What Does Lamentations 3:22 Mean?
It is by the faithful love of the LORD that we are not used up, for his compassions do not run out.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “compassions” shares its root with “womb”: the reason you are not consumed is compassion that holds life and does not fail.
THE MEANING
Your continued life rests in the LORD’s faithful love. His compassion does not run out when you feel close to an ending; it remains.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that feeling close to an ending means compassion has run dry. This verse locates your continued life in the LORD’s compassion, which does not fail.
THE ROOT
חַסְדֵי
chasdei
GROWS FROM
חסד
ḥ-s-d
Faithful, loyal love expressed through enduring care.
The verse ties not being consumed to the LORD’s חֶסֶד (chesed, faithful love). English “mercies” carries tenderness, while the Hebrew also holds durable fidelity: love that remains.
ALSO GROWS
faithful love: Faithful, loyal love.
חֶסֶד
This is the love named as the reason life continues, not a passing feeling.
faithful one: A loyal or devoted person.
חָסִיד
The same root describes someone characterized by faithful love, showing its relational depth.
רַחֲמָיו
rachamav
GROWS FROM
רחם
r-ḥ-m
To show deep compassion; this root is also associated with the womb.
The verse’s “his compassions” comes from רחם (racham, deep compassion), a root shared with רֶחֶם (rechem, womb). The family resemblance brings to mind care that holds and nurtures life, while the verse says this compassion does not fail.
ALSO GROWS
womb: The womb, where life is held and formed.
רֶחֶם
Its shared root with compassion gives the word a tender, life-holding quality.
compassionate: Compassionate or merciful.
רַחוּם
This related word describes compassion as a quality of the one whose care does not fail.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s compassion remains present when life feels close to an ending.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those in awe of him.Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she would not have compassion on the son of her womb? Even they may forget, but I will not forget you.Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Father of compassions and the God of all comfort.THE THREAD
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those in awe of him.The Hebrew word translated “pitieth” shares the root רחם (r-ḥ-m) with the compassion in Lamentations. The parallel shows this enduring compassion through the tenderness of a parent toward a child.
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