My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
Parallel translations
- WEB You have removed my soul far off from peace; I forgot prosperity.
- KJV And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
- NKJV You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.
- NASB My soul has been excluded from peace; I have forgotten happiness.
- NLT Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
His soul is robbed of peace until he forgets what prosperity feels like. It voices the loss of all sense of well-being.
Overview
So prolonged is his suffering that he has 'forgotten prosperity,' his soul far removed from peace. The verse marks the lowest point of the lament before hope breaks in. This deep absence of peace heightens the wonder of the gospel, for Christ is our peace, reconciling us to God and giving a peace the world cannot take away (John 14:27; Ephesians 2:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Isa 59:11We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us.
- Isa 38:17Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
- Ps 119:155Salvation is far from the wicked because they do not seek Your statutes.
- Isa 54:10Though the mountains may be removed and the hills may be shaken, My loving devotion will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be broken,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
- Job 7:7Remember that my life is but a breath. My eyes will never again see happiness.
- Jer 8:15We hoped for peace, but no good has come, for a time of healing, but there was only terror.
- Jer 16:5Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or show sympathy, for I have removed from this people My peace, My loving devotion, and My compassion,” declares the LORD.
- Jer 20:14–18Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me never be blessed.
- Gen 41:30but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will devastate the land.
- Lam 1:16For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to revive my soul. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.
- Jer 14:19Have You rejected Judah completely? Do You despise Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We hoped for peace, but no good has come, and for the time of healing, but there was only terror.
- Zech 8:10For before those days neither man nor beast received wages, nor was there safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I had turned every man against his neighbor.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The weeping over a ruined city and the steadfast mercies that are new every morning point to the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem and whose mercy rises new from the grave.
How Lamentations 3:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.