In part 1 we covered the first ten verses of Jeremiah’s Lamentations for Jerusalem. The first letter of each of these verses begins with a Hebrew letter in ascending order, so we now come to the eleventh verse, which begins with the eleventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

The Kaf (Open Palm) Revelation

¹¹ [כ] All her people groan seeking bread; they have given their precious things for food to restore their lives themselves. “See, O Lord, and look, for I am despised.”

Verse 11 begins with the word כֹּל whose first letter is כ (kol), translated “all.” The kaf literally means an open palm, signifying “to ask or beg.” So Jeremiah portrays the people of Judah in captivity as they beg for bread. They have bartered the few precious belongings they were able to take with them to Babylon.

The biblical number eleven also signifies imperfection, disorder, or incompleteness. This too paints a word picture showing stress and deprivation. The deeper meaning, of course, is that the people lacked the bread of the word of God, having refused to hear the prophetic warnings prior to the destruction of Jerusalem.

The prophet also quotes a lamenting prayer, “See, O Lord, and look, for I am despised” (zalal, to shake, be worthless, be insignificant, or, figuratively, to be morally loose). Jerusalem had committed adultery with false gods, and for this God shook the city and brought it low. So Jerusalem is pictured as a woman with her hand outstretched, begging, having been reduced to prostitution just to survive.

The Lamed (Ox Goad) revelation

Lamentations 1:12 says,

¹² Is it nothing to all you that pass this way? Look and see if there is any pain like my pain, which was severely dealt out to me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of His fierce anger.

Verse 12 begins with the Hebrew word לֹא, “lo,” which means “no or not.” The NASB renders it as “nothing.”

Twelve is the biblical number for authority. An ox goad was a symbol of authority, an instrument that was used to control or guide an ox. It could be used to inflict pain if the creature refused to obey his master. So the city of Jerusalem and its inhabitants were feeling the pain of the ox goad in the hand of their Babylonian masters.

On a deeper level, the ox goad was in God’s hand, for He was the one disciplining the people for their rebellion against Him. The apostle Paul also felt the pain of God’s ox goad when the Lord apprehended him on the Damascus road. God told him in Acts 26:14, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

God exercised His sovereignty (or authority) by treating Saul/Paul as His rebellious ox, while he was seeking to arrest the Christians in Damascus.

The Mem (Water) Revelation

Lamentations 1:13 says,

¹³ [מָ] From on high He sent fire into my bones, and it prevailed over them. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back; He has made me desolate [shawmem, “stunned, stupefied, dazed”], faint all day long.

The first word in this verse is מָרוֹם, merome, “high, height, above, high place.” It appears that the prophet was thinking of the day that God came down as fire upon the Mount to reveal the “fiery law” (Deut. 33:2 KJV) to Israel. All of God’s judgments are pictured as fire, including the judgment upon Jerusalem.

The purpose of the law is to bring repentance, correction, and discipline in order to instill the nature of God by its revelation. To accomplish His purposes, God often spreads a net to entrap sinners in their own ways. He knows how to bring rebellious children to a helpless state where they cannot even stand on their own feet.

The Hebrew letter mem literally means “water” and can refer to literal water or the chaos of the sea or the purifying water of the word of God (Heb. 10:22). Jeremiah uses this metaphor to point to repentance, or turning back.

Mem is the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The biblical number thirteen means “rebellion, depravity,” as we see in Gen. 14:4, “the thirteenth year they rebelled.”

The Nun (Swarm of Fish) Revelation

Lamentations 1:14 says,

¹⁴ [נִ] The yoke of my transgressions is bound; by His hand they are knit together. They have come upon my neck; He has made my strength fail. The Lord has given me into the hands of those against whom I am not able to stand.

The first Hebrew word in verse 14 is נִשְׂקַד, niskad, “to bind, tie, or weave together.” In this case it means “has been bound,” referring to the “yoke” or burden of sin. In other words, God is holding Jerusalem accountable for sin, and this is the reason for its captivity.

The fourteenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet is נִ (nun, “fish,” in the sense of a swarm or school of fish that appear to be intertwined or bound together as they swim). The prophet applies this to the many transgressions of Judah which have been “knit together” into a yoke. The yoke is said to be heavy, so Jerusalem says, “I am not able to stand.”

The judgment of the law for persisted rebellion and sin is that the people would go into captivity. Deut. 28:48 says,

⁴⁸ Therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

God had offered Jerusalem a lighter yoke made of wood (Jer. 27:2, 8), if they would submit to His verdict and serve the king of Babylon. However, they refused, so God told the prophet in Jer. 28:13,

¹³ Go and speak to Hananiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, ‘You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made instead of them yokes of iron’.”

Under the wooden yoke, they would have remained in the land of Judah during their 70-year captivity. But because they remained in rebellion against God, He exiled them under an iron yoke.

