The Yod (Hand) Revelation

Lam. 3:28-30 says,

²⁸ [י] Let him sit alone and be silent since He has laid it on him. ²⁹ [י] Let him put his mouth in the dust, perhaps there is hope. ³⁰ [י] Let him give his cheek to the smiter, let him be filled with reproach.

Each verse here begins with yod, a hand. One’s hands are raised in praise to God—hence, Judah, which begins with the yod, means “praise.” Raised hands signify surrender, humility, and submission, and this is how Jeremiah paints his picture in the verses above.

The yod is the smallest Hebrew letter. It pictures lowliness.

The first word in verse 28 is יֵשֵׁב (yeshev), “Let him sit.” The prophet counsels the men of Jerusalem to sit in silence and passive submission before God without attempting to justify themselves or accuse God of being unjust in destroying Jerusalem. They must recognize that God has “laid” this judgment upon them and upon their city.

Verse 29 begins with יָשִׂים (yasim), “Let him put / let him place.”Putting the mouth in the dust is a deep gesture of humiliation, putting away arguments, yielding without resistance, and expressing repentance and surrender.

Verse 30 begins with יִתֵּן (yitten), “Let him give.” In this case it is a matter of accepting discipline as from the Lord, even as we read how Jesus did this when he accepted the judgment upon Himself for the sin of the world. It is similar to the scene in Isaiah 50:6,

⁶ I gave My back to those who strike Me, and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.

The next verses show that the Messiah waited for God’s vindication, instead of trying to vindicate Himself.

The Kaf (Open Palm) Revelation

Lam. 3:31-33 says,

³¹ [כ] For the Lord will not reject forever, ³² [כ] for if He causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness. ³³ [כ] For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men.

The kaf pictures an open palm that covers or protects. In this case the prophet uses it to picture the limits of divine judgment. In other words, judgment is designed to correct and restore. God does not “reject forever,” because all of His judgments are motivated by His “lovingkindness.” His love does not eliminate judgment but limits it so that the judgment always fits the crime (sin).

So in the divine law, beatings are limited to 40 lashes (Deut. 25:3), and all debt is limited by the law of Jubilee.

The first word of verse 31 is כִּי (ki), “For, or because.” God’s rejection is never permanent. This verse is like a hinge, moving from human lowliness to divine faithfulness.

Kaf, the “cupped hand,” hints that God is still holding His people even when they are being judged. Judgment is not the end of the story.

In verse 32, the first words are כִּי אִם (ki im), “Though… yet.” The prophet says, “Though He causes grief, yet He will have compassion. Both “grief” and “compassion” come from the same God. It is merciful judgment coming from the hand (kaf) that both judges and heals. The abundance of mercy reminds us that “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).

The Greek word for “triumphs” means “to boast over, to exult over, to prevail over someone or something.” It means to win decisively over an opponent. It pictures a champion standing over a defeated challenger. In a courtroom setting, it indicates a verdict being overturned. Mercy prevails.

Hence, the Ark of the Covenant contained the tablets of the law (Exodus 40:20) but were under the mercy seat. The mercy seat had a higher, more exalted position.

Both James and Jeremiah thus picture judgment and compassion as legitimate competitors, with compassion and lovingkindness emerging victorious. Jeremiah uses the kaf to picture the protective covering of God’s love, preventing utter destruction. Though God does indeed judge sinners, His love wins in the end.

The Lamed (Ox Goad) Revelation

Lam. 3:34-36 says,

³⁴ [ל] To crush under His feet all the prisoners of the land, ³⁵ [ל] to deprive a man of justice in the presence of the Most High, ³⁶ [ל] to defraud a man in his lawsuit—of these things the Lord does not approve.

Lamed is literally an ox goad, a symbol of authority used to guide or instruct an ox in the way that he should go. It is the letter of instruction,and this verse condemns the twisting of justice that God taught Israel to uphold.

Verse 34 begins with לְדַכֵּא (ledakke’), “to crush, subdue, trample.” The word describes physical abuse. This describes abusive power, the kind seen in Babylon’s treatment of Jerusalem. God does not approve of cruelty. All judgment must be proportionate to the crime. The verse shows the distinction between divine discipline and human cruelty (which is lawlessness). Because Babylon brought excessive judgment upon the people, God later judged Babylon.

Lam. 3:35 begins with לְהַטּוֹת (lehatot), “to turn aside, to pervert, to bend away.” This word describes legal corruption. Even when Babylon’s judges “turn aside” legal cases, God sees and will judge. The phrase “in the presence of the Most High” is significant: They think they may act with impunity, not realizing that with authority also comes an equal measure of responsibility before God.

Lam. 3:36 begins with לְעַוֵּת (le‘awwet), “to subvert, to wrong, to bend, to distort.” This word describes moral perversion. This is the broadest of the three, encompassing judicial corruption, administrative oppression, denying people their rights, warping truth, and silencing the powerless.

