Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, July 19th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Lamentations 3:18

This verse is not available in the MSG!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Despondency;   Doubting;   Thompson Chain Reference - Despair;   Hope-Despair;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Despair;   Judgments;  

Dictionaries:

- Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Acrostic;   Lamentations, Book of;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for October 24;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then I thought, “My future is lost,as well as my hope from the Lord.”
Hebrew Names Version
I said, My strength is perished, and my expectation from the LORD.
King James Version
And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord :
English Standard Version
so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord ."
New American Standard Bible
So I say, "My strength has failed, And so has my hope from the LORD."
New Century Version
I said, "My strength is gone, and I have no hope in the Lord ."
Amplified Bible
So I say, "My strength has perished And so has my hope and expectation from the LORD."
World English Bible
I said, My strength is perished, and my expectation from Yahweh.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And I saide, My strength & mine hope is perished from the Lord,
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So I say, "My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD."
Legacy Standard Bible
So I say, "My strength has perished,As well as my hopeful waiting which comes from Yahweh."
Berean Standard Bible
So I say, "My strength has perished along with my hope from the LORD."
Contemporary English Version
I tell myself, "I am finished! I can't count on the Lord to do anything for me."
Complete Jewish Bible
that I think, "My strength is gone, and so is my hope in Adonai ."
Darby Translation
And I said, My strength is perished, and my hope in Jehovah.
Easy-to-Read Version
I said to myself, "I no longer have any hope that the Lord will help me."
George Lamsa Translation
And I said, My fame and my hope are perished from the LORD.
Good News Translation
I do not have much longer to live; my hope in the Lord is gone.
Lexham English Bible
And I have said, "My glory is ruined, my expectation from Yahweh."
Literal Translation
And I said, My strength and my hope have perished from Jehovah.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I thought in my self: I am vndone, there is no hope for me in the LORDE.
American Standard Version
And I said, My strength is perished, and mine expectation from Jehovah.
Bible in Basic English
And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And I said: 'My strength is perished, and mine expectation from the LORD.'
King James Version (1611)
And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord:
Bishop's Bible (1568)
I thought in my selfe, I am vndone, there is no hope for me in the Lorde.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Therefore my success has perished, and my hope from the Lord.
English Revised Version
And I said, My strength is perished, and mine expectation from the LORD.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Vau. And Y seide, Myn ende perischide, and myn hope fro the Lord.
Update Bible Version
And I said, My strength has perished, and my expectation from Yahweh.
Webster's Bible Translation
And I said, My strength and my hope hath perished from the LORD:
New English Translation
So I said, "My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the Lord ."
New King James Version
And I said, "My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD."
New Living Translation
I cry out, "My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!"
New Life Bible
So I say, "My strength is gone, and so has my hope from the Lord."
New Revised Standard
so I say, "Gone is my glory, and all that I had hoped for from the Lord ."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And I said, Vanished is mine endurance, even mine expectation, from Yahweh.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord.
Revised Standard Version
so I say, "Gone is my glory, and my expectation from the LORD."
Young's Literal Translation
And I say, Perished hath my strength and my hope from Jehovah.

Contextual Overview

1 I'm the man who has seen trouble, trouble coming from the lash of God 's anger. He took me by the hand and walked me into pitch-black darkness. Yes, he's given me the back of his hand over and over and over again. 4He turned me into a scarecrow of skin and bones, then broke the bones. He hemmed me in, ganged up on me, poured on the trouble and hard times. He locked me up in deep darkness, like a corpse nailed inside a coffin. 7He shuts me in so I'll never get out, manacles my hands, shackles my feet. Even when I cry out and plead for help, he locks up my prayers and throws away the key. He sets up blockades with quarried limestone. He's got me cornered. 10He's a prowling bear tracking me down, a lion in hiding ready to pounce. He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces. When he finished, there was nothing left of me. He took out his bow and arrows and used me for target practice. 13He shot me in the stomach with arrows from his quiver. Everyone took me for a joke, made me the butt of their mocking ballads. He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat, bloated me with vile drinks. 16He ground my face into the gravel. He pounded me into the mud. I gave up on life altogether. I've forgotten what the good life is like. I said to myself, "This is it. I'm finished. God is a lost cause." 19I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed. I remember it all—oh, how well I remember— the feeling of hitting the bottom. But there's one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 Samuel 27:1, Job 6:11, Job 17:15, Psalms 31:22, Psalms 116:11, Ezekiel 37:11

Reciprocal: Job 8:13 - the hypocrite's Job 9:18 - will not Psalms 77:10 - This is Psalms 102:1 - overwhelmed Jeremiah 10:19 - Truly Jeremiah 31:17 - General Lamentations 3:54 - I said Luke 11:10 - General Luke 15:18 - will arise

