The Peh (Mouth) Revelation

In the Hebrew alphabet, ayin comes before peh, but Jeremiah reverses this order to mirror the catastrophe. Recall that we saw the same earlier in Lam. 2:16-17 (peh), followed by verses 18-19 (ayin).

Even the alphabet has been disrupted. Together, all 22 letters represent the Word of God—that is, His promises. The downfall of Jerusalem seems to destroy or disrupt the promises. So the words of the mouth (peh) come before the tears from the eyes (ayin)—speech before sight, accusation before perception, mockery before understanding.

On a deeper level, it also shows the word of divine judgment that results in tears, or “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Luke 13:28).

Lam. 3:46-48 says,

⁴⁶ [פ] All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. ⁴⁷ [פ] Panic and pitfall have befallen us, devastation and destruction; ⁴⁸ [פ] my eyes run down with streams of water because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Each verse here begins with peh, a mouth. Verse 46 begins with פָּצוּ (pāṣû), “they opened wide.” Enemies have opened their mouths to swallow up Judah/Jerusalem. In Hebrew thinking, to consume is to conquer. Mouths are also opened in mockery or accusation.

Verse 47 begins with פַּחַד (paḥad), “Terror, dread, or panic.” This word points to the psychological effect upon the people of Judah.

Verse 48 begins with פַלְגֵי (palgê), “Channels, streams, divisions (of water).” The result of the panic is a deluge of tears. The Peh words פָּצוּ (they opened), פַּחַד (terror), and פַלְגֵי (streams) form a deliberate progression from hostile speech, to inward dread, to overflowing tears—showing how verbal assault culminates in a wordless lament.

The above sequence is seen also in Psalm 22:13-15, a psalm about Christ’s crucifixion and suffering.

¹³ They open wide their mouth at me, as a ravening and roaring lion. ¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within me. ¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and you lay me in the dust of death.

Lam. 3:46–48 and Psalm 22:13–15 share a deliberate pattern in which hostile mouths initiate suffering, inner strength collapses, and the body responds with water imagery—tears in Lamentations, life-blood in Psalm 22—linking national ruin with the suffering of the righteous.

The Ayin (Eye) Revelation

Lam. 3:49-51 says,

⁴⁹ [ע] My eyes pour down unceasingly, without stopping, ⁵⁰ [ע] until the Lord looks down and sees from heaven. ⁵¹ [ע] My eyes bring pain to my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.

Each verse begins with ayin, “an eye.” Verse 49 begins with עֵינִי (ʿênî), “My eye.”

Verse 50 begins with עַד־יָשְׁקִיף (ʿad-yāšqîp̄), “Until [He] looks down.”

Verse 51 also begins with עֵינִי (ʿênî), “My eye.”

Lam. 3:49–51 opens with “my eye,” then moves to “until He looks down,” and then again returns to “my eye,” forming an Ayin-acrostic that attaches human tears to the hope of divine remembrance. This also suggests two views of the catastrophe: human and divine, visible and invisible. Those who see the world through the eyes of God, even if not comforted by the catastrophe, are able to walk by faith and not by sight. Hence, they see hope delayed but not abandoned. Hope is thus bound to the word “until.” It is a temporary situation until judgment has run its course.

The Tsade (Fish Hook) Revelation

Lam. 3:52-54 says,

⁵² [צ] My enemies without cause hunted me down like a bird; ⁵³ [צ] they have silenced me in the pit and have placed a stone on me. ⁵⁴ [צ] Waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!”

Each verse begins with a tsade, “fish hook,” signifying desire to obtain something, such as a fisherman desiring to catch fish.

Verse 52 begins with צָדוּ (ṣādû), “They hunted.” The root word means “to hunt, pursue, trap.”

Verse 53 begins with צָמְתוּ (ṣāmtû), “They silenced, they cut off.”

Verse 54 begins with צָפוּ (ṣāfû), “They flowed or overflowed” (referring to waters). It speaks of death.

This creates what is called a compressed descent narrative: from chase, to capture, to annihilation. This marks the lowest point in chapter 3 before the reversal that brings the hope of resurrection.

The Koof (Back of the Head) Revelation

Lam. 3:55-57 says,

⁵⁵ [ק] I called on Your name, O Lord, out of the lowest pit. ⁵⁶ [ק] you have heard my voice, “Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief, from my cry for help.” ⁵⁷ [ק] You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not fear!”

The koof pictures the back of the head. It signifies what is behind you, what is unseen, or what cannot be looked at directly. It also is a word picture of the dawn with the sun rising, suggesting the emerging light out of the darkness or divine help that is moving from the unseen to visibility. This gives koof the sense of hiddenness, the unseen side, or what must be perceived indirectly.

Verse 55 begins with קָרָאתִי (qārāʾtî), “I called.” It is best illustrated in Joel 2:32,

³² And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.

This verse is quoted in Acts 2:32 in Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, and again in Rom. 10:13. It is similar to Psalm 116:3, 4,

³ The cords of death encompassed me and the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow. ⁴ Then I called upon the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I beseech You, save my life!”

