Lamentations 3:1-18

Jeremiah Shares Israel's Affliction

1 I am the man who has ¹seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath.

2 He has driven me and made me walk In ²darkness and not in light.

3 Surely against me He has ³turned His hand Repeatedly all the day.

4 He has caused my ⁴flesh and my skin to waste away, He has ⁵broken my bones.

5 He has ⁶besieged * and encompassed me with ⁷bitterness and hardship.

6 In ⁸dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long been dead.

7 He has ⁹walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my ¹⁰chain heavy.

8 Even when I cry out and call for help, He ¹¹shuts out my prayer.

9 He has ¹²blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.

10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in secret places.

11 He has turned aside my ways and ¹³torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate.

12 He ¹⁴bent His bow And ¹⁵set me as a target for the arrow.

13 He made the arrows of His ¹⁶quiver To enter into my inward parts.

14 I have become a ¹⁷laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking ¹⁸song all the day.

15 He has ¹⁹filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood.

16 He has ²⁰broken my teeth with ²¹gravel; He has made me cower in the ²²dust.

17 My soul has been rejected ²³from peace; I have forgotten happiness.

18 So I say, "My strength has perished, And so has my ²⁴hope from the LORD."

Lamentations 3:1-18 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. Ps 88:7, 15, 16
• 2. Job 30:26; Isaiah 59:9; Jeremiah 4:23
• 3. Psalms 38:2; Isaiah 5:25
• 4. Psalms 31:9, 10; Psalms 38:2-8; Psalms 102:3-5
• 5. Psalms 51:8; Isaiah 38:13
• 6. Job 19:8
• 7. Jeremiah 23:15; Lamentations 3:19
• 8. Psalms 88:5, 6; Psalms 143:3
• 9. Job 3:23; Job 19:8
• 10. Jeremiah 40:4
• 11. Job 30:20; Psalms 22:2
• 12. Isaiah 63:17; Hosea 2:6
• 13. Job 16:12, 13; Jeremiah 15:3; Hosea 6:1
• 14. Psalms 7:12; Lamentations 2:4
• 15. Job 6:4; Job 7:20; Psalms 38:2
• 16. Jeremiah 5:16
• 17. Psalms 22:6, 7; Psalms 123:4; Jeremiah 20:7
• 18. Job 30:9; Lamentations 3:63
• 19. Jeremiah 9:15
• 20. Psalms 3:7; Psalms 58:6
• 21. Proverbs 20:17
• 22. Jeremiah 6:26
• 23. Isaiah 59:11; Jeremiah 12:12
• 24. Job 17:15; Ezekiel 37:11

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "bronze piece"
• [b]. Lit "sons"
• [c]. Lit "kidneys"
• [d]. Lit "good"