Lamentations 3:37

מ (Mem)

3:37 Whose command was ever fulfilled ¹ 

unless the Lord ²  decreed it?

Lamentations 3:55-58

ק (Qof)

3:55 I have called on your name, O Lord,

from the deepest pit. ³ 

3:56 You heard ⁴  my plea: ⁵ 

“Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!” ⁶ 

3:57 You came near ⁷  on the day I called to you;

you said, ⁸  “Do not fear!”

ר (Resh)

3:58 O Lord, ⁹  you championed ¹⁰  my cause, ¹¹ 

you redeemed my life.

[3:37]  ¹ tn Heb “Who is this, he spoke and it came to pass?” The general sense is to ask whose commands are fulfilled. The phrase “he spoke and it came to pass” is taken as an allusion to the creation account (see Gen 1:3).

[3:37]  ² tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[3:55]  ³ tn Heb “from a pit of lowest places.”

[3:56]  ⁴ tn The verb could be understood as a precative, “hear my plea,” parallel to the following volitive verb, “do not close.”

[3:56]  ⁵ tn Heb “my voice.”

[3:56]  ⁶ tn The preposition ל (lamed) continues syntactically from “my plea” in the previous line (e.g. Ex 5:2; Josh 22:2; 1 Sam 8:7; 12:1; Jer 43:4).

[3:57]  ⁷ tn The verb could be understood as a precative (“Draw near”). The perspective of the poem seems to be that of prayer during distress rather than a testimony that God has delivered.

[3:57]  ⁸ tn The verb could be understood as a precative (“Say”).

[3:58]  ⁹ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”) as in the following verse. See the tc note at 1:14.

[3:58]  ¹⁰ tn This verb, like others in this stanza, could be understood as a precative (“Plead”).

[3:58]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the causes of my soul.” The term נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) is a synecdoche of part (= my soul) for the whole person (= me).