The Bible — World English Bible
Lamentations 3
In brief
Lamentations 3 is the heart of the book. After the fall of Jerusalem, a man describes his suffering with harsh images: darkness, walls, arrows. In the middle of this complaint, he chooses to remember the goodness of God: his compassions are not exhausted and are new every morning. He draws a lesson from it about waiting and about returning to Yahweh with an honest heart. The chapter then goes back to prayer, from the depths of the pit, and to the certainty of having been heard.
The chapter in 5 parts
- v. 1-18The complaint of the man who has suffered: darkness, chains and lost hope
- v. 19-24Remembering and hoping: the compassions of Yahweh are new every morning
- v. 25-39Waiting in silence: God is good and does not cast off forever
- v. 40-47Returning to Yahweh: confession and prayer of the people
- v. 48-66From the depths of the pit: crying out, being heard and asking for justice
1I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
3Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.
4He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
5He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
7He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
8Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
10He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
11He has turned away my ways, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate.
12He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
14I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long.
15He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood.
16He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes.
17You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity.
18I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from Yahweh.”
19Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness.
20My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.
21This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope.
22It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail.
23They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
24“Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
25Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.
27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.
29Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope.
30Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.
31For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
33For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
34To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
35to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve.
37Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it?
38Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
39Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh.
41Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
42“We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned.
43“You have covered us with anger and pursued us. You have killed. You have not pitied.
44You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
45You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples.
46“All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
47Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.”
48My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission,
50until Yahweh looks down, and sees from heaven.
51My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
52They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.
53They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me.
54Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.”
55I called on your name, Yahweh, out of the lowest dungeon.
56You heard my voice: “Don’t hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.”
57You came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Don’t be afraid.”
58Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life.
59Yahweh, you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause.
60You have seen all their vengeance and all their plans against me.
61You have heard their reproach, Yahweh, and all their plans against me,
62the lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long.
63You see their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song.
64You will pay them back, Yahweh, according to the work of their hands.
65You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.
66You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Yahweh.
Key verses
It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
In the depths of distress, the text turns to the faithfulness of God. His loving kindnesses are not exhausted and his compassions return every morning, even when everything seems lost.
“Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
The author declares “Yahweh is my portion”, and that this is why he wants to hope in him. Hope rests on the person of God, not on the end of trials.
It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.
The text says it is good to hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh. Waiting is not passivity: it means holding on before God without panicking.
You came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Don’t be afraid.”
On the day he called on God, God came near and told him not to be afraid. The chapter thus ends on a prayer that was heard.
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What the sermons say
Frequently asked questions about Lamentations 3
What does Lamentations 3:22-23 mean?
These verses affirm that the loving kindnesses of Yahweh are not exhausted and that his compassions are new every morning. They were written in a setting of ruin, after the fall of Jerusalem. They do not deny suffering, but say that the faithfulness of God remains in the midst of it.
Who is the man who has seen affliction in Lamentations 3?
The text gives no name. Tradition often links him to Jeremiah, but the “I” can also speak on behalf of the whole people. This personal voice lets every reader who is going through hardship recognize themselves in the complaint and in the hope of the chapter.
What does it mean to wait quietly in Lamentations 3:26?
The verse invites us to wait for the help of Yahweh without agitation or rebellion. This silence is not denial: the chapter contains long complaints and a call to return to God. It describes a patient trust, based on the goodness of God toward the one who hopes in him.
Articles quoting Lamentations 3
- New Year Prayer: 15 Prayers for 2027
- 20 Bible Verses for a Christian Funeral in Japan: Hope and Comfort for the Bereaved
- James 3: Your Tongue Can Steer Your Life
- Romans 12: A New Monday for a Renewed Mind
- Matthew 25: There Is No Shortcut to Becoming Faithful
- Lamentations 3: The LORD Is Your Portion, and No One Can Take It From You
World English Bible translation — public domain.