1I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath.
2He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness rather than light;
3indeed, he has turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.
4He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
and has broken my bones.
5He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.
6He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.
7He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
he has weighed me down with chains.
8Even when I call out or cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
9He has barred my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.
10Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion in hiding,
11he dragged me from the path and mangled me
and left me without help.
12He drew his bow
and made me the target for his arrows.
13He pierced my heart
with arrows from his quiver.
14I became the laughingstock of all my people;
they mock me in song all day long.
15He has filled me with bitter herbs
and sated me with gall.
16He has broken my teeth with gravel;
he has trampled me in the dust.
17I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18So I say, “My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the LORD.”
19I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
and my soul is downcast within me.
21Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
27It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28Let him sit alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it on him.
29Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.
31For men are not cast off
by the Lord forever.
32Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.
34To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,
35to deny a man his rights
before the Most High,
36to deprive a man of justice—
would not the Lord see such things?
37Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?
38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?
39Why should any living man complain
when punished for his sins?
40Let us examine our ways and test them,
and let us return to the LORD.
41Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven, and say:
42“We have sinned and rebelled
and you have not forgiven.
43“You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us;
you have slain without pity.
44You have covered yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.
45You have made us scum and refuse
among the nations.
46“All our enemies have opened their mouths
wide against us.
47We have suffered terror and pitfalls,
ruin and destruction.”
48Streams of tears flow from my eyes
because my people are destroyed.
49My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,
50until the LORD looks down
from heaven and sees.
51What I see brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.
52Those who were my enemies without cause
hunted me like a bird.
53They tried to end my life in a pit
and threw stones at me;
54the waters closed over my head,
and I thought I was about to be cut off.
55I called on your name, O LORD,
from the depths of the pit.
56You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
57You came near when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”
58O Lord, you took up my case;
you redeemed my life.
59You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me.
Uphold my cause!
60You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
all their plots against me.
61O LORD, you have heard their insults,
all their plots against me—
62what my enemies whisper and mutter
against me all day long.
63Look at them! Sitting or standing,
they mock me in their songs.
64Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD,
for what their hands have done.
65Put a veil over their hearts,
and may your curse be on them!
66Pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under the heavens of the LORD.
Original Meaning
CHAPTER 3 EXPANDS on the acrostic pattern of the first two chapters. Instead of a chapter of twenty-two verses, where the initial word in each verse follows the sequence of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, this chapter has sixty-six verses, compiled of twenty-two stanzas, where the stanzas follow the sequence of the Hebrew alphabet. Thus each stanza has three verses, and the initial word of each verse in a stanza begins with the same letter of the alphabet.
Chapter 3 is dominated by first-person references, the language of “I” and “we.” This raises the question of authorship in a way the previous two chapters do not. The emphasis of the previous two chapters on the tragic fate of Jerusalem is in the background of chapter 3; front and center is the travail of an individual. Some scholars have taken a cue from this chapter and seen a reference to Jeremiah in the first-person voice. Although possible, most scholars have not found that view convincing.1 With respect to this individual, there is much language about judgment and the need for repentance that sets his voice apart from that of Jeremiah. In any case, chapter 3 has several of the constituent elements of a lament/complaint so well known from the book of Psalms.2
It is worth asking whether in chapter 3 we as readers are dealing with an individual voice in the fully modern sense of that term (i.e., an individual whose suffering and experience is provided in autobiographical form), or whether the “I” is the poet’s voice in service to the larger community of readers and those who pray the Lamentations. The balance of probability favors the latter. This view does not deny that the suffering voiced in chapter 3 is real; it assumes that the suffering is real and not imagined or choreographed, but it understands that the presentation of the suffering is paradigmatic and that the voice of suffering invites those who hear and read to make it their voice. Put another way, the individual voice of chapter 3, which includes “we” and “our,” speaks in order to provide a voice for the suffering members of his community. The first generations of readers would understand the formulaic language of chapter 3 (by way of the laments in the Psalter) to be paradigmatic of the poet’s time and generation.
The “I” of chapter 3 is likely the poet of the book. He has seen the destruction of the city and its people, and the language of pain and suffering is filtered through both self-reference and shared experience (“we” and “our”). The language of individual travail is also reminiscent of Job,3 whose “speeches” are much like psalms of individual lament/complaint, especially in the description of his sufferings, in the recounting of the machinations of his “friends,” and in his appeal to God for deliverance. Likewise, the affirmation of God’s benevolent faithfulness is derived from the central confessions of the Old Testament (see below).
The poet first sees God as the source of trouble, who has turned his rod and hand against the poet (3:1–3). God has besieged and walled him in (3:4–9), as if the fate of the city and the poet are the same. God is a lion or bear, or more menacingly, an archer taking aim at the poet (3:10–12).
