Lamentations 3:24
in Lamentations 3“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
KJV
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
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This verse in Lamentations 3
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThird, there is an intended conclusion: "The Lord is my portion," my soul says, "therefore I will hope in him." Namely, since I (Jeremiah) choose his divine mercy in portions while others despise it. As said in Psalm 16:5: "The Lord is my chosen portion …
This site's exposition
It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed
on Lamentations 3:22-24
What is recalled to mind is named here, and the bench marks this as the book's structural and theological center, the alphabet of ruin interrupted by a confession that does not depend on Jerusalem's circumstances at all: it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness, the verse behind the hymn that still carries its wording, states the mercy as renewed rather than merely remembered, a fresh grant each day rather than a stock running down. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him answers the earlier despair verse for verse, my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord at 3:18 now met by a chosen portion in that same Lord, hope relocated from the man's circumstances to the object of his faith. Calvin reads the placement as deliberate, the single steadiest confession in the Old Testament set at the center of its bleakest book, grief carried rather than denied and mercy declared in the middle of it rather than after it ends.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The Lord is my portion - “My portion is Yahweh,” see Num 18:20; Psa 16:5 ff. Therefore will I hope in him - A more full expression of the confidence present in the prophet’s mind in Lam 3:21, but based now upon God’s faithfulness in showing mercy.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חֶלְקִ֤י | chelki | [is] portion my | H2506 → | |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אָמְרָ֣ה | ʾamerah | it has said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| נַפְשִׁ֔י | nafshi | self my | H5315 → | 754 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּ֖ן | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| אוֹחִ֥יל | ʾochil | I will wait | H3176 → | |
| לֽוֹ׃ ס | lo | for him |
חֶלְקִ֤י[is] portion my
chelkiH2506 →
יְהוָה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אָמְרָ֣הit has said
ʾamerahH559 →5305 times
נַפְשִׁ֔יself my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּ֖ן-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
אוֹחִ֥ילI will wait
ʾochilH3176 →
לֽוֹ׃ סfor him
lo
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 73:26My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 12:9–10
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of…
- Isaiah 40:29–31
He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.
- Psalms 138:3
On the day I called, You answered me; You emboldened me and strengthened my soul.
- Psalms 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
- 2 Corinthians 4:8–10
We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
- 2 Corinthians 12:9–10
Through
Psalms 16:5The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure.
it leads to
- Psalms 73:26
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- Psalms 142:5
I cry to You, O LORD: “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
- Psalms 73:26
Through
Psalms 33:18Surely the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His loving devotion
it leads to
- 1 Peter 3:12
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
- 1 Peter 3:12
Where this verse is studied
2 studies on this verse
On Lamentations 3:24
Great Is Thy Faithfulness: Lamentations 3:22–24 · MannaFest
Open the study →
On Lamentations 3:24
The Weeping Prophet — the Confessions of Jeremiah
Open the study →
Also on Lamentations 3: 4 studies that walk through this chapter ▾
The subjects this verse belongs to
About Lamentations
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations; John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.