The Samech (Support) Revelation

Lamentations 1:15 says,

¹⁵ [סָ] The Lord has rejected [sala] all my strong men in my midst; He has called an appointed time against me to crush my young men; the Lord has trodden as in a wine press the virgin daughter of Judah.

Lam. 1:15 begins with the letter samech, “support.” Note Ps. 145:14, “The Lord sustains all who fall.” Jeremiah, however, uses it in the opposite manner, showing how God allows the “strong men” to fall.

In Psalm 119, the samech section is in verses 113-120. Each verse begins with samech, including verse 116 (“Sustain me according to Your word”). The word translated “sustain” is samech.

However, the section also refers to those who reject God’s law. Ps. 119:118 says, “You have rejected all those who wander from Your statutes.” Psalm 119:119 says, “You have removed all the wicked of the earth like dross.” Hence, God’s support is conditional upon obedience. Jerusalem did not understand this, and so the city lost God’s support and He refused to support its “strong men.”

The first Hebrew word in this verse is סָלָה, sala, “toss aside, make light of, weigh, despise, condemn, tread down.” So also, “the virgin daughter of Judah” has been cast into “a wine press” to be crushed as grapes are trodden down. In other words, God treated Jerusalem as part of the grape company of unbelievers.

The Ayin (Eye) Revelation

Lamentations 1:16 says,

¹⁶ [עַ] For these things I weep; my eyes run down with water, because far from me is a comforter, one who restores my soul. My children are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.

Lam. 1:16 begins with the letter ayin, “eye.” The first word in the Hebrew text is עַל־אֵלֶּה, al-elle, “because of these things.” Keep in mind that these words come from the city of Jerusalem. The prophet merely conveys them to us, so that we know the terrible condition of Judah on account of God’s judgment. Jerusalem weeps with no comforter to restore her soul. Her children are desolate as well.

The Hebrew word translated “comforter” is naham, the word used in Isaiah 40:1, “Comfort My people.” It is the Hebrew equivalent of parakletos (John 14:26), which is a helper or advocate (in a legal sense). Having rejected God, Jerusalem had grieved His Holy Spirit (Isaiah 63:10) and were left, therefore, with no one to comfort them.

The letter ayin carries the idea of seeing and being seen, or manifestation. Just under the surface of Lam. 1:16 is the message that rebellion against God always ends in tears, which, in the natural, blur one’s vision. In other words, such tears make it difficult to see and understand the revelation of God.

Likewise, as I showed in Hebrews: Immigrating from the Old Covenant to the New, the word for Hebrew is עִבְרִי, ibri, which is spelled with an ayin (manifesting) and bar, “son.” It literally refers to the manifestation of the sons of God. The book of Hebrews implies that to be a manifested son of God, one must immigrate from the Old Covenant to the New. (A Hebrew is defined as an immigrant.)

Lam. 1:16, then, tells us that those who reject God and grieve the Holy Spirit do not qualify as sons of God to be manifested (or “revealed”) at the proper time (Rom. 8:19). The sons of God have come to love, because God is love. Ayin is the sixteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and it means love. Ayin also has a numeric value of 70, perhaps suggesting that the purpose of this 70-year captivity was to teach the people the art of love.

The Pey (Mouth) Revelation

Lamentations 1:17 says,

¹⁷ [פָּ] Zion stretches out her hands; there is no one to comfort her; the Lord has commanded concerning Jacob that the ones round about him should be his adversaries; Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

In the Hebrew text, the first word in this verse is פָּרַשׂ, paras, translated “stretches.” The word begins with pey, literally “mouth,” but signifies something spoken, a word. In this case the focus is upon “the Lord has commanded.”

Hence, in this verse Jeremiah focuses upon the word of the Lord that the nations surrounding “Jacob” were raised up to be his adversaries. The people of Judah were called “Jacob” to indicate his carnal, deceptive nature prior to his name being changed to Israel.

Likewise, “Jerusalem” is the earthly city, rather than the heavenly city that Abraham sought (Heb. 11:10). The city’s “unclean” reputation among the nations was not good, and it failed to be a light to the nations, guiding them into the light. The same can be said about the city today.

In Psalm 119:130, 131, in the section on Pey, we read,

¹³⁰ The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. ¹³¹ I opened my mouth wide and panted, for I longed for Your commandments.

If the people of Jerusalem had exhibited the same desire for the words from the mouth of God, they might have avoided the Babylonian captivity. In fact, taking heed to God’s word would have given them victory over Babylon as a natural consequence of becoming the sons of God. Pey is the 17^th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and this is the biblical number for victory.

The Tsadi (Hook) Revelation

Lamentations 1:18 says,

¹⁸ [צַ] The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against His command; hear now, all peoples, and behold my pain; my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.

