Lamentations 3:37-38

מ (Mem)

3:37 Whose command was ever fulfilled ¹ 

unless the Lord ²  decreed it?

3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes –

both calamity and blessing? ³ 

[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.

[3:38]  ³ tn Heb “From the mouth of the Most High does it not go forth, both evil and good?”