Lamentations 3
The Man, the Mercies, and the Pit
A man says that the Lord has shut him in, bent a bow at him, and filled him with bitterness. Then he remembers, and says that the Lord’s mercies are new every morning. The poem ends in the dungeon, asking the Lord to see and to judge.
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Start reading Background
Lamentations is “a collection of five poetic laments mourning the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple.” It names no author, and it “is traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, who witnessed the events being described.”
This is the middle poem, and it is three times the length of the others. The first, second, and fourth chapters have 22 verses, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Here the pattern “expands… to 66 verses, with three lines per Hebrew letter.” After two poems about the city, this one is spoken by a man. Its first eighteen verses are his complaint. Verses 19–39 turn to remembering and to hope. Verses 40–51 confess and weep. Verses 52–66 look back from the pit and ask the Lord to judge.
The book as a whole does not contain “any responses from the Lord.” It holds the suffering and longing of the people “before the Lord later showed mercy to them.” The siege itself is told in Jer. 37–39.
The thread through the chapter
The chapter is about what the man does with his affliction. For eighteen verses he lists it, and nearly every line has the Lord as its subject. The name “the LORD” does not appear until verse 18, and then only to say that his hope has perished from Him. Then, in verse 21, he “recalls” something to his mind, and the poem changes. The verses that follow speak of the Lord’s mercies.
After that turn the poem does three things that the first part did not. It speaks of the Lord’s heart (verses 31–33), it moves from “I” to “we” and confesses (verses 40–42), and it prays to be seen. The man began by saying that he had “seen affliction.” He ends by saying that the Lord has “seen” his wrong (verses 59–60), and between the two the weeping goes on “till the LORD look down, and behold” (verse 50).
The poem does not end in comfort, and the Lord does not speak. Verse 57 remembers a time when He did, and verses 64–66 leave the enemies with Him. The hope of verses 21–26 stands in the middle of the chapter and is not taken back, but nothing in the chapter tells the man that it has come.
Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.
“I am the man”
I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. He has led me into darkness and not into light, and turned His hand against me all the day. He has made my flesh and skin old and broken my bones. He has built against me and compassed me with gall and travail, set me in dark places like those long dead, hedged me about so that I cannot get out, and made my chain heavy. When I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer. He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone and made my paths crooked. He has been to me a bear lying in wait and a lion in secret places, and has pulled me in pieces and made me desolate. He has bent His bow and set me as the mark for the arrow, and caused the arrows of His quiver to enter my reins. I was a derision to all my people and their song all the day. He has filled me with bitterness, broken my teeth with gravel stones, and covered me with ashes. You have removed my soul far from peace; I forgot prosperity. I said, “My strength and my hope are perished from the Lord.”
1 I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14 I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
“This I recall to my mind”
Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul has them still in remembrance and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, and therefore I have hope: it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, for His compassions do not fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, my soul says; therefore I will hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him. It is good to hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord, and good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. He sits alone and keeps silence because he has borne it; he puts his mouth in the dust, if there may be hope; he gives his cheek to the one who strikes him and is filled full with reproach. For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, He will have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies, for He does not afflict willingly or grieve the children of men. To crush all the prisoners of the earth under His feet, to turn aside a man’s right before the face of the Most High, to subvert a man in his cause: the Lord does not approve. Who is it that speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? Does not evil and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High? Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,
36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
“Let us search and try our ways”
Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens. We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned. You have covered with anger and pursued us; You have slain and not pitied. You have covered Yourself with a cloud so that our prayer should not pass through. You have made us the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. Fear and a snare have come upon us, desolation and destruction. My eye runs down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eye trickles down and does not cease, without any intermission, until the Lord looks down and beholds from heaven. My eye affects my heart because of all the daughters of my city.
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.
43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
50 Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
“Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee”
My enemies chased me hard, like a bird, without cause. They have cut off my life in the dungeon and cast a stone upon me. Waters flowed over my head; then I said, “I am cut off.” I called on Your name, Lord, out of the low dungeon. You have heard my voice; do not hide Your ear at my breathing, at my cry. You drew near in the day that I called on You, and said, “Fear not.” Lord, You have pleaded the causes of my soul and redeemed my life. Lord, You have seen my wrong; judge my cause. You have seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me, and heard their reproach. Behold their sitting down and their rising up; I am their music. Render to them a recompense, Lord, according to the work of their hands. Give them sorrow of heart, Your curse on them. Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord.
52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
55 I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
59 O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.
61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;
62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.
64 Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.
Seeing Christ in Lamentations 3
The poem names no Savior, and the Lord does not speak in it. What the Church’s sources draw from it is “hope in Christ,” above all from verses 20–33 (see the note on Lam. 3:23). The book “captures only the suffering and longing that the people felt before the Lord later showed mercy to them,” so the mercies of verses 22–23 are spoken of before that mercy is seen.
Worth exploring next
- The cistern in Jeremiah’s own story. Jer. 38:1–13; the later promises of mercy are in Jer. 31:31–34.
- A lament in the Book of Mormon. Morm. 6:16–22.
- The next poem. Lam. 4:1–22 returns to the city.
Sources & further reading
- The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Jeremiah 31–33; 36–38; Lamentations 1; 3, Scripture Helps: Old Testament.
- Chapter 24: The Babylonian Captivity (Jeremiah 20–22; 24–29; 32; 34–45; 52; Lamentations), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
- Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Lamentations, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.
- Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
- Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub.
- October 26–November 1. “I Will Turn Their Mourning into Joy”: Jeremiah 31–33; 36–39; Lamentations 1; 3, Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Old Testament 2026.
- Great Is Thy Faithfulness, Hymns—For Home and Church.