Psalm 197 from Beyond Psalm 150
After four acrostic poems, with each verse starting with successive letters from the Hebrew alphabet, our fifth and final psalm of lament is shorter.
It reflects the response of the remnant of people who remain in desolated Jerusalem. The rest are either dead or exiled.
Though we may expect this final poem to offer hope, it doesn’t. These words merely confirm the people’s plaintive condition before a short conclusion ends this final lament.
Remember, Yahweh, what has come on us.
Lamentations 5 (WEB)
Look, and see our reproach.
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our houses to aliens.
We are orphans and fatherless.
Our mothers are as widows.
We have drunken our water for money.
Our wood is sold to us.
Our pursuers are on our necks.
We are weary, and have no rest.
We have given our hands to the Egyptians,
and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
Our fathers sinned, and are no more.
We have borne their iniquities.
Servants rule over us.
There is no one to deliver us out of their hand.
We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
because of the sword of the wilderness.
Our skin is black like an oven,
because of the burning heat of famine.
They ravished the women in Zion,
the virgins in the cities of Judah.
Princes were hanged up by their hands.
The faces of elders were not honored.
The young men carry millstones.
The children stumbled under loads of wood.
The elders have ceased from the gate,
and the young men from their music.
The joy of our heart has ceased.
Our dance is turned into mourning.
The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
For this our heart is faint.
For these things our eyes are dim:
for the mountain of Zion, which is desolate.
The foxes walk on it.
You, Yahweh, remain forever.
Your throne is from generation to generation.
Why do you forget us forever,
and forsake us for so long a time?
Turn us to yourself, Yahweh, and we will be turned.
Renew our days as of old.
But you have utterly rejected us.
You are very angry against us.
Reflections on A Lament from the Remnant
As this poem winds down, the author for a moment affirms Yahweh’s eternal existence and everlasting rule. Yet instead of praising him for who he is, the lament leaves us with words such as forget, forsake, reject, and angry.
This stands as the people’s perception of God. Though it’s incorrect, we can understand it given their circumstance.
They briefly plead with Yahweh to return to them and reinstate life as it once was. Yet all they perceive is God’s rejection.
When our life is at its worst, what is our view of Yahweh? When we ask the Almighty for a better tomorrow, do we believe he will answer?
May we always place our hope in Yahweh, regardless of the circumstances.
Explore the other psalms—sacred songs of praise, petition, and lament—scattered throughout the Bible in Peter’s book Beyond Psalm 150.
Discover more sacred songs of praise, petition, and lament throughout the Bible.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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