In slightly different language the enemies of Zion have condemned and hunted the poet (3:46–54). They plot, insult, and mock him (3:58–63). He recapitulates in his person the suffering endured by the city and its inhabitants. Because his experience is shared by his contemporaries, it is relatively easy to follow the shift in the language from “I” to “we.”
As noted above, the terminology of what is essentially an individual lament abounds in scriptural echoes. Darkness is a place of judgment and anguish (3:2, 6).4 Barring of a way is evidence of judgment (3:9).5 Divine judgment is compared to the assaults of lions and bears (3:10)6 and arrows (3:12).7 The persecution of the enemies is like being hunted or immersed in water (3:52–54).8
Memory plays an important role in a lament. Sometimes the poet asks God to remember and sometimes he himself remembers or recalls the previous deeds of the Lord. Such is the case in 3:19–24. Both suffering and redemption are part of the poet’s experience, and he sets their memories side by side. God is the source not only of judgment but also of deliverance. Since he knows that God is strong to save, he says he has “hope” (3:21, 24). The word in Hebrew is a verb (yḥl), which has the sense of waiting with expectancy.9 This means that the resignation seen elsewhere in Lamentations is tempered by the realization that God, who has struck both Jerusalem and the poet, is the same One who can overturn the shame of public judgment and humiliation.
In 3:22 the “great love” of the Lord renders the Hebrew term ḥesed. While love is not a wrong translation, the term also carries the meaning of kindness and loyalty.10 Ḥesed is the kind of act that is not required by civil law but springs from the concerned character of the one who acts. A good place to see its focus is in the saying of Hosea 6:6, that God prefers ḥesed to sacrifice and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Ḥesed and knowledge of God are paired together in the poetic couplet, and both are contrasted with ritual acts that, while good and proper, must proceed from something deeper and more fundamental than a sense of obligation. Stated differently, sacrifice is a requirement of the Torah and therefore good and proper in context, but ḥesed is something that can be freely given but not defined by requirements.
Closely related to the term ḥesed is that of compassion(s)—raḥamim in the Hebrew of 3:22. The best analogy is that of parental concern, for in the singular reḥem can mean womb.11 Finally, the poet confesses that God is great in faithfulness (ʾemuna; 3:23). One finds these three terms in the great self-definition that God offers of himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6–7:
The LORD, The LORD, the compassionate [raḥum]12 and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love [ḥesed] and faithfulness [’emet],13 maintaining love [ḥesed] to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.
One can read the claims of Lamentations about judgment and mercy and see them as the outworking of this great self-definition of God. The corporate judgment that fell on Judah and Jerusalem is like the judgment that falls to the third and fourth generation, since what is likely meant by them is the claim of completeness. To judge the third and fourth generation is to deal with all involved. By contrast, to show mercy and forgiveness to thousands is to claim that mercy and forgiveness abound further than the third and fourth generation of complete retribution.
As with psalms of lament/complaint, the poet speaks of the “pit,” which seeks to claim his life (3:53, 55). In the stanzas of 3:52–57, the poet prays like the beginning of Psalm 130: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.” The poet then reminds God that he has seen and heard what the enemies have done. His own life is like a judicial case (3:58), where God the Judge should rule in his favor. The chapter, again like some of the psalms of lament/complaint, concludes with the plea of the poet for God to judge the enemies. In this the poet is also reminiscent of Jeremiah, who sought judgment on his tormenters (Jer. 11:20; 15:15; 17:18; 18:19–23; 20:12).
As is sometimes also the case with psalms of lament/complaint, the poet is moved to speak about repentance (Lam. 3:40–45). Significantly, the language is first-person plural: “Let us examine … let us return … let us lift.” This indicates that the poet’s experience is linked with that of his community. They become one before God. It also signifies the function or impact of Lamentations as a whole. The poems move readers to consider their lives in light of God’s holiness and his cleansing judgment.
Bridging Contexts
HUMAN SUFFERING AND RESPONSE. If one looks for an overall impression of chapter 3, it is its similarity to the psalms of individual lament/ complaint and to the complaints of Job. These parallels also provide the first indications of how they may be interpreted in modern contexts. Job and Lamentations are fundamentally oriented toward two issues: God’s character in the face of human suffering, and the human response to God in the context of its suffering. Chapter 3 offers several windows on these two issues.
(1) God was not absent from the travail and tragedy that accompanied the fall of Jerusalem. God was present as Judge, using historical circumstances in the process of judging and refining his people. The enemies, who in stylized language afflicts the poet, are also agents of God’s approach to the poet and the poet’s lamenting community. “Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins” (3:39)? Correspondingly, repentance is one response that the poet advocates to his contemporaries. It is characterized by self-examination in light of God’s holiness and by a return to the Lord and his covenant stipulations. Judgment on the poet’s enemies is still an option for God, even if he has used the “enemy” as a means to reach the poet.
