Passage

Lamentations 3.22

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"20. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is bowed down within me. 21. This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope."

"22. It is of Jehovah's lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not."

"23. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. 24. Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him." (Lamentations 3:20-24, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"20. My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me. 21. This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope."

"22. It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail."

"23. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24. “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”" (Lamentations 3:20-24, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"20. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. ^{humbled: Heb. bowed} 21. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. ^{recall: Heb. make to return to my heart}"

"22. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not."

"23. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him." (Lamentations 3:20-24, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"20. Remember well, and bow down doth my soul in me. 21. This I turn to my heart, therefore I hope."

"22. The kindnesses of Jehovah! For we have not been consumed, For not ended have His mercies."

"23. New every morning, abundant [is] thy faithfulness. 24. My portion [is] Jehovah, hath my soul said, Therefore I hope for Him." (Lamentations 3:20-24, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Jeremiah (traditional authorship) / lament-poet
Audience: post-587-BC exiled Judah
Location: Judah / Jerusalem in ruins
Time period: composition c. 587-586 BC, just after the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon

Theological reading

In the structural center of Lamentations' five-acrostic lament-poem, this verse holds the pivot from despair to hope. The Hebrew pairs the two great covenant-love words: chasdei YHWH ("lovingkindnesses of YHWH," the plural intensive of hesed) and rachamav ("His compassions," the plural intensive of rachamim). The pairing is structural: hesed names God's loyal covenant-love; rachamim names His tender womb-compassion; together they bound the divine character. The verse refuses both prosperity-theology (the exile is real; Jerusalem is in ruins) and despair-theology (yet the people are not consumed; the divine rachamim has not failed). The morning-by-morning renewal (v. 23) becomes the basis for the therefore I hope of the verse before (v. 21) and after (v. 24). This is the OT's clearest articulation that God's rachamim is the floor under covenant judgment.

Key words

H7356 - rachamim, rachamim (Strong's H7356). Here paired with H2617 - hesed hesed as the two-word covenant-character pairing.

Quoted in

H7356 - rachamim

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.