Such a call requires faith in an unseen God. One must “see” God in the back of one’s head/mind. So Paul speaks of faith in Rom. 10:9, 10 before quoting Joel in verse 13.

Verse 56 begins with קוֹלִי (qōlî), “my voice.” It is the voice of the one who (by faith) calls upon the name of the Lord. God then manifests Himself, from the unseen to visibility in His deliverance.

Verse 57 begins with קָרַבְתָּ (qārabta), “You drew near.” In a hopeless situation, God says, “Do not fear,” because God has promised to deliver those who call upon Him.

When Babylon conquered Jerusalem, God gave Judah’s dominion mandate to King Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 27:6). The people went into captivity. The Old Covenant was broken. The only way to be reinstated in a Covenant relationship was to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ through the New Covenant.

The Resh (Head) Revelation

The prophet then moves from prayer (calling upon God) to a legal appeal in the divine court. This marks a shift from lament to litigation. Lam. 3:58-60 says,

⁵⁸ (ר) O Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause; You have redeemed my life. ⁵⁹ (ר) O Lord, You have seen my oppression; judge my case. ⁶⁰ (ר) You have seen all their vengeance, all their schemes against me.

Resh is the head, chief, or authority figure. It is associated with the responsibility of leadership, decision making, judgment, and governance. In the flow of Lamentations 3, after God draws near (koof), He now takes the headship of the case (resh) as the Judge.

To plead a cause (case) is courtroom terminology. The prophet petitions the Judge to hear the case and to vindicate the oppressed ones who have called upon the name of the Lord. God’s earlier verdict had been to sell Judah to the Babylonians on account of their sin-debt (Exodus 22:3).

A verdict in favor of the oppressed can be rendered only when the debt is paid. Hence, calling upon the name of the Lord means that the sinner must apply the payment that Christ made on the cross to his own sin-debt. Having thus satisfied the law, the former debtor must be set free.

The first word in verse 58 is רַבְתָּ (ravtā),“You have contended or pleaded.” The Hebrew root word (rib) means “to contend legally, to conduct a lawsuit.”

The first word in verse 59 is רָאִיתָה (rāʾîtā),“You have seen.” The evidence has been presented and is therefore a matter of record in the divine court.

The first word in verse 60 is the same as in the previous verse, רָאִיתָה (rāʾîtā), referring to the evidence of Babylon’s “vengeance” (niqmātām) and “schemes.” Vengeance is justice from Babylon’s point of view. That is, the enemies believe they are justified on account of God’s prior verdict in Jer. 27:6. Hence, they act as though they are settling a score. Yet they are ignorant of Christ’s payment of debt.

The “schemes” (maḥšĕbōtām) are their plan of action, or legal strategy in defending their actions in court. They attempt to show the court why their subjects ought to remain in captivity. Nonetheless, they will surely lose their case, because (for those who have joined this class-action lawsuit) the debt has been paid through Christ’s death.

This brings to mind how many Christian believers still remain in a state of guilt, not truly knowing that by faith in Christ their debt has been paid. They have been imputed righteous, along with Abraham himself (Rom. 4:21, 22), but if they do not know this, they revert to the Old Covenant, thinking that their justification is based on their own ability to fulfill their vow of obedience (Exodus 19:8). They continue to act as captives to sin, attempting to pay their debt by their own works.

The Shin (Teeth) Revelation

The letter shin can refer to devouring or conquering. It can also refer to speech. Having appealed to the divine court, the prophet moves to the next step in arguing the case between Babylon and the believers.

⁶¹ [ש] You have heard their reproach, O Lord, all their schemes against me. ⁶² [ש] The lips of my assailants and their whispering are against me all day long. ⁶³ [ש] Look on their sitting and their rising; I am their mocking song.

This pictures the Babylonians accusing the believers by spreading the lie that their debt has not been paid. They murmur relentlessly. It is a campaign based on their ignorance of Christ’s work on the cross. They believe that justification must come by works, but because the believers are yet imperfect, they cannot be justified by faith alone.

The first word in verse 61 is שָׁמַעְתָּ (šāmaʿtā),“You have heard.” In the divine court, each side argues its case, bringing evidence to the court’s attention. God is impartial and hears not only the prayers and petitions of the believers but also the testimony—even false accusations—of the adversaries. Each side gets an impartial hearing.

The first word in verse 62 is שִׂפְתֵי (śip̄tê),
“The lips of.” This refers to the actual testimony and accusation that the Babylonians present to the court.

The first word in verse 63 is שִׁבְתָּם (šivtām),
“Their sitting.” Their sitting and rising depicts their entire normal life that is spent in mocking the believers, calling them hypocrites while they are yet growing to spiritual maturity in Christ. The unbelievers are ignorant of Paul’s teaching in Rom. 4 about the imputation of righteousness. To impute is to call what is NOT as though it were (Rom. 4:17, KJV). It is a legal process, not yet an actual condition.

The Tav (Mark or Sign) Revelation

The tav marks completion, sealing, and finality. It is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. As the final letter, it often carries a sense of conclusion, resolution, or closure.

Lam. 3:64-66 says,

⁶⁴ [ת] You will recompense them, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. ⁶⁵ [ת] You will give them hardness of heart, Your curse will be on them. ⁶⁶ [ת] You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord.