(2) God is also present as someone who loves his wayward people in spite of their sinfulness. There is more than affirmation of divine judgment in this chapter. If this was not also the experience of the poet before God, he could not have written 3:22–24, and he could not have affirmed that “though [God] brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love” (3:32). Note that the poet’s affirmation comes at the center of the book, in the midst of the middle chapter. Perhaps this placement is a clue, although a small one, that God’s loyalty is ultimately the center of existence for a believer.
(3) The way into the future and the way back to God remain open. In addition to repentance the poet gives voice to a plea that God will hear his voice and act (3:56). Job-like in his despair and in his persistent seeking of an audience with God, the poet reminds God that he (God) had defended the poet’s case and is his Redeemer. Without a full explanation for his pitiful circumstances, the poet clings to God and asks him to remove the injustice done to him. Only someone with a robust confidence in God’s ability to hear and act can speak and pray in this fashion.
In a larger canonical context, one can see the circumstances of the poet similarly portrayed in the life of Christ. The paradigmatic Psalm 22, a classical lament/complaint, helped the early church see meaning in Christ’s death and resurrection. Much of the poet’s experience in Lamentations 3—especially persecution, suffering, and alienation—are also part of Christ’s experience. More importantly, he endured them on behalf of those he loved. Whether receiving the judgment due to sinners or suffering the fate of the unjustly accused, Christ represented it all in his atoning work, just as he had made it part of his own lived experience. The God to whom the poet prayed and to whom the poet wished to return is the God revealed in and through Jesus Christ.
Contemporary Significance
QUEST FOR SPIRITUALITY. It is illuminating to set the language of Lamentations 3 in the context of the modern quest for (in some cases almost an obsession with) spirituality. We must distinguish carefully between interest in a subject and the particular content or truthfulness of the subject material. There can be no doubt about the rising interest in spirituality in North America, just as there can be no doubt that for many people the topic has been loosened from any connection with a church (i.e., group or corporate identity) or historic form of theology. A recent headline in a secular magazine read “God Dethroned.” The point of the piece was that the quest for a personal spirituality and religious experience in the Western world is increasingly being pursued apart from the traditional means of Christian grace.
In a recent phone conversation a pastor friend told me of a conference she was organizing for her congregation around the theme The People of God. A steering committee at the church was eager to explore several issues related to the practice of spirituality in daily life. One committee member reported that his neighbor would be a good person to make a presentation about modern spirituality. When the pastor inquired a bit about the neighbor, she discovered that it was the neighbor’s intense interest in spirituality that had impressed the congregation member, even though he didn’t know whether the neighbor was a Christian or not.
Chapter 3 of Lamentations comes in the context of historical experience and inherited revelation. It has several marks of authentic spirituality. The language of the text is thoroughly imbued with terms and concepts found elsewhere in the Old Testament. There is no doubt in the poet’s mind that he is dealing with the living God, who revealed himself to his ancestors and acted in judgment in the destruction of Jerusalem. The questions for the poet are how to make sense of his tragic circumstances and how to approach his future in relationship to this God.
The poet looks at his circumstances squarely and sees them as God’s approach to him and to his community. In response, the poet sees the circumstances as indications of a way forward in his spirituality. (1) He sees the tragedy of Jerusalem’s fall as a revelation of the Lord, not as the entry of a new and foreign deity into his life or the stubborn arrival of an irrational mystery. Judgment is consistent with the character of God revealed in Torah, prophecy, and the psalms.
(2) He learns that prayer and confession directed toward God bring him into fellowship with God.
(3) He finds that repentance is more than a concept, that it is a tangible way of relating to God. Repentance is not a magical elixir but a series of steps taken toward God in obedience to his will. For many people, failure to acknowledge the truth about God is less an intellectual matter and more a moral matter; and more particularly a matter of the will. That is why confession and repentance are integral to authentic spirituality.
(4) He seeks God for deliverance and healing. He is able to see that his circumstances are the occasion for fresh prayers and newfound vows.
(5) It probably never occurs to him that his spirituality can be a private matter. His confession that God is faithful also includes affirmation that “we” are not consumed. His call to repentance offers steps for “us” to return to the Lord.
(6) For the poet “waiting” on the Lord includes the practices of prayer and repentance and does not assume that waiting is merely marking time.
Obedience. One of the mysterious sayings in the New Testament is the affirmation in Hebrews 5:8 that Jesus learned obedience through things suffered. Clearly the obedience that Jesus embraced did not emerge from his earlier sinfulness. Instead, his incarnation and the life he lived gave shape to a kind of spirituality he shared with his followers. The poet of Lamentations 3 learns a kind of obedience from the things he has suffered. He gives voice to them because his experience is meant to be shared. Christian spirituality has a goal: to be conformed to the image of Christ. By the incarnation of his Son, God has given us a Savior, who was fashioned to draw us to himself. Suffering and travail can be means to that end, not in a masochistic or pain-denying way, but in ways that the poet of Lamentations is just beginning to grasp.