[19] The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!
[20] My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.
[21] But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: ס
[22] The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
[23] they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
[24] "Yahweh is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." ס
[25] Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
[26] It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of Yahweh.
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Verse twenty-seven (not read) completes the three verse section ending with a samekh, such that a nine-verse reading selection would not leave anything important out. However, the Episcopal Church has chosen to not include verse twenty-seven in this reciting of Jeremiah’s song of lament.
This is ‘option A’ as a companion psalm to the Track 1 Old Testament reading selection from Lamentations 1. It may be chosen for reading aloud in unison, over the ‘option B’ singing of Psalm 137.
In verse nineteen, every Hebrew word written is a construct of the masculine singular, with the two exceptions of “my afflictions” (“oniy”) and “wormwood” (“laanah”), which are a feminine singular possessive pronoun [“my” added to a masculine singular noun] noun and a feminine singular noun. The masculine focus says these words are spoken from an inner presence of an elohim, which is in control of Jeremiah’s soul in his flesh (the feminine state). Jeremiah writes as one like all the other saints who will be married to Yahweh, with his soul then possessed by the soul of the Son. All “will remember” individual past histories that include failures that lead to sins. Thus, the better way to translate this into English is as: “he will remember my affliction and straying bitter and poisonous .” This can be seen matching the verbiage used in Lamentations 1:4, where Jeremiah wrote: “the journey to a dry place [Zion] mourning , because no one come to the set feasts , all her gates are desolate , her priests groan , her virgins and she bitterness to .” The sins “remembered” here are of times when the soul served the flesh, bring on “my afflictions” that are the bitterness of “wormwood.”
In verse twenty, Jeremiah used enclosure marks to denote a spiritual “sinking” that is repeated. The use of brackets, followed by parentheses, both surrounding “and she will sink down” ( “[ wə·ṯā·šî·aḥ ] ( wə·ṯā·šō·w·aḥ )” ) follows “to remember she will remember,” which has the spiritual direction marks saying this memory of a sinful past will cause the feminine soul (that imprisoned within a body of flesh) will recall the bitterness and the poison of sins, so it will forevermore become ‘bowed down’ (the NRSV translation) in submission to the inner elohim sent by Yahweh to ensure these past memories are as close as a soul will come again to wickedness. Thus, Jeremiah finished the verse (following this spiritual sinking) by saying “within me my soul.” This is, again, the submission of the host soul to the elohim “within me,” which become the new Lord over “my soul.” This means “my soul” has been “sunken” into the role of follower to this Lord elohim, having learned it is incapable of leading its flesh away from temptations.
In verse twenty-one Jeremiah wrote, “this I recall to the heart [inner man] therefore I will await .” This takes the prior verses referring to “remembering” and place that memory within one’s “inner man, mind, will, heart” (from “leb”). This means the soul is reminded of the sins that have been a threat to its salvation, while the Baptism of Spirit from marriage to Yahweh has washed away those sins from Yahweh’s recall. The Hebrew word “yachal” (construct “’ō·w·ḥîl”) means “to wait, await,” implying “hope,” but the hidden intent is the “expectation” of service to Yahweh, as payment for being saved. This means ministry in the name of Yahweh – “Israel.”
In verse twenty-two, Jeremiah sings of “the mercies Yahweh” brings to a soul receiving His Spirit and His Son’s soul. In the Hebrew word translated as “mercy,” it is better read as “goodness” and/or “kindness.” This becomes a statement of the presence of Yahweh transforms a soul that has sinned in the past, to a new state that wears the face of Yahweh, which is the shine of “goodness.” Jeremiah then continued that this presence that leads one righteously is so “that not we are finished.” In that, the “we” (first-person common plural) are all souls that marry Yahweh and are cleansed of all past sins, via His Baptism of Spirit. The souls are “not finished” or “not completed” as those lost. Thus, “we are returned” and “we are completed in circuit” to the source of our origin. This is the desire of Yahweh that our souls “not fail” to return to His “compassions,” which leads our souls to His “goodness” as our “compassions,” via the inner elohim we follow.
In verse twenty-three the verse says, “these new to the dawning , much is your stability .” This is now singing of the wealth of insights that come to a servant-wife soul of Yahweh. There is no darkness, due to the outpouring of “new revelations of truth.” This comes from Yahweh to make sure the faithfulness of a wife-soul is forever “stabilized.” No questions go unanswered.
In verse twenty-four then sings, “my share Yahweh she says my soul , over thus I will wait on him .” Here, we find a repeat of the construct that says “to wait, await,” which ended verse twenty-one. Now, we are told that Jeremiah’s soul “shares Yahweh,” which comes from the presence of the “soul” of His Son [Adam-Jesus], at which point the feminine soul of Jeremiah (“my soul”) says it is possessed by that new soul’s presence, where “my” states that possession. This is a higher power soul – from “above” or “over” – that this states submission to that lower status. Again, “to wait” means to be led into ministry, now in the name of the Son (as Jesus, a name meaning “Yah Saves”).
In verse twenty-five we read, “good Yahweh to the soul waiting for him , to the soul who will seek him .” In this verse, a different root word is used, which translated as “to wait for” (“qavah”). This word implies a “gathering together,” which is not a word of inactivity, as waiting might seem. The word “good” does not apply only to “Yahweh,” as it means (as Jesus told the rich man who addressed Jesus as “good teacher”) no credit can be given to human beings for being “good.” The truth of that word means a soul in a body of flesh must be cleansed by Yahweh’s Spirit (the binding of divine marriage), so the Spirit projects the “good” of “Yahweh” because one then wears His face over one’s own. This “good Yahweh” is the halo that is the aura of a saint, which only comes to those possessed by the soul of the Son, Jesus. When one is then in the name of the Son, one enters ministry and is a “soul waiting for him.” This does not come to all souls, but only “to those souls who will seek him” in divine union. The proposal of divine marriage is spread by ministers in the name of Yahweh (Israel) and His Son (Jesus); but it is up to the soul to deny its flesh and accept the proposal as serious and a commitment necessary for salvation, so the soul seeks union with Yahweh out of love and spiritual desire.
In verse twenty-six we read, “good that to dance and silently , for the salvation Yahweh .” Here, the aspect of “dancing” should be seen as it is best done in pairs. The element of “silence” is metaphor for that within and unseen, rather than physical and visible. This “silent dance” is then done between two souls that are joined as one within one body of flesh. The lead position is that soul of the Son (Jesus), with the follower the soul married to Yahweh and the virgin mother [regardless of human gender] of the Son reborn. That means the host soul projects the “good” of Yahweh that comes through the Son, but the host soul is allowed to live and choose, just as it was when born of its mother. Because the host soul is subservient to Yahweh and allows the soul of the Son to be its Lord, it willingly and lovingly serves as a priest that projects the “goodness” of Yahweh so others will hear His proposal is for them too.
Again, the ending verse of this three-verse set is verse twenty-seven; but it is not read aloud today. I will present it in a literal English translation, leaving it up to the reader to complete the thought begun by Jeremiah. It says, “good for the man , to carry the yoke in their youth .”