God does not condone or accept such injustice. Neither will He overlook it when Babylon’s time comes.

The Mem (Water) Revelation

Lam. 3:37 says,

³⁷ [מ] Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? ³⁸ [מ] Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth? ³⁹ [מ] Why should any living mortal [adam chai, “living man”], or any man, offer complaint in view of his sins?

These verses rise from the previous section on injustice and move into the mystery of God’s sovereignty, human responsibility, and the moral logic of suffering. Here we are asked three rhetorical questions with obvious answers.

Each verse begins with the Hebrew letter מ (mem) — a letter associated with waters (its name relates to mayim, “water”), flow, movement, origin, and hidden depths. We are being invited (as Jesus said to Simon Peter in Luke 5:4) “Put out into the deep water an let down your nets for a catch.” The mem-section plunges into the deep waters of God’s sovereign purposes.

The first word of verse 37 is מִי־זֶה (mi zeh), “Who is this…?” God is sovereign. Human powers do not control history. Neither does Babylon act independently, and suffering does not fall by accident. The sufferer is invited to stop trying to limit God’s sovereignty by the imposition of man’s “free will.” Further, stop interpreting historical events as being random.

The first words of verse 38 are מִפִּי עֶלְיוֹן (mippi Elyon), “From the mouth of the Most High.” This is one of Scripture’s strongest statements of God’s total government: Blessing and hardship both come under His permission. He governs the events of judgment and calamity.

We are called to recognize the divine purpose behind events, whether they are good or “ill.” Jeremiah echoes other clear statements in Scripture:

Job 2:10 — “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?”

Amos 3:6 — “If a calamity occurs in a city, has not the Lord done it?”

Isaiah 45:6, 7 — “I am the Lord, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity [ra, “evil”]. I am the Lord who does all these.”

The point is not to blame God but to recognize that nothing escapes His rule. Chaos is not in control. There is nothing random about historical events.

Mem here reveals the deep water by coming to understand the sovereignty of God. These are the deep things of God that relatively few people comprehend.

The first words of verse 39 are מַה־יִּתְאוֹנֵן (mah yit’onen), “Why should he complain / murmur?” It means, why should anyone complain when punished for his sins? If God is sovereign and His discipline has purpose, then the right human response is not complaint but repentance. Instead of trying to get God to change His mind, we are the ones who need the attitude adjustment.

The question is addressed to adam chai, “living man.” If you are still alive, and if breath is still in your body, you have room to repent and return. It is through the blood of Jesus and the washing of the word that we are cleansed from all sin.

The water (mem) thus flows in this way:

Verse 37: Who can speak apart from a sovereign God?

Verse 38: From God come both good and calamity, because God governs both blessing and judgment.

Verse 39: Why complain? The right response is humility, not grumbling.

These verses transition us from God’s sovereignty to man’s response (repentance) in the next section.

The Nun (Swarm of Fish, Life) Revelation

Within the deep waters are schools of fish. The early church used the fish as a symbol of a believer. The Greek word is Ichthus, which was seen as an acronym for Jesus Christ God and Savior. Jesus told His disciples that He would teach them how to be “fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). Hence, those who were baptized in water for the remission of sins were thus pictured as a school of fish, teeming with life.

Lam. 3:40-42 says,

⁴⁰ (נ) Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return [venashuvah, from the root word shuv] to the Lord. ⁴¹ (נ) We lift up our heart and hands toward God in heaven. ⁴² (נ) We have transgressed and rebelled, You have not pardoned.

The first word in verse 40 is נַחְפְּשָׂה (nachp’sah), “Let us search out.” We are admonished to dig beneath the surface. To “return” (shuv) to the Lord is to repent. Jeremiah uses this word often, such as in Jer. 3:22,

²² Return [shuv], O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness. Behold, we come to You; for You are the Lord our God.

In Jer. 18:11 the prophet appeals to Jerusalem to repent in view of their rebellion against God, saying, “turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.”

Jer. 35:15 says, “turn now every man from his evil way and amend your deeds.”

In recent years, Zionism has interpreted this concept in terms of physically relocating to the old land. But the prophets were speaking of returning to God in repentance. Any sinner can relocate to another country if he has the means to do so, but this does nothing to change his heart or to address the original rebellion that caused the dispersion.

Hence, their Old Covenant viewpoint is the basis of modern Zionism, whereas our New Covenant perspective requires repentance, turning to God. Heb. 12:23-28 says that those who believe in Christ are no longer to rally to Him at Mount Sinai (which is also the earthly Jerusalem—Gal. 4:25). Instead, we rally around Christ symbolically on a new mountain—Mount Sion, or Herman, where Jesus was transfigured and pronounced the “beloved Son.”

