It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
Parallel translations
- WEB It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail.
- BSB Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
- NKJV Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
- NASB The Lord’s acts of mercy indeed do not end, For His compassions do not fail.
- NLT The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.
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
It is the LORD's steadfast love that keeps us from being consumed, for his compassion never fails. It anchors hope in God's unfailing covenant mercy.
Overview
At the book's center stands this great confession: only the LORD's 'loving kindnesses' (his covenant steadfast love, hesed) have spared a remnant from total destruction. God's compassion does not run out even in judgment. This unfailing mercy reaches its fullest expression in Christ, in whom the love and compassion of God are poured out to save sinners (Titus 3:4-5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 86:15But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
- Luke 1:50And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
- Neh 9:31Nevertheless for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.
- Mic 7:18–19Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
- Mal 3:6For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
- Ps 78:38But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
- Ps 106:45And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
- Ps 77:8Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?
- Ezek 20:8–9But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
- Ezra 9:8–9And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
- Ezra 9:13–15And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;
- Ezek 20:21–22Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
- Ezek 20:13–14But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 3:22 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.