Lamentations 3
Lamentations Chapter 3 is a poetic chapter of Scripture consisting of 66 verses. This chapter forms the center among the five chapters of Lamentations, and it especially summarizes both his own suffering and the pain of God’s people in Israel through the confession of “one person.” Chapter 3 is characterized by an acrostic (double-initial) form in which a single letter begins every three verses. Verses 1 through 18 recount experiences of suffering and despair, while verses 19 through 39 recall the spark of hope and God’s character (compassion and faithfulness). Verses 40 through 66 conclude with a confession of faith and a plea aimed at repentance and restoration.
1verseI am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2verseHe has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
3verseSurely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.
4verseHe has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
5verseHe has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6verseHe has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
7verseHe has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
8verseYes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9verseHe has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
10verseHe is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding.
11verseHe has turned away my path, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate.
12verseHe has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13verseHe has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
14verseI have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long.
15verseHe has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood.
16verseHe has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes.
17verseYou have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity.
18verseI said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from the LORD.”
19verseRemember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness.
20verseMy soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.
21verseThis I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope.
22verseIt is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail.
23verseThey are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
24verse“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
25verseThe LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26verseIt is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27verseIt is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28verseLet him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.
29verseLet him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope.
30verseLet him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.
31verseFor the Lord will not cast off forever.
32verseFor though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
33verseFor he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
34verseTo crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
35verseto turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36verseto subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve.
37verseWho is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it?
38verseDoesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
39verseWhy should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40verseLet us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
41verseLet’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
42verse“We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned.
43verse“You have covered us with anger and pursued us. You have killed. You have not pitied.
44verseYou have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
45verseYou have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples.
46verse“All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
47verseTerror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.”
48verseMy eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49verseMy eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission,
50verseuntil the LORD looks down, and sees from heaven.
51verseMy eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
52verseThey have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.
53verseThey have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me.
54verseWaters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.”
55verseI called on your name, LORD, out of the lowest dungeon.
56verseYou heard my voice: “Don’t hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.”
57verseYou came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Don’t be afraid.”
58verseLord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life.
59verseLORD, you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause.
60verseYou have seen all their vengeance and all their plans against me.
61verseYou have heard their reproach, LORD, and all their plans against me,
62versethe lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long.
63verseYou see their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song.
64verseYou will pay them back, LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65verseYou will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.
66verseYou will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
Main Content and Flow
- A confession of suffering (Verses 1-18): The speaker describes a painful reality in which he is punished by God, shut in darkness, and has lost peace and joy. This symbolizes the destruction of Jerusalem and the despair of the people caused by it.
- The restoration of hope (Verses 19-39): Even while remembering his pain, he recalls God’s compassion and faithfulness and, as the words say, “Because the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end” (Verse 22), he finds himself thinking again of hope. This section is an important turning point that shifts from despair to hope.
- Reflection and plea (Verses 40-66): He urges the people to examine themselves and repent, and he pleads for God’s justice regarding their undeserved suffering and for restoration. In this portion, while he recalls the reasons for judgment, he also shows an attitude of faithful belief that looks toward restoration.
Meditation Points
Lamentations Chapter 3 shows a posture of faith that does not forget God’s compassion and faithfulness even in deep despair. Crises inevitably come in life, but even in them, it is worth reflecting on the importance of restoring one’s relationship with God and holding on to hope. In particular, the words of Verses 22-23—“Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed; for his mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” —provide a reason to choose hope even in adversity.
Try Applying It to Yourself
- When I fall into despair, I check whether I am not only staying in the pain of reality, but also looking to God’s goodness and mercy and to the possibility of restoration.
- Rather than focusing only on the hardship itself, I continue my self-examination and prayer so that I can reflect, repent, and experience newness in my faith through what happens within it.
- In every heavy moment of life, I remember God’s faithfulness that is new every morning, and I commit myself so that I can carry hope and live through today as well.
