# Lamentations 03 ๐: Great Is Your Faithfulness
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> [!info] Table of Contents
> [[#๐ Scripture Text (NET)]]
> [[#๐ Verse-by-Verse Commentary]]
> [[#๐ค Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]]
> [[#๐ง Chapter Summary]]
> [[#โ๏ธ Christ in This Chapter]]
> [[#๐ Key Principles / ๐ Life Application]]
> [[#๐ฌ Discussion Questions]]
> [[#โ๏ธ Key Verses to Remember]]
> [[#๐ Related Passages/Cross Reference]]
> [[#๐ Devotional Reflection]]
> [[#๐ Internal Notes]]
## ๐ Scripture Text (NET)
(The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005)
#### ืย (_Alef_)
### The Prophet Speaks
[[#Verse 01.]] ื (Alef) I am the man who has experienced affliction from the rod of the Lordโs wrath.
#### ืย (_Bet_)
[[#Verse 02.]] He drove me into captivity and made me walk in darkness and not light.
#### ืย (_Gimel_)
[[#Verse 03.]] He repeatedly attacks me; he turns his hand against me all day long.
#### ืย (_Dalet_)
[[#Verse 04.]] ื (Bet) He has made my mortal skin waste away; he has broken my bones.
#### ืย (_He_)
[[#Verse 05.]] He has besieged and surrounded me with bitter hardship.
#### ืย (_Vav_)
[[#Verse 06.]] He has made me reside in deepest darkness like those who died long ago.
#### ืย (_Zayin_)
[[#Verse 07.]] ื (Gimel) He has walled me in so that I cannot get out; he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains.
#### ืย (_Khet_)
[[#Verse 08.]] Also, when I cry out desperately for help, he has shut out my prayer.
#### ืย (_Tet_)
[[#Verse 09.]] He has blocked every road I take with a wall of hewn stones; he has made every path impassable.
#### ืย (_Yod_)
[[#Verse 10.]] ื (Dalet) To me he is like a bear lying in ambush, like a hidden lion stalking its prey.
#### ืย (_Kaf_)
[[#Verse 11.]] He has obstructed my paths and torn me to pieces; he has made me desolate.
#### ืย (_Lamed_)
[[#Verse 12.]] He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrow.
#### ืย (_Mem_)
[[#Verse 13.]] ื (He) He shot his arrows into my heart.
#### ื ย (_Nun_)
[[#Verse 14.]] I have become the laughingstock of all people, their mocking song all day long.
#### ืกย (_Samek_)
[[#Verse 15.]] He has given me my fill of bitter herbs and made me drunk with bitterness.
#### ืคย (_Pe_)
[[#Verse 16.]] ื (Vav) He ground my teeth in gravel; he trampled me in the dust.
#### ืขย (_Ayin_)
[[#Verse 17.]] I am deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is.
#### **ืฆ**ย (_Tsade_)
[[#Verse 18.]] So I said, โMy endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the Lord.โ
#### ืงย (_Qof_)
[[#Verse 19.]] ื (Zayin) Remember my impoverished and homeless condition, which is a bitter poison.
#### ืจย (_Resh_)
### Jerusalem Speaks
[[#Verse 20.]] I continually think about this, and I am depressed.
#### ืฉย (_Sin/Shin_)
[[#Verse 21.]] But this I call to mind; therefore I have hope:
#### ืชย (_Tav_)
[[#Verse 22.]] ื (Khet) The Lordโs loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end.
[[#Verse 23.]] They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant!
[[#Verse 24.]] โMy portion is the Lord,โ I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.
[[#Verse 25.]] ื (Tet) The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.
[[#Verse 26.]] It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the Lord.
[[#Verse 27.]] It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
[[#Verse 28.]] ื (Yod) Let a person sit alone in silence, when the Lord is disciplining him.
[[#Verse 29.]] Let him bury his face in the dust; perhaps there is hope.
[[#Verse 30.]] Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him; let him have his fill of insults.
[[#Verse 31.]] ื (Kaf) For the Lord will not reject us forever.
[[#Verse 32.]] Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us according to the abundance of his loyal kindness.
[[#Verse 33.]] For he is not predisposed to afflict or to grieve people.
[[#Verse 34.]] ื (Lamed) To crush underfoot all the earthโs prisoners,
[[#Verse 35.]] to deprive a person of his rights in the presence of the Most High,
[[#Verse 36.]] to defraud a person in a lawsuitโ the Lord does not approve of such things!
[[#Verse 37.]] ื (Mem) Whose command was ever fulfilled unless the Lord decreed it?
[[#Verse 38.]] Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comesโ both calamity and blessing?
[[#Verse 39.]] Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins?
[[#Verse 40.]] ื (Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord.
[[#Verse 41.]] Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven:
[[#Verse 42.]] โWe have blatantly rebelled; you have not forgiven.โ
[[#Verse 43.]] ืก (Samek) You shrouded yourself with anger and then pursued us; you killed without mercy.
