good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
wait
לְקוָֹ֔יוle.ko.Vav
H6960
to bind together (perhaps by twisting) · preposition + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
soul
לְנֶ֖פֶשׁle.Ne.fesh
H5315
properly · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
seeketh
תִּדְרְשֶֽׁנּוּtid.re.She.nu
H1875
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Micah 7:7-8 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and…
Psalms 130:5-6 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
Lamentations 3:26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
Psalms 37:34 Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
Psalms 40:1-5 I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Psalms 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Psalms 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wic…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Lamentations 3:21-36
Here the clouds begin to disperse and the sky to clear up; the complaint was very melancholy in the former part of the chapter, and yet here the tune is altered and the mourners in Zion begin to look a little pleasant. But for hope, the heart would break. To save the heart from being quite broken, here is something called to mind, which gives ground for hope (Lam 3:21), which refers to what comes after, not to what goes before. I make to return to my heart (so the margin words it); what we have had in our hearts, and have laid to our hearts, is sometimes as if it were quite lost and forgotten, till God by his grace make it return to our hearts, that it may be ready to us when we have occasio…
The repetition of "good" at the beginning of each of the three verses heightens the effect.
wait-- (Isa 30:18).
Adam Clarke on Lamentations 3:24
The Lord is my portion - See on Psa 119:67 (note).
John Gill on Lamentations 3:25
The Lord is good to them that wait for him,.... For the enjoyment of him as their portion in this world, and in that to come; for his presence here and hereafter; which they are sometimes now deprived of, but should wait patiently for it; since he has his set time to arise and favour them with it; to such is he "good" communicatively, and in a special way and manner. They that wait for him shall not be ashamed, or disappointed of what they expect; they shall renew their spiritual strength, and grow stronger and stronger; they shall inherit the earth, the new heavens and the new earth; enjoy many blessings now, and have good things laid up for them hereafter, eye has not seen, nor ear heard,…
"There is none good but one, God the Father." This word they declare is peculiar to the Father of Christ, who, however, is different from the God who is creator of all things, to which creator he gave no appellation of goodness. Let us see now if, in the Old Testament, the God of the prophets and the Creator and Legislator of the word is not called good. What are the expressions that occur in the psalms? "How good is God to Israel, to the upright in heart!" and, "Let Israel now say that he is good, that his mercy endures for ever," the language in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, "The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him." As therefore God is frequently called good in the Old Testament, so also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is styled just in the Gospels. Finally, in the Gospel according to John, our Lord, when praying to the Father, says, "O just Father, the world has not known you." And lest perhaps they should say that it was owing to his having assumed human flesh that he called the Creator of the world Father and styled him just, they are excluded from such a refuge by the words that immediately follow, "The world has not known you." But, according to them, the world is ignorant of the good God alone. For the world unquestionably recognizes its Creator, the Lord saying that the world loves what is its own. Clearly, then, he whom they consider to be the good God is called just in the Gospels. Anyone may at leisure gather together a greater number of proofs, consisting of those passages, where in the New Testament the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is called just, and in the Old also, where the Creator of heaven and earth is called good; so that the heretics, being convicted by numerous testimonies, may perhaps some time be put to the blush.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Desire · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Goodness Of God, The · Manifested: To his Church — Manifested: To his Church
Seekers · 5:8;8:5,6; — 5:8;8:5,6;
Seeking God · Ensures: His favour — Ensures: His favour
Waiting Upon God · They who engage in: Experience His goodness — They who engage in: Experience His goodness
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Lamentations 3:25
Lamentations 3:25
25. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
25. Bonus Jehova expectanti ipsum, (vel, speranti in eum,) animae quaerenti ipsum.
He continues the same subject: he however adds now something to it, even that God always deals mercifully with his servants, who recumb on him, mid who seek him. We hence see that the last verse is confirmed, where he said that he was content with God alone, while suffering all kinds of adversity: How so? for God, he says, is good to those who wait for him. [184] It might have been objected and said, that adversities produce sorrow, weariness, sadness, and anguish, so that it cannot be that they retain hope who…
Consideration of God's compassion and His omnipotence as displayed at critical junctures in the affairs of men. C. B. Michaelis has correctly perceived, and thus set forth, the transition from the complaint, bordering on despair, to hope, as given in Lam 3:19 : luctatur hic contra desperationis adfectum, quo tentatus fuerat, Lam 3:18, mix inde per fidem emersurus. In like manner it is said in the Berleburger Bibel, "In Lam 3:19 he struggles with despair, to which he had been tempted, and in the following verse soars up once more into the region of faith." By the resumption of עני from Lam 3:1, and of לענה and ראשׁ from Lam 3:15 and Lam 3:5, the contents of the whole preceding lamentation are…
The Lord is my inheritance: The land of Canaan had been regarded as Israel’s inheritance since the time of Moses (Exod 15:17; Josh 21:19; 1 Chr 28:8; Ps 47:4), but the true inheritance of God’s people is really God himself (see Ps 16:5-6; Eph 1:11; Heb 9:15; 1 Pet 1:3-4).
Rashi on Lamentations 3:24
‘Adonoy is my portion,’ my soul declares. God is my portion; therefore it is proper that I should hope in Him.
