Lamentations 5:22
in Lamentations 5unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But thou hast utterly rejected us; Thou art very wroth against us.
KJV
But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.
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This verse in Lamentations 5
Commentary
9 notes on this verseBut thou hast utterly rejected us - It appears as if thou hadst sealed our final reprobation, because thou showest against us exceeding great wrath. But convert us, O Lord, onto thee, and we shall be converted. We are now greatly humbled, feel our sin, and see our folly: once more restore us, and we shall never again forsake thee! He heard the prayer; and at the end of seventy years they were restored to their own land.
This site's exposition
Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return
on Lamentations 5:21-22
Verse 21 asks for the turning as a gift: “Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old”. The book's last line ends without resolution: “unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure”.
This site's exposition
utterly rejected us
Albert Barnes reads the verse as hope: the LORD will remain angry only if He has utterly rejected His people, and faith holds that impossible. Adam Clarke notes that the LORD did restore them after seventy years (Jeremiah 29:10). The prayer was heard.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Finally, is considered the need for praying. As stated: "Or hast thou utterly rejected us? Art thou exceedingly angry with us?" And as Jeremiah elsewhere states: "Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? Does thy soul loath Zion? Why hast thou smitten us so that there is …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
For converting grace to prepare and qualify them for mercy: Turn us to thee, O Lord! They had complained that God had forsaken and forgotten them, and then their prayer is not, Turn thou to us, but, Turn us to thee, which implies an acknowledgment that the cause of the distance was in themselves.
But thou hast utterly rejected us,....
16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! Is any afflicted? let him pray; and let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God, and make known before him his trouble. The people of God do so here; being overwhelmed with grief, they give vent to their sorrows at the footstool of the throne of grace, and so give themselves ease.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Rather, "Unless haply Thou hast utterly rejected us, and art beyond measure wroth against us," that is, Unless Thou art implacable, which is impossible, hear our prayer [CALVIN].
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Literally, “Unless thou hast utterly rejected us,” unless “thou art very wroth against us.” This is stated as a virtual impossibility. God’s anger can be but temporary Psa 30:5, and therefore the very supposition is an indirect expression of hope. This verse speaks of the possibility of an utter rejection through God’s wrath. Therefore, to remove so painful a thought, and to make the book more suited for public reading, Lam 5:21 is repeated in many manuscripts intended for use in the synagogue. The same rule is observed in the synagogue with the two last verses of Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, and Malachi.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Adonoy return us. Because he concludes with words of reproof, he had to repeat the preceding verse again, 14 In order to end on a note of consolation. and so did Yeshayahu, Trei Osor, and Koheles.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֚י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | except | H518 → | 1069 times |
| מָאֹ֣ס | maos | certainly <to reject> | H3988 → | |
| מְאַסְתָּ֔נוּ | meastanu | you have rejected us | H3988 → | |
| קָצַ֥פְתָּ | katzafta | you are angry | H7107 → | |
| עָלֵ֖ינוּ | ʾaleinu | towards us | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | up to | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| מְאֹֽד׃ | meod | muchness | H3966 → |
כִּ֚יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
אִם־except
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
מָאֹ֣סcertainly <to reject>
maosH3988 →
מְאַסְתָּ֔נוּyou have rejected us
meastanuH3988 →
קָצַ֥פְתָּyou are angry
katzaftaH7107 →
עָלֵ֖ינוּtowards us
ʾaleinuH5921 →5755 times
עַד־up to
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
מְאֹֽד׃muchness
meodH3966 →
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
Ezekiel 37:11Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’
it leads to
- Ephesians 2:1
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
- Psalms 77:7–9
“Will the Lord spurn us forever and never show His favor again?
- Ezekiel 39:25
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Now I will restore Jacob from captivity and will have compassion on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for My holy name.
- Ezekiel 36:10
I will multiply the people upon you—the house of Israel in its entirety. The cities will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.
- Jeremiah 31:1
“At that time,” declares the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people.”
- Ephesians 2:1
Through
Psalms 44:9But You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies.
it leads to
- Psalms 74:1
Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?
- Psalms 60:10
Have You not rejected us, O God? Will You no longer march out, O God, with our armies?
- Psalms 60:1
You have rejected us, O God; You have broken us; You have been angry; restore us!
- Psalms 74:1
Where this verse is studied
About Lamentations
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.