[[#Verse 44.]] You shrouded yourself with a cloud so that no prayer could get through.
[[#Verse 45.]] You make us like filthy scum in the estimation of the nations.
[[#Verse 46.]] ืค (Pe) All our enemies have gloated over us;
[[#Verse 47.]] panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.
[[#Verse 48.]] Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.
[[#Verse 49.]] ืข (Ayin) Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop; there will be no break
[[#Verse 50.]] until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees what has happened.
[[#Verse 51.]] What my eyes see grieves meโ all the suffering of the daughters in my city.
[[#Verse 52.]] ืฆ (Tsade) For no good reason my enemies hunted me down like a bird.
[[#Verse 53.]] They shut me up in a pit and threw stones at me.
[[#Verse 54.]] The waters closed over my head; I thought I was about to die.
[[#Verse 55.]] ืง (Qof) I have called on your name, O Lord, from the deepest pit.
[[#Verse 56.]] You heard my plea: โDo not close your ears to my cry for relief!โ
[[#Verse 57.]] You came near on the day I called to you; you said, โDo not fear!โ
[[#Verse 58.]] ืจ (Resh) O Lord, you championed my cause; you redeemed my life.
[[#Verse 59.]] You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; pronounce judgment on my behalf!
[[#Verse 60.]] You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.
[[#Verse 61.]] ืฉ (Sin/Shin) You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.
[[#Verse 62.]] My assailants revile and conspire against me all day long.
[[#Verse 63.]] Watch them from morning to evening; I am the object of their mocking songs.
[[#Verse 64.]] ืช (Tav) Pay them back what they deserve, O Lord, according to what they have done.
[[#Verse 65.]] Give them a distraught heart; may your curse be on them!
[[#Verse 66.]] Pursue them in anger and eradicate them from under the Lordโs heaven.
## ๐ Verse-by-Verse Commentary
###### Overall.
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###### Verse 63.
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###### Verse 65.
###### Verse 66.
## ๐ค Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights
1. Chapter 3 has 66 verses because it is a triple acrostic: each Hebrew letter begins three verses in a row.
2. The chapter sits at the center of the book, and its message of hope (3:21-33) sits near the center of the chapter.
3. "I am the man who has seen affliction" (3:1) shifts the voice to an individual sufferer.
4. The hymn "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," written by Thomas Chisholm in 1923, is based on 3:22-23.
5. The Hebrew word *hesed* (3:22) means loyal, covenant love.
6. "The Lord is my portion" (3:24) echoes the Levites, who had no land because the Lord was their inheritance (Numbers 18:20).
7. Wormwood and gall (3:15, 19) were bitter plants used as images of suffering.
8. "Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes him" (3:30) is similar to Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:39.
9. God "does not willingly afflict" people (3:33). The Hebrew literally says He does not afflict "from His heart."
10. The speaker describes being thrown into a pit with water over his head (3:53-54), which reminds many readers of Jeremiah in the cistern (Jeremiah 38:6).
## ๐ง Chapter Summary
> [!note] ๐ฑ Still growing. This section is on its way.
## โ๏ธ Christ in This Chapter
Christ is the Man of affliction (3:1) and the proof that the Lord's mercies never end (3:22-23). He offered His cheek to those who struck Him (3:30; Matthew 26:67), and in Him the Lord becomes our portion and our hope.
## ๐ Key Principles / ๐ Life Application
> [!note] ๐ฑ Still growing. This section is on its way.
## ๐ฌ Discussion Questions
1. The writer describes deep suffering and then says, "This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope" (3:21). What truths about God do you need to call to mind today?
2. God's compassion is new every morning (3:22-23). How can you build daily rhythms that remind you of His faithfulness?
3. "Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to the Lord" (3:40). What would honest self-examination look like for you this week?
## โ๏ธ Key Verses to Remember
- ๐ verses 22-23: The Lord's loyal love never ceases and His compassion never ends; it is fresh every morning. Great is His faithfulness.
- ๐ verse 24: The Lord is my portion; therefore I will hope in Him.
- ๐ verse 40: Let us examine our ways and return to the Lord.
## ๐ Related Passages/Cross Reference
- ๐ [[Matthew 26#Verse 67.|Matthew 26:67]] - They struck Jesus and spit on Him.
- ๐ [[Psalm 30#Verse 05.|Psalm 30:5]] - Joy comes in the morning.
- ๐ [[Psalm 73#Verse 26.|Psalm 73:26]] - God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- ๐ [[Romans 08#Verse 28.|Romans 8:28]] - God works all things together for good.
- ๐ [[Hebrews 12#Verse 10.|Hebrews 12:10-11]] - Discipline produces a harvest of righteousness.
## ๐ Devotional Reflection
๐ SOAP: [[Lamentations 03 - SOAP|I Still Dare to Hope]]
## ๐ Internal Notes