Lamentations 3:19 (LSB)

Passage

Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the wormwood and gall.

Nearby Context

Lamentations 3:17 My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten goodness.

Lamentations 3:18 So I say, “My strength has perished, As well as my hopeful waiting which comes from Yahweh.”

Lamentations 3:19 Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the wormwood and gall.

Lamentations 3:20 Surely my soul remembers And is bowed down within me.

Lamentations 3:21 This I will return to my heart; Therefore I will wait in hope.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "remember", "affliction", "homelessness", "wormwood", and "gall". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "remember" and "affliction", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 18's "So I say My strength has perished..." into verse 20's "Surely my soul remembers And is bowed...", so "remember" and "affliction" 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 "remember" and "affliction" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.