Lamentations 3:17
What does Lamentations 3:17 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 3:17 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 3:17 means
Peace has been exiled from his soul. He cannot even remember prosperity; the memory of well-being has faded. This captures how trauma rewrites the mind—past joys seem unreal, future hopes unattainable. God’s chastening has so encompassed life that inner rest is gone. Yet by admitting this before Jehovah, the sufferer opens the possibility of a peace not based on memory or circumstance, but on God’s present mercies. The verse voices the bottoming out of human resources, which is the necessary precursor to discovering that hope can return through recalling who God is.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace; I forgat prosperity.
KJV
King James Version · 1611And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace; I forgat prosperity.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And Thou castest off from peace my soul, I have forgotten prosperity.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I have forgotten prosperity.
Context
After images of humiliation, the lament now names the loss of inner rest and remembered good. Verse 18 will cap this spiral with the confession that strength and hope from Jehovah have perished. Only after reaching that nadir will the poem shift in verses 19–21 to deliberate remembrance, which becomes the hinge from despair to hope.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Isaiah 54:10
For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my lovingkindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, saith Jehovah that hath mercy on thee.
- Psalms 119:155
Salvation is far from the wicked; For they seek not thy statutes.
- Job 7:7
Oh remember that my life is a breath: Mine eye shall no more see good.
- Jeremiah 20:14
Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
- Isaiah 59:11
We roar all like bears, and moan sore like doves: we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
- Jeremiah 14:19
Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loathed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and, behold, dismay!
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