Lamentations 3:19

II

JEREMIAH REMEMBERS GOD IN HIS CRY FOR HELP

(Lamentations 3:19-39)

"Remember mine affliction and my misery,

the wormwood and the gall.

My soul hath them still in remembrance,

and is bowed down within me.

This I recall to my mind;

therefore have I hope."

"Remember" (Lamentations 3:19). This should be understood as an appeal to God. Certainly, Jeremiah was not asking Israel to remember his afflictions. Israel's king had inflicted them upon the prophet. It was the remembrance of God's past mercies and blessings that he mentioned in Lamentations 3:20 as the basis of his hope. "Knowing that God hears the prayers of the contrite, Jeremiah begins to hope."[24]