Here the prophet rests his case, confident that God will rule in his favor (on behalf of all believers). He asks for divine justice. There is no personal retaliation and no excessive judgment. Justice is proportional, “according to the work of their hands.”

So also Rev. 20:13 tells us that at the final judgment, “they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.” This is divine justice, which always is meted out proportionally and under the limits of the law of Jubilee.

The first word in verse 64 is תָּשִׁיב (tāšîb), “You will repay,” or “You will return.”

Importantly, the prophet does not say “I will repay.” Instead, he declares confidence that God will do what is right in every case. In Deut. 32:35, God claims the right to mete out justice (or “vengeance”). Paul affirms this in Rom. 12:19, saying,

¹⁹ Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

Divine “vengeance,” issuing from His Nature, is always based on love and limited by mercy. Hence, Deut. 25:3 limits beatings to 40 lashes, and Lev. 25:54 limits debt-bondage to the years prior to the Jubilee. Grace does not eliminate divine judgment but limits it and makes it finite.

The first word in verse 65 is תִּתֵּן (tittēn), “You will give.”In this case, giving them “hardness of heart” reminds us of the way God hardened Pharaoh’s heart in order to bring judgment upon Egypt for refusing to allow the captives to go free.

The first word in verse 66 is תִּרְדֹּף (tirdōf), “You will pursue.” The pursuit in question is the final resolution of the court case. God’s “anger” is not an emotional response but a legal anger and “curse.” It is the curse of the law for persistent sin, as described in Lev. 26 and Deut. 28. The curse is the ruling against one who loses his case in the divine court.

“You will repay,” “you will give,” and “you will pursue” bring the court case to a close. As the final letter (tav) of the alphabet, these verbs seal the chapter by entrusting the entire outcome to divine action, not human retaliation.

This ends the triple acrostic section of Lamentations 3.

Lamentations 4

Lamentations 4 returns from the personal, interior voice of chapter 3 to a formal, observational lament. Its focus is not prayer (as in the earlier chapters) but diagnosis—what has happened to Zion, why it happened, and what it means. It is a lament over Jerusalem in its destroyed condition. The prophet thus assesses the damage and takes post-mortem inventory.

It is an alphabetic acrostic (one verse per letter). Hence, the chapter has just 22 verses, one for each Hebrew letter. Unlike chapters 1–2, it is shorter, sharper, and colder in tone. Unlike chapter 3, it lacks the triple acrostic as well as the extended hope section.

The Alef (Ox) Revelation

Lamentations 4:1 says,

¹[אֵ] How dark the gold has become, how the pure gold has changed! The sacred stones are poured out at the corner of every street.

Alef is literally an ox, representing strength. Yet because it is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, it also points to primacy and origins. In this case, the prophet takes us back to first principles—the source of what went wrong. Let us count the damage from start to finish.

The verse opens with אֵיכָה (ʾêkāh), “How!”—the same cry that opens Lam. 1:1 and even Isaiah 1:21. How could what was first, finest, and chosen collapse so completely?

The imagery is of gold growing dim and sacred stones being scattered. Placed under the alef, it refers to corruption of what was once primary and strong. Dimming gold in monetary terms shows a collapse of original worth. In spiritual terms, it shows a vast departure from the nature and image of God. Gold did not merely disappear—it lost its luster. The sacred was not removed—it was profaned.

Jerusalem was supposed to be the City of Peace, but it had degenerated into a City of Bloodshed, or “the bloody city” (Ezekiel 24:6). What might have been a city reflecting the glory of God has fallen even as Adam himself fell from glory. Adam’s name means “earthy,” implying reddish clay. Jerusalem, the bloody city, is thus identified with the first Adam, who was made “a living soul” (1 Cor. 15:45).

Just as another Man, “the last Adam,” replaced the first Adam to succeed where Adam failed, so also a New Jerusalem was needed to replace the earthly Jerusalem to fulfill the calling that God intended. Just as the last Adam was “a life-giving spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45), so also is the heavenly city a spiritual city.

The Beth (House/Household) Revelation

Lam. 4:2 says,

² [ב] The precious sons of Zion, weighed against fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen jars, the work of a potter’s hands!

The “sons of Zion” are the household members of the city. The verse assesses the value of the household, that is, the people themselves, not just buildings or stones. Beth frames the lament as a judgment on the house of Zion.

The first Hebrew word in Lam. 4:2 is בְּנֵי (bᵊnê), “sons of.” It is a relational, covenantal term, emphasizing the idea of belonging, inheritance, and identity. The verse thus begins not with loss, but with who they were—making the reversal that follows all the more devastating.

They had the potential—and even the calling—to be true “sons of Zion” and also “sons of God.” However, being fleshly and bound by the Old Covenant requirements, they were like cheap, fragile “earthen jars, the work of a potter’s hands.” Hence, they failed, and covenant privilege was forfeited. This is a warning against confusing election with immunity.

No doubt the prophet recalled his revelation in Jer. 19, where he was called to smash the earthen jar representing the city in the valley of Ben-hinnom, or gehenna.