The Lord’s acts of mercy indeed do not end, For His compassions do not fail.
Parallel translations
- WEB It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail.
- KJV It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
- 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.
- 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 you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.
- Luke 1:50His mercy is for generations of generations on those who fear him.
- Neh 9:31“Nevertheless in your manifold mercies you did not make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for you are a gracious and merciful God.
- Mic 7:18–19Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness.
- Mal 3:6“For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
- Ps 78:38But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn’t destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away, and didn’t stir up all his wrath.
- Ps 106:45He remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
- Ps 77:8Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Does his promise fail for generations?
- Ezek 20:8–9“‘“But they rebelled against me, and would not listen to me. They didn’t all throw away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the middle of the land of Egypt.
- Ezra 9:8–9Now for a little moment grace has been shown from Yahweh 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 revived us a little in our bondage.
- Ezra 9:13–15“After all that has come on us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, since you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant,
- Ezek 20:21–22“‘“But the children rebelled against me. They didn’t walk in my statutes, neither kept my ordinances to do them, which if a man do, he shall live in them. They profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
- Ezek 20:13–14“‘“But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn’t walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keeps, he shall live in them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on 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.