26; Jeremiah 14:20; Daniel 9:5
• 29. 2 Kings 24:4; Jeremiah 5:7, 9
• 30. Lamentations 2:21
• 31. Psalms 83:15; Lamentations 3:66
• 32. Lam 2:2, 17, 21
• 33. Psalms 97:2
• 34. Lamentations 3:8; Zechariah 7:13
• 35. 1 Corinthians 4:13
• 36. Job 30:9, 10; Psalms 22:6-8; Lamentations 2:16
• 37. Isaiah 24:17, 18; Jeremiah 48:43, 44
• 38. Psalms 119:136; Jeremiah 9:1, 18; Lamentations 1:16; Lamentations 2:11, 18
• 39. Psalms 77:2; Jeremiah 14:17
• 40. Psalms 80:14; Isaiah 63:15; Lamentations 5:1
• 41. Psalms 35:7, 19
• 42. 1 Samuel 26:20; Psalms 11:1; Psalms 124:7
• 43. Jeremiah 37:16; Jeremiah 38:6, 9
• 44. Daniel 6:17
• 45. Psalms 69:2; Jonah 2:3-5
• 46. Psalms 130:1; Jonah 2:2
• 47. Job 34:28
• 48. Psalms 55:1
• 49. Psalms 145:18
• 50. Isaiah 41:10, 14
• 51. Jeremiah 50:34
• 52. Psalms 34:22
• 53. Jeremiah 18:19, 20
• 54. Psalms 26:1; Psalms 43:1
• 55. Jeremiah 11:19
• 56. Psalms 74:18; Psalms 89:50; Lamentations 5:1; Zephaniah 2:8
• 57. Psalms 59:7, 12; Psalms 140:3; Ezekiel 36:3
• 58. Psalms 139:2
• 59. Job 30:9; Lamentations 3:14
• 60. Psalms 28:4; Jer 51:6, 24, 56
• 61. Exodus 14:8; Deuteronomy 2:30; Isaiah 6:10
• 62. Lamentations 3:43
• 63. Psalms 8:3

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "bitterness"
• [b]. Or "that we are not consumed"
• [c]. Lit "soul"
• [d]. Lit "give"
• [e]. Lit "his"
• [f]. Lit "from His heart"
• [g]. Or "earth"
• [h]. Or "turn aside a man's case"
• [i]. Lit "make crooked"
• [j]. Lit "see"
• [k]. Lit "this"
• [l]. Lit "the evil" things "and the good"
• [m]. Or "human being"
• [n]. Or "on the basis of"
• [o]. Lit "toward" our
• [p]. Lit "eye brings"
• [q]. Lit "my life"
• [r]. Or "cast stones"
• [s]. Or "insolence"