This verse depicts the crushing weight of divine judgment, vividly showing that despair can serve as a doorway to renewed dependence upon the Lord.
He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood. (v.15) These words convey the depths of sorrow lamented by the author of Lamentations, traditionally ascribed to the prophet Jeremiah, who ministered to the people of Judah from around 627 BC until after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Jerusalem was the capital city of the southern kingdom of Judah, and its destruction by the Babylonians left the inhabitants broken and desolate. In this verse, the speaker describes God as having filled him with a sharp, inward pain symbolized by bitterness, and as having overwhelmed him with “wormwood,” an herb repeatedly used in Scripture to represent intense grief or the pungent taste of affliction, signifying the tragedy that had befallen God’s people.
Within the stark imagery of drinking bitter wormwood, the poet of Lamentations expresses a state of being consumed by grief and regret. Wormwood, frequently cited to illustrate bitterness (as in Amos 5:7 and 6:12, where justice was turned into wormwood), underscores how the people’s tragedy feels as though it has permeated every aspect of life. For the author, God’s discipline arises in response to sin, and the catastrophic ruin of Jerusalem highlights the consequences of disobedience. Yet in the broader context of Lamentations, this bitterness also points toward a renewed humility and a plea for God’s compassionate restoration, reflecting a pursuit of hope amid deep anguish.
The experience of being “drunk with wormwood” also prefigures the fullness of suffering that Jesus would bear centuries later, when He took upon Himself humanity’s sin and sorrow on the cross (Matthew 27:46). Even in the depths of bitterness, Lamentations anticipates the mercy of God, for just a few verses later the poet affirms that the Lord’s lovingkindness never ceases (Lamentations 3:22). His discipline, though bitter, leads His people back to reliance on Him, reminding us that genuine hope shines brightest against the backdrop of heartbreak and loss.
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Lamentations 3:15 meaning
He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood. (v.15) These words convey the depths of sorrow lamented by the author of Lamentations, traditionally ascribed to the prophet Jeremiah, who ministered to the people of Judah from around 627 BC until after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Jerusalem was the capital city of the southern kingdom of Judah, and its destruction by the Babylonians left the inhabitants broken and desolate. In this verse, the speaker describes God as having filled him with a sharp, inward pain symbolized by bitterness, and as having overwhelmed him with “wormwood,” an herb repeatedly used in Scripture to represent intense grief or the pungent taste of affliction, signifying the tragedy that had befallen God’s people.
Within the stark imagery of drinking bitter wormwood, the poet of Lamentations expresses a state of being consumed by grief and regret. Wormwood, frequently cited to illustrate bitterness (as in Amos 5:7 and 6:12, where justice was turned into wormwood), underscores how the people’s tragedy feels as though it has permeated every aspect of life. For the author, God’s discipline arises in response to sin, and the catastrophic ruin of Jerusalem highlights the consequences of disobedience. Yet in the broader context of Lamentations, this bitterness also points toward a renewed humility and a plea for God’s compassionate restoration, reflecting a pursuit of hope amid deep anguish.
The experience of being “drunk with wormwood” also prefigures the fullness of suffering that Jesus would bear centuries later, when He took upon Himself humanity’s sin and sorrow on the cross (Matthew 27:46). Even in the depths of bitterness, Lamentations anticipates the mercy of God, for just a few verses later the poet affirms that the Lord’s lovingkindness never ceases (Lamentations 3:22). His discipline, though bitter, leads His people back to reliance on Him, reminding us that genuine hope shines brightest against the backdrop of heartbreak and loss.