No one can rally around Jesus Christ apart from repentance, a turning, a change of mind and heart. Such repentant people, then, join the school of fish (so to speak), teeming with resurrection life. So we read in Acts 11:18,

¹⁸ … Well, then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.

Each nation has its own peculiar culture that differs from Kingdom culture that is established by God’s laws. Hence, each one must dig down and search out any discrepancies and repent (change one’s thinking) about right and wrong.

The first word in verse 41 is נִשָּׂא (nissā’), “Let us lift up.” The root word is nasa, “to lift up.” This is how the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) was named. It suggests the “lift off” of spacecraft.

The prophet tells the rebellious people to repent by lifting up both heart and hands. Gestures are insufficient, while claiming to lift up the heart without a corresponding change of action (“hands”) is hypocritical.

The first word in verse 42 is נַחְנוּ (nachnu), “We.” It is a confession of pasha (willful rebellion) and marah (stubborn defiance). This confession is the result of discovering the problem within the heart—not blaming Babylon, nor other circumstances. It is full ownership of blame.

And then we read the final painful admission: “You have not pardoned.” This does not mean God is unwilling to forgive. It means the judgment has not yet run its course and mercy is not yet implemented. During exile, the people needed divine support, represented by the letter Samekh.

The Samech (Support) Revelation

Lam. 3:43-45 says,

⁴³ [ס] You have covered Yourself with anger and pursued us; You have slain and have not spared. ⁴⁴ [ס] You have covered Yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. ⁴⁵ [ס] You have made us mere offscouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.

The first word in verse 43 is סַכּוֹתָה (sakkotah), “You have covered / enclosed / hedged in.” The samech letter, which normally suggests protection, here expresses the feeling of being hemmed in by judgment. God’s anger covers Him like a cloak, making Him unapproachable. His wrath surrounds the people.

This reverses the Psalm imagery where God covers His people with compassion (Psalm 91:4). Here He covers Himself with wrath. Furthermore, His judgment is described as pursuit, like a hunter chasing prey. No pity is shown — the covenant curses of the law in Deut. 28 are fully in effect.

Deut. 28:64, 65 says,

⁶⁴ Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known. ⁶⁵ Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul.

The first words in verse 44 areסַכּוֹתָה לְךָ עָנָן (sakkotah lekha ‘anan), “You have covered Yourself with a cloud.”

In the days of Moses, when God came down on the Mount, He was covered with a cloud (Exodus 19:16). This cloud served as a veil hiding the glory of God, because the people were too fearful to behold His glory.

This scene was re-enacted later when Moses’ face was glorified after being in God’s presence for 40 days. The people were afraid to look at him, so he put a veil over his face (Exodus 34:30, 33).

Paul commented on this in 2 Cor. 3:12-18, where we are told that the veil on Moses’ face did not hinder him from seeing; rather, it hid the glory of God in Moses’ face. He says that the veil is the Old Covenant (2 Cor. 3:14) which hides the glory of God from those who remain under that covenant.

Therefore, when the prophet said that God had covered Himself with a cloud, we understand that His glory was to remain hidden even though they prayed for it and that it would be revealed only when the sentence was concluded.

The first words in verse 45 are סְחִי וּמָאוֹס (sechi uma’os), “filth and refuse.” Israel is seen as filth among the nations. Their status has collapsed from “a holy people” (Deut. 7:6) to “refuse.” The phrase in Lam. 3:45, “in the midst of the peoples” emphasizes public disgrace. The nations mock what was once holy.

This fulfills the covenant warnings. Deut. 28:37 says,

³⁷ You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where the Lord drives you.

Isaiah 52:5 says virtually the same thing:

⁵ “Now therefore, what do I have here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that My people have been taken away without cause?” Again the Lord declares, “Those who rule over them howl, and My name is continually blasphemed all day long.”

Jeremiah 26:6 speaks of Jerusalem, saying,

⁶ then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse to all the nations of the earth.

The people of Israel were supposed to be a blessing to all nations (Gen. 12:3), but instead their rebellion against God made them “a curse to all the nations of the earth.”

The samech letter symbolizes protective enclosure, here turned negative — the people are surrounded by God’s anger and the shame of exile. The curse of the law, of course, is removed through the New Covenant by the work of its Mediator, Jesus Christ. Repentance is required.

The three verses (43-45) in the Samech section give us three aspects of support—or rather, the lack of support. Verse 43 says that the people (or nation) were covered by wrath. Verse 44 says that God was covered with a cloud that was impenetrable even by prayer once the divine verdict was given. Verse 45 says that the former holy nation was to be regarded as filthy refuse—like the guts of an animal that is butchered.

This section is one of the emotional low points of chapter 3. Yet it sets up the next section (ע Ayin), where the lament shifts from divine wrath to human persecution — a widening of perspective that eventually leads back toward hope.