The first word in the Hebrew text is צַדִּיק, tsaddîyq, “righteous, just,” which begins with a tsadi צַ, “hook, desire, need, to catch.” In this case, God acted as a Fisherman, hooking them against their will and dragging them to Babylon. The meaning is seen in Ezek. 19:4, “And they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.”

Again, we read in Ezek. 19:9, “They put him in a cage with hooks and brought him to the king of Babylon.” This is based on the practice of putting a hook (or ring) in the nose of an ox to lead it and make it obey the controller.

So Jeremiah uses this word picture to portray the people being brought to Babylon with a “hook” by the righteous judgment of God.

Tsadi is also the 18^th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This is the biblical number of captivity or bondage.

The Koof (Back of the Head) Revelation

Lamentations 1:19 says,

¹⁹ [קָ] I called to my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and my elders perished in the city while they sought food to restore their strength themselves.

The first word in the Hebrew text is קָרָא qârâ, “to call” (normally by name). It pictures someone seeing the back of a friend’s head and calling out to them, but their friend does not respond and continues to walk away.

Idolatrous Jerusalem had followed other gods (“lovers”) but their gods deceived and betrayed them, having no power to save the city from God’s verdict.

Koof is the nineteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the biblical number of faith and hearing. In this case, the false gods fail to hear them calling. The revelation that their gods have deceived and betrayed them shatters their faith in those false gods.

By contrast, in the Koof section in Psalm 119:145-147, we see how the psalmist cries out to God,

¹⁴⁵ I cried with all my heart, answer me, O Lord! I will observe Your statutes. ¹⁴⁶ I cried to You; save me and I shall keep Your testimonies. ¹⁴⁷ I rise up before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words.

The people of Jerusalem ought to have cried out to the God of Israel, for then they might have been delivered.

The Resh (Head) Revelation

Lamentations 1:20 says,

²⁰ [רָ] See, O Lord, for I am in distress; my spirit is greatly troubled; my heart is overturned within me, for I have been very rebellious. In the street the sword slays; in the house it is like death.

The first word is ra’a, “see.” It begins with the letter רָ (resh and rosh, “head”). Although the word head does not appear in the text, the entire cry of distress comes from the head. The head is the place of leadership and decision-making, but this affects the entire body as well.

In this case, Jerusalem (or Zion, the place of authority) is “in distress” on account of rebellion against God’s law. Contrast this with the psalmist’s plea in the resh section of Psalm 119:153,

¹⁵³ Look [ra’a] upon my affliction and rescue me, for I do not forget Your law.

When the head of state makes bad decisions, the entire nation (body) suffers the consequences.

Resh is the twentieth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Its numeric value is 200, which is the number of insufficiency, as seen in John 6:7, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them.” Yet there is redemption potential, if the people repent because twenty is the biblical number of redemption.

The Shin (Teeth) Revelation

Lamentations 1:21 says,

²¹ [שָׁ] They have heard that I groan; there is no one to comfort me; all my enemies have heard of my calamity; they are glad that You have done it. Oh, that You would bring the day which You have proclaimed, that they may become like me.

The first word is שָׁמַע, shama, “to hear, to obey.” All of Jerusalem’s enemies have heard of its “calamity,” but instead of mourning, they “are glad that You have done it.” Why? Because “Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them” (Lam. 1:17).

By following false gods and rejecting their covenant with the God of Israel, they failed to fulfill the Abrahamic mandate to bless all nations. Instead, they antagonized them with their carnality and uncleanness. So in the day of their calamity, they found themselves friendless.

Of course, the surrounding nations were no better than Judah and Jerusalem, even though God used them to bring judgment upon Jerusalem.

The Tav (Mark or Sign) Revelation

Lamentations 1:22 says,

²² [תָּ] Let all their wickedness come before You; and deal with them as You have dealt with me for all my transgressions; for my groans are many and my heart is faint.

The first word in the Hebrew text is תָּבוֹא, tavo, “let it come.” It is like the last sigh of a long lament, a plea for justice in the end. As the last letter of the alphabet, the tav often signifies completion, truth, and sealing.

Picture a broken woman (Zion personified), kneeling at the edge of a battlefield strewn with ash. Her arms are lifted, eyes red with tears. Her enemies walk freely. And she prays not for revenge, but raises one final plea to heaven:

“Tavo”—May it come before You. Bring it into Your sight. Let the scale be balanced. Let the pain be seen. Let justice be whole.

The original tav was written as × or † in the ancient paleo-Hebrew writing. (The Hebrew letters seen today are actually Aramaic letters which they learned in Babylon during the captivity.) In Ezek. 9:4 the “mark” of God placed upon the foreheads of the overcomers is the tav. Hence, Rev. 22:4 says of them, “His name will be on their foreheads.” It is God’s signature (sign of ownership).

Jeremiah’s acrostic chapter, using the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, ends with a plea for justice. Indeed, that plea was answered at the cross, the tav, on which Jesus paid the full penalty for the sin of the world (1 John 2:2).