John Gill

She weeps aloud in the night, with tears upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her.

“She weepeth sore in the night,.... Or, "weeping weeps" (i); two weepings, one for the first, the other for the second temples (k); and while others are taking their sleep and rest; a season fit for mourners, when they can give their grief the greater…”

Her uncleanness stains her skirts; she did not consider her end. Her downfall was astounding; there was no one to comfort her.

“Her filthiness is in her skirts,.... Her sin is manifest to all, being to be seen in her punishment.”

All her people groan as they search for bread. They have traded their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. Look, O LORD, and consider, for I have become despised.

“All her people sigh,.... Not her priests only, Lam 1:4; but all the common people, because of their affliction, particularly for want of bread.”

For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to revive my soul.

“For these things I weep,.... The congregation of Judah, the godly among them, particularly Jeremiah, who represented them, wept for the sins the people had been guilty of, and for the punishment inflicted on them, or the sore calamities that were brought upon them.”

Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The LORD has decreed against Jacob that his neighbors become his foes.

“Zion spreadeth forth her hands,.... Either as submitting to the conqueror, and imploring mercy; or rather as calling to her friends to help and relieve her.”

The Lord is like an enemy; He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds.

“The Lord was as an enemy,.... Who formerly was on their side, their God and guardian, their protector and deliverer, but now against them; and a terrible thing it is to have God for an enemy, or even to be as one; this is repeated…”

The LORD has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity.

“The Lord hath done that which he had devised,.... It was not so much the Chaldeans that did it, though they ascribed it to themselves; but it was the Lord's doing, and what he had deliberately thought of, purposed and designed within himself; all whose…”

Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.

“Arise, cry out in the night,.... That is, O daughter of Zion, or congregation of Israel, as the Targum; who are addressed and called upon by the prophet to arise from their beds, and shake off their sleep, and sloth, and stupidity, and cry to…”

Both young and old lie together in the dust of the streets. My young men and maidens have fallen by the sword.

“The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets,.... Young men and old men, virgins and aged women; these promiscuously lay on the ground in the public streets, fainting and dying for want of food; or lay killed there by the sword…”

You summoned my attackers on every side, as for the day of an appointed feast.

“Thou hast called, as in a solemn day, my terrors round about,.... Terrible enemies, as the Chaldeans; these came at the call of God, as soldiers at the command of their general; and in as great numbers as men from all parts of Judea flocked…”

He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

“He hath builded against me,.... Fortresses, as the Targum adds; as when forts and batteries were raised by the Chaldeans against the city of Jerusalem, in which the prophet was: and compassed me with gall and travail; or "weariness" (e); the same with gall and…”

He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages.

“He hath set me in dark places,.... In the dark house of the prison, as the Targum; in the dark dungeon where the prophet was put; or the captivity in which the Jews were, and which was like the dark grave or state of the…”

He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.

“He hath hedged me about, that I cannot go out,.... When in prison, or in the dungeon, or during the siege of Jerusalem; though the phrase may only denote in general the greatness of his troubles, with which he was encompassed, and how inextricable they…”

He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.

“He was unto me as a bear lying in wait,.... For its prey, which seizes on it at once, and tears it in pieces; such were the Chaldeans to the Jews by divine permission: and as a lion in secret places; lurking there, in order…”

He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.

“He hath turned aside my ways,.... Or caused me to depart or go back from the way I was in, and so fall into the hand of the enemy that lay in wait, as before.”

He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.

“He hath bent his bow,.... Which is put for all the instruments, of war; the Chaldeans were archers, and shot their arrows into the city: and set me as a mark for the arrow; as a target to shoot at; signifying that God dealt with…”

He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.

“He hath filled me with bitterness,.... Or "with bitternesses" (m); instead of food, bitter herbs; the allusion perhaps is to the bitter herbs eaten at the passover, and signify bitter afflictions, sore calamities, of which the prophet and his people had their fill.”

My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.

“And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace,.... From the time the city was besieged by the Chaldeans, and now the people was carried captive; who could have no true peace, being in a foreign land, in an enemy's country, and out of…”

It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.

“It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Either the yoke of the commandments, as the Targum; or of correction, as Aben Ezra; of afflictions, as fatherly chastisements; both senses may be retained.”

You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.

“Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people. Had given them up into the hands of the Gentiles, the Chaldeans, to be treated as the dirt of the streets, as the sweepings of a house; or the dross…”

All our enemies open their mouths against us.

“All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. Like lions and other beasts of prey, to devour us; or in way of scorn and derision; pouring out their reproaches upon us, and scoffs at us, for our religion, and the worship of God, and…”

Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.

“Mine eye runneth down with rivers of waters,.... Denoting the greatness of his grief and trouble at the afflictions of his people, and the vast profusion of tears on that account.”

until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.

“Till the Lord look do: on, and behold from heaven. Disperses and dissipates the cloud that was about him; shines forth and manifests himself, and looks favourably upon his people, and delivers them out of their troubles: this the prophet was in hope of, and…”

The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.

“Waters flowed over mine head,.... As in a pit or dungeon, where there is not only mire and clay, but much water, into which persons being put, sink, and are covered therewith; see Psa 69:1; this is to be understood metaphorically of the waters of…”

You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”

“Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee,.... When persons draw nigh to God in a way of duty, and particularly in this of prayer, and calling on his name; he draws nigh to them in a way of grace and mercy…”