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Lamentations 3:1-18

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

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:

Lamentations 3:1-18 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Lamentations 3:1

Theological / Devotional

I am. This poem is a triple acrostic in the Hebrew Bible; that is, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the initial letter of three successive verses, in alphabetical order (see on Lam. 1:1). For a discussion of Hebrew poetry, see Vol. Ill, pp. 17-28.

The man. Two opinions have been generally advanced as to the identity of the speaker in this chapter: (1) that it is Jeremiah recounting his own tribulations, or (2) that the prophet here couches a general picture of the sufferings of Judah in the form of a recital of personal experience. If this poem does set forth Jeremiah’s own experience, it is certainly typical of that of the people of Judah. However, there is much to lead to the conclusion that the chapter refers to the general experience of the Jews in the downfall of their kingdom. Chapters 1 and 2 both establish a pattern of personifying the city and nation. It would appear that this device is continued here, as vs. 40-47 suddenly shift to the first person plural, and v. 48 begins a section in the first person singular.

The rod of his wrath. Verses 1-18 portray in general poetic terms the severity of the judgments of God. The term “rod” is used repeatedly in the OT in the sense of an instrument of punishment (Job 21:9; Isa. 10:5). So, here, according to Jeremiah God’s punishments are corrections, manifestations of His loving care, visited upon His people that they may turn to Him with sincere hearts (Lam. 3:32, 33, 39, 40).

By SdaBc