Whether the word remember
is an indication of a prayer depends on the way that it is understood and interpreted. According to Hebrew grammar rules, it is a verb that can be translated in two ways.
The verb may be translated as infinitive in form. If that is the case, it could be translated as
I remember
(see the New International Version). If this is the case, it refers to the writer recalling his affliction and wanderings as a bitter experience for him.The verb may also be understood and translated as imperative in form. If this is the case, it could be translated as an address or prayer to God. This would be compatible with the previous stanza (Lamentations 3:18) in which God’s name is mentioned.1
It is most probable that the second is correct, which then indicates the word remember
as a prayer to God. The writer is doing the very thing Jerusalem is counselled to do, namely to pray to God (see Lamentations 2:11–19). The writer is now pleading with God.2
19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!