Cross-References

Genesis 3:14
God told the serpent: "Because you've done this, you're cursed, cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals, Cursed to slink on your belly and eat dirt all your life. I'm declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He'll wound your head, you'll wound his heel."
Job 1:21
Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I'll return to the womb of the earth. God gives, God takes. God's name be ever blessed.
Psalms 90:3
So don't return us to mud, saying, "Back to where you came from!" Patience! You've got all the time in the world—whether a thousand years or a day, it's all the same to you. Are we no more to you than a wispy dream, no more than a blade of grass That springs up gloriously with the rising sun and is cut down without a second thought? Your anger is far and away too much for us; we're at the end of our rope. You keep track of all our sins; every misdeed since we were children is entered in your books. All we can remember is that frown on your face. Is that all we're ever going to get? We live for seventy years or so (with luck we might make it to eighty), And what do we have to show for it? Trouble. Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard. Who can make sense of such rage, such anger against the very ones who fear you?
Proverbs 22:5
The perverse travel a dangerous road, potholed and mud-slick; if you know what's good for you, stay clear of it.
Isaiah 7:23
But that's not the end of it. This country that used to be covered with fine vineyards—thousands of them, worth millions!—will revert to a weed patch. Weeds and thornbushes everywhere! Good for nothing except, perhaps, hunting rabbits. Cattle and sheep will forage as best they can in the fields of weeds—but there won't be a trace of all those fertile and well-tended gardens and fields.
Jeremiah 4:3
Here's another Message from God to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: "Plow your unplowed fields, but then don't plant weeds in the soil! Yes, circumcise your lives for God's sake. Plow your unplowed hearts, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem. Prevent fire—the fire of my anger— for once it starts it can't be put out. Your wicked ways are fuel for the fire.
Matthew 13:7
A Harvest Story At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories. "What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams. "Are you listening to this? Really listening?" The disciples came up and asked, "Why do you tell stories?" He replied, "You've been given insight into God's kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn't been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That's why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they're blue in the face and not get it. I don't want Isaiah's forecast repeated all over again: Your ears are open but you don't hear a thing. Your eyes are awake but you don't see a thing. The people are blockheads! They stick their fingers in their ears so they won't have to listen; They screw their eyes shut so they won't have to look, so they won't have to deal with me face-to-face and let me heal them. "But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance. "Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn't take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person's heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road. "The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it. "The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it. "The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams." He told another story. "God's kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too. "The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn't it? Where did these thistles come from?' "He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.' "The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?' "He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you'll pull up the wheat, too. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I'll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.'" Another story. "God's kingdom is like a pine nut that a farmer plants. It is quite small as seeds go, but in the course of years it grows into a huge pine tree, and eagles build nests in it." Another story. "God's kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread—and waits while the dough rises." All Jesus did that day was tell stories—a long storytelling afternoon. His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy: I will open my mouth and tell stories; I will bring out into the open things hidden since the world's first day. Jesus dismissed the congregation and went into the house. His disciples came in and said, "Explain to us that story of the thistles in the field." So he explained. "The farmer who sows the pure seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the pure seeds are subjects of the kingdom, the thistles are subjects of the Devil, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, the curtain of history. The harvest hands are angels. "The picture of thistles pulled up and burned is a scene from the final act. The Son of Man will send his angels, weed out the thistles from his kingdom, pitch them in the trash, and be done with them. They are going to complain to high heaven, but nobody is going to listen. At the same time, ripe, holy lives will mature and adorn the kingdom of their Father. "Are you listening to this? Really listening? "God's kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field. "Or, God's kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it. "Or, God's kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. That's how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come and cull the bad fish and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won't do any good." Jesus asked, "Are you starting to get a handle on all this?" They answered, "Yes." He said, "Then you see how every student well-trained in God's kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it." When Jesus finished telling these stories, he left there, returned to his hometown, and gave a lecture in the meetinghouse. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. "We had no idea he was this good!" they said. "How did he get so wise, get such ability?" But in the next breath they were cutting him down: "We've known him since he was a kid; he's the carpenter's son. We know his mother, Mary. We know his brothers James and Joseph, Simon and Judas. All his sisters live here. Who does he think he is?" They got their noses all out of joint. But Jesus said, "A prophet is taken for granted in his hometown and his family." He didn't do many miracles there because of their hostile indifference.
Romans 14:2
For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ's table, wouldn't it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn't eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God's welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I said, my strength and my hope are perished from the Lord. The former of these words signifies, according to Aben Ezra, "my standing", my subsistence, my continuance in being, or my perpetuity; according to Jarchi, my abiding r in this world; it is rendered "blood" in Isaiah 63:3; which is the support of life; and which when gone, or ceases to circulate, a man ceases to be: the sense is, that the prophet, or those he represents, looked upon themselves as dead men, at least of a short continuance; their natural strength was exhausted, and they must quickly die, and had no hope of living, or of enjoying the divine favour, or good things, at the hand of God. Some understand it of spiritual strength to do good, and of hope of having good things, or deliverance from the hand of God, which they were despairing of; for the words are the language of despondency, and betray great, weakness and infirmity; for in the Lord is everlasting strength, and he is the hope of his people, and the Saviour of them in time of trouble, Isaiah 26:4.

r נצחי "duratio mea", Montanus; "perennitas mea", Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Having dwelt upon the difficulties which hemmed in his path, he now shows that there are dangers attending upon escape.

Lamentations 3:11

The meaning is, “God, as a lion, lying in wait, has made me turn aside from my path, but my flight was in vain, for springing upon me from His ambush lie has torn me in pieces.”

Desolate - Or, astonied, stupefied that he cannot flee. The word is a favorite one with Jeremiah.

Lamentations 3:12

This new simile arises out of the former one, the idea of a hunter being suggested by that of the bear and lion. When the hunter comes, it is not to save him.

Lamentations 3:14

Metaphor is dropped, and Jeremiah shows the real nature of the arrows which rankled in him so deeply.

Lamentations 3:15

“He hath” filled me to the full with bitterness, i. e. bitter sorrows Job 9:18.

Lamentations 3:16

Broken my teeth with gravel stones - His bread was so filled with grit that in eating it his teeth were broken.

Lamentations 3:17

Prosperity - literally, as in the margin, i. e. I forgot what good was, I lost the very idea of what it meant.

Lamentations 3:18

The prophet reaches the verge of despair. But by struggling against it he reaches at length firm ground.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 18. And my hope — That first, that last support of the miserable-it is gone! it is perished! The sovereign God alone can revive it.


 
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