Lamentations 3:22 | |
22. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassion's fail not. | 22. Clementite Jehovae, quod non sumus consumpti (vel, certe non sunt consumptae,) certe non defecerunt miscrationes ejus. |
The first clause may be explained in two ways: The view commonly taken is, that it ought to be ascribed to God's mercy that the faithful have not been often consumed. Hence a very useful doctrine is elicited -- that God succors his own people, lest they should wholly perish. But if we attend to the context, we shall see that another sense is more suitable, even that the
1 So the Targ. and all the versions, except the Vulg; they read
22. The mercies of Jehovah, verily they have no end,
For his compassion's never fail.
23. Renewed (are they) in the morning;
Great is thy faithfulness.
"Renewed" refers to "mercies," i.e., blessings, the fruit of mercy; and God's mercies have no end, because his compassion's ever continue. "In the morning," that is, after a night of affliction. If the rendering be made literal, "in the mornings," the meaning is the same; they follow the previous nights of trouble. Blessings, being as it were suspended or withheld during the night, are again renewed in the morning. -- Ed.