Lamentations 3:40 (DRB)

Passage

Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.

Nearby Context

Lamentations 3:38 Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest?

Lamentations 3:39 Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?

Lamentations 3:40 Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.

Lamentations 3:41 Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens.

Lamentations 3:42 Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "search", "ways", "seek", "return", and "lord". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "search" and "ways", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 39's "Mem Why hath a living man murmured..." into verse 41's "Nun Let us lift up our hearts...", so "search" and "ways" belong inside that flow. In Lamentations context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "search" and "ways" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.