July 14
Introduction
Lamentations 3:1–24: Today’s reading is from a section of the book of Lamentations that focuses on punishment, repentance, and hope and attests to the LORD’s steadfast mercy. The prophet’s lament is both personal (verses 1–24, today’s reading) and communal (verses 25–57, tomorrow’s reading), and the prophet’s own experience speaks to everyone who suffers.
Today’s Key Verse: Lamentations 3:24
The LORD is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.
Reading
3 I am one who knows what it is to be punished by God.
2 He drove me deeper and deeper into darkness
3 And beat me again and again with merciless blows.
4 He has left my flesh open and raw, and has broken my bones.
5 He has shut me in a prison of misery and anguish.
6 He has forced me to live in the stagnant darkness of death.
7 He has bound me in chains; I am a prisoner with no hope of escape.
8 I cry aloud for help, but God refuses to listen;
9 I stagger as I walk; stone walls block me wherever I turn.
10 He waited for me like a bear; he pounced on me like a lion.
11 He chased me off the road, tore me to pieces, and left me.
12 He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
13 He shot his arrows deep into my body.
14 People laugh at me all day long; I am a joke to them all.
15 Bitter suffering is all he has given me for food and drink.
16 He rubbed my face in the ground and broke my teeth on rocks.
17 I have forgotten what health and peace and happiness are.
18 I do not have much longer to live; my hope in the Lord is gone.
19 The thought of my pain, my homelessness, is bitter poison.
20 I think of it constantly, and my spirit is depressed.
21 Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing:
22 The Lord’s unfailing love and mercy still continue,
23 Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.
24 The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.
Reflect
Imagine yourself as the author of today’s reading—one who is living in exile after witnessing the devastating destruction of your city and its place of worship. What are your thoughts and emotions as you read these verses? Are any of the verses especially meaningful to you? In what ways do the prophet’s words speak to you? What verses point to hope or offer comfort?
Pray
Lord God, thank you for your tender mercies that are new and fresh each morning. You assure me with your unfailing love, and in you I place my hope. Amen.
Tomorrow’s Reading
Lamentations 3:25–57: A communal lament.
