The center panel and the most intricate: a triple acrostic of sixty-six verses, three to each letter. 'I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath', led into darkness, walled about, his prayer shut out, his teeth broken with gravel stones. Then, at the exact middle of the book, the turn: 'This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of Jehovah's lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness' (3:22-23). 'Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul.' It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait; for he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Poetry · Jeremiah — Lamentations overview

A. 1–20 I Am the Man That Hath Seen Affliction
B. 21–27 His Mercies Are New Every Morning
C. 28–39 Let Him Sit Alone and Keep Silence
D. 40–45 Let Us Search and Try Our Ways and Turn Again
E. 46–54 Waters Flowed Over My Head; I Said, I Am Cut Off
F. 55–66 I Called Upon Thy Name Out of the Lowest Dungeon

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Lamentations 37 verses
- Lamentations 3:5He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
- Lamentations 3:8Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
- Lamentations 3:14I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
- Lamentations 3:15He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
- Lamentations 3:19Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
- Lamentations 3:59You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
- Read Lamentations 3: 1 more there →
Lamentations 26 verses
- Lamentations 2:1How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of His anger! He has cast the glory of Israel from heaven to earth. He has abandoned His footstool in the day of His anger.
- Lamentations 2:10The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
- Lamentations 2:11My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
- Lamentations 2:16All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”
- Lamentations 2:17The LORD has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and exalted the horn of your foes.
- Lamentations 2:21Both young and old lie together in the dust of the streets. My young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered them without compassion.
- Read Lamentations 2 →
Job 193 verses
- Job 19:7Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.
- Job 19:8He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.
- Job 19:21Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
- Read Job 19 →
Isaiah 383 verses
- Isaiah 38:5“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.
- Isaiah 38:13I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
- Isaiah 38:17Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
- Read Isaiah 38 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Psalms 883 verses
- Psalms 88:5I am forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, who are cut off from Your care.
- Psalms 88:7Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah
- Psalms 88:15From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
- Read Psalms 88 →
Isaiah 593 verses
- Isaiah 59:9Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
- Isaiah 59:11We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us.
- Isaiah 59:15Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil becomes prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.
- Read Isaiah 59 →
Job 303 verses
- Job 30:9And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
- Job 30:20I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me.
- Job 30:26But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell.
- Read Job 30 →
Jeremiah 93 verses
- Jeremiah 9:1Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
- Jeremiah 9:15Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
- Jeremiah 9:18Let them come quickly and take up a lament over us, that our eyes may overflow with tears, and our eyelids may gush with water.
- Read Jeremiah 9 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.