Lamentations 3
Lamentations 3 is a long lament by a man who has seen affliction after the fall of Jerusalem. In the middle of his grief he remembers that the LORD's compassions fail not and are new every morning, so he chooses to hope and wait quietly for the LORD. The chapter then turns to confession, tears, and a plea for God to judge his enemies.
Lamentations 3 (KJV)
I am the man that hath seen affliction v. 1-20
1I AM the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
4My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
5He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
6He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
7He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
8Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
9He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
10He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
12He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
15He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
16He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
17And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
18And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
19Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
Hope remembered: new every morning v. 21-39
21This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
29He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
30He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
31For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
32But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
34To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,
36To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
37Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
39Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
Let us search our ways: confession and tears v. 40-54
40Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
41Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.
43Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
44Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
45Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
46All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
50Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
51Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
52Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
53They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
Called from the dungeon: the LORD drew near v. 55-66
55I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
56Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
57Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
58O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
59O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
60Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.
61Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;
62The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
63Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.
64Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
66Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.
What Lamentations 3 means
The chapter begins in the dark. The speaker says God has led him into darkness, broken his bones, hedged him in, and shut out his prayer. He feels like a target for arrows and the joke of his own people. By verse 18 he says his strength and his hope are gone.
Then comes the turn in verse 21: "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope." What he recalls is the character of God. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. "They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Nothing outside him has changed yet. What changes is what he chooses to remember.
Verses 24-33 build on that. The LORD is his portion, so he will hope in him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. The LORD will not cast off for ever, and he does not afflict willingly. Grief is real, but it is not God's final word.
From verse 40 the voice shifts to us: "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD." The speaker admits the people have sinned, and he weeps rivers of water for the city. In the last section he remembers calling to God from a low dungeon. God drew near and said, "Fear not." He ends by asking the LORD to judge those who have wronged him.
Many readers know verses 22-23 from the hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness. In context those words are not spoken from a comfortable place. They are spoken by someone sitting in the ruins, which is why they have comforted so many people in grief.
Background and context
Lamentations is traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah; the book itself does not name its author. It mourns the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, about 586 BC.
In Hebrew the book is written as acrostic poems that follow the alphabet. Chapter 3 is the most elaborate: three verses for each of the 22 Hebrew letters, which is why it has 66 verses. It sits at the center of the book's five chapters.
Key verses
It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23 · KJV
The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
Lamentations 3:24 · KJV
It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
Lamentations 3:26 · KJV
Cross references
- Psalm 73:26 The same confession that God is my portion when flesh and heart fail.My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
- Psalm 16:5 David also calls the LORD the portion of his inheritance, as in verse 24.The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
- Psalm 30:5 Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning; a companion to verse 23.For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
- Psalm 130:5 Waiting for the LORD with hope in his word, like verses 25-26.I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
- Matthew 5:39 Jesus teaches turning the other cheek, echoing verse 30.But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
- 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 Troubled on every side, yet not destroyed: the same refusal to despair.We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
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Common questions
What is Lamentations 3 about?
It is a lament by a man who has suffered through the fall of Jerusalem. He describes his pain in detail, then remembers God's mercy and faithfulness and chooses to hope and wait for the LORD.
Where does it say God's mercies are new every morning?
Lamentations 3:22-23: "his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."
Who wrote Lamentations 3?
The book does not name its author. It is traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, who lived through the fall of Jerusalem.
Why does Lamentations 3 have 66 verses?
In Hebrew it is an acrostic. Each of the 22 letters of the alphabet begins three verses in a row, giving 66 verses.
Is Great Is Thy Faithfulness from Lamentations 3?
Yes. The hymn takes its title and refrain from verses 22-23.
Morning, Not Monday
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Morning, Not Monday is a Bible-based book about starting again each day without shame, built on the same truth that the LORD's compassions are new every morning.
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