Lamentations 3:19-20 Explained

"Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me." — Lamentations 3:19-20 (KJV)

The two verses immediately before the famous ones about mercies new every morning — and they are the reason those work.

Read it in context: The Book of Lamentations. Also gathered under verses about depression.

Lamentations 3:19-20 in context

What does Lamentations 3:19-20 mean?

The grammar refuses to move on. 'Still in remembrance' says the memory is present, not processed; 'humbled' is closer to bowed down or sunk. Wormwood and gall are bitterness you can taste. The hope in verse 22 does not replace this — it is placed next to it, in the same poem, with no transition offered. That structure is the book's real teaching.

What is the context of Lamentations 3:19-20?

Jerusalem has fallen. The poet is describing a city where people have starved. This is the exact centre of the book, and of the acrostic that structures it. Three verses later comes the turn everybody quotes.

How do I pray Lamentations 3:19-20?

Pray these two on a day when the turn in verse 22 would be a lie. Say what is still remembered and do not resolve it. If someone you love is here, resist quoting them the mercies verse; Lamentations puts three verses between the two and it is not obvious the poet crossed them quickly.

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