Lamentations 3:1-20

Hope through God's Mercy

Alef

1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God's wrath.

2 He has driven me away and forced [me] to walk in darkness instead of light.^[a]

3 Yes, He repeatedly turns His hand against me all day long.

Bet

4 He has worn away my flesh and skin;^[b] He has shattered my bones.

5 He has laid siege against me, encircling me with bitterness and hardship.

6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those who have been dead for ages.^[c]

Gimel

7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.

8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, He rejects my prayer.^[d]

9 He has walled in my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.^[e]

Dalet

10 He is^[f] a bear waiting in ambush, a lion in hiding;^[g]

11 He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces; He left me desolate.

12 He bent His bow^[h] and set me as the target for His arrow.

He

13 He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.^[i]

14 I am a laughingstock^[j] to all my people,^[k] mocked by their songs^[l] all day long.

15 He filled me with bitterness, sated me with wormwood.^[m]

Vav

16 He ground my teeth on gravel^[n] and made me cower^[o] in the dust.

17 My soul has been deprived^[p] of peace;^[q] I have forgotten what happiness is.

18 Then I thought: My future^[r] is lost, as well as my hope from the Lord.

Zayin

19 Remember^[s] my affliction and my homelessness,^[t] the wormwood and the poison.^[u]

20 I continually remember [them] and have become depressed.^[v][w]

Lamentations 3:1-20 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Jb 12:25; Am 5:18,20
• [b] Ps 38:3; Mc 3:1-3
• [c] Jb 10:20-22; Ps 88:6; 143:3
• [d] Lm 3:44; Jb 30:20; Ps 22:2
• [e] Jb 19:8
• [f] Lit is to me
• [g] Hs 13:7-8
• [h] Lm 2:4; Ps 7:12
• [i] Jb 16:13; Pr 7:23
• [j] Lm 1:7; Jb 12:4; Jr 20:7
• [k] Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg; other Hb mss, Syr read all peoples
• [l] Jb 30:9; Ps 69:12
• [m] Jr 9:15; 23:15
• [n] Ps 3:7; 58:6; Pr 20:17
• [o] Or and trampled me
• [p] Syr, Vg; MT reads You deprived my soul
• [q] Lm 3:31; Ps 88:15
• [r] Or splendor
• [s] Or I remember
• [t] Lm 1:7; Isa 58:7
• [u] Dt 29:18; Jr 9:15; 23:15
• [v] Alt Hb tradition reads and You cause me to collapse
• [w] Ps 42:5-6,11; 43:5; 44:25