Lamentationschapter 3
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Key verse
I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
It stands in scene A of the chapter, verses 1 to 20.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The center panel and the most intricate: a triple acrostic of sixty-six verses, three to each letter. 'I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath', led into darkness, walled about, his prayer shut out, his teeth broken with gravel stones. Then, at the exact middle of the book, the turn: 'This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of Jehovah's lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness' (3:22-23). 'Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul.' It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait; for he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
Context
Poetry · Jeremiah · Lamentations overview
Where the chapter sits
Lamentations 3 falls in Five poems over a fallen city (chapters 1–5). Acrostic laments over Jerusalem's desolation (ch. 1–4); a non-acrostic closing prayer (ch. 5). At the centre: the great affirmation of 3:22–23, ‘his compassions fail not; they are new every morning.’
Mercy at the centre. Triple-letter acrostic; the book's theological high point.
The whole shape of Lamentations→The world behind this chapter
Lamentations 3The history
This is the centre of the book and it is the most tightly built. Where the other chapters give one verse per letter of the alphabet, this one gives three, sixty-six verses, in groups of three beginning with the same letter. The tightest possible form is used for the deepest possible grief, which is not a coincidence.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The suffering is described through captivity and pit imagery. He has walled me about so I cannot escape, he has put heavy chains on me, he has shut out my prayer; and then, they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me, water closed over my head. Anyone who knew the story of the prophet in the muddy cistern would hear it here.
Then, exactly at the middle, the poem turns on a memory rather than a change in circumstances: the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. Nothing outside has improved. The city is still rubble.
What follows is practical counsel for waiting: it is good that a man should bear the yoke in his youth; let him sit alone in silence; let him put his mouth in the dust, there may yet be hope. And an argument about God's character: he does not afflict from his heart, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
What it meant to them
For the first hearers the shift to a single voice mattered. Corporate grief can be a fog. One man saying I am the man who has seen affliction gives everyone else a place to stand.
And the famous lines about new mercies are not a bright saying pasted over a disaster. They come in the exact middle of the most disciplined lament in Scripture, spoken by someone who has just finished describing being walled in, chained, shot at, and buried in a pit.
Sources cited
- Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: Jeremiah and Lamentations
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
A. I Am the Man That Hath Seen Affliction
1. (vv. 1-6)
a.I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath: Chapter 3 is a triple acrostic, sixty-six verses for the same twenty-two Hebrew letters, three verses given to each letter instead of one, the discipline of the first two chapters tightened rather than relaxed at the point of deepest grief. The voice shifts from the city's own lament to a single man's, I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath, which the bench reads as the prophet's own witness standing for the city's, one representative sufferer speaking what the whole community bears. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light states the opening condition in one line, guidance itself turned toward night, and the images that follow, flesh made old, bones broken, compassed with gall and travail, build the case in the body's own terms before any explanation is offered.
Lamentations 3:1, 2 voicesWhat preachers and commentators have said about these verses, in their own words.
Lamentations 3:1
“I am the man that hath seen affliction - Either the prophet speaks here of himself, or he is personating his miserable countrymen. This and other passages in this poem have been applied to Jesus Christ’s passion; but, in my opinion, without any foundation.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:1
“Jeremiah, then, does not here plead his own private cause, but shews to his own nation what remedy there was for them in such a state of despair, even to have an immediate recourse to God, and on the one hand to consider their sins, and on the other to look to the mercy of God, so that they might entertain hope, and exercise themselves in prayer.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
Lamentations 3:2, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:2
“Second, a subtraction of consolation is viewed. "He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light." Since, after blows, no consolation is offered in the accustomed manner. Thus, Job 3:23 asks: "Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, whom …”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:4, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:4
“Made old - Or, wasted: his strength slowly wasted as he pined away in sorrow. He hath broken my bones - This clause completes the representation of the sufferer’s physical agonies. Here the idea is that of acute pain.”
Lamentations 3:5, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:5
“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 wormwood, Lam 3:19; as Jarchi observes. The sense is, he was surrounded with sorrow, affliction, and misery, which were as disagreeable as gall; or like poison that drank up his spirits, and made him weary of his life. Thus our Lord was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; περιλυπος, encompassed with sorrows, Mat 26:”
Lamentations 3:6, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:6
“Third, the imprisonment of those persons captured is considered. "He has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago." And Psalm 143:3 says: "he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead." Thus, these ideas can be referred to the …”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:6
“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 dead; and hence they are said to be in their graves, Eze 37:”
2. (vv. 7-9)
a.He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: , he hath made my chain heavy, describes affliction as a walled prison rather than an open wound, escape itself refused along with relief. Even prayer is shut out, when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer, the sufferer's last recourse met with the same silence as every other door. Hewn stone across the ways and paths made crooked complete the picture; Gill reads the unit as despair not of comfort only but of direction, a man who cannot tell which way even leads forward.
Lamentations 3:7, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:7
“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 were; like a hedge about a vineyard, or a wall about a city, which could not easily be got over: he hath made my chain heavy; his affliction intolerable.”
Lamentations 3:7
“He has hedged me about, that I cannot get out. " When Jerusalem was besieged it was said to be compassed in on every side, Luke xix. "I am chained; and as some notorious malefactors are double-fettered, and loaded with irons, so he has made my chain heavy.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Lamentations 3:8, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:8
“Second, is cut off a remedy for escape, due to an exclusion of prayer. "Though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer." And, as Psalm 22:2 says: "O my God, I cry by day, but thou dost not answer; and by …”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:8
“Shout - i. e. call for help. Shutteth out - Or, “shutteth in.” God has so closed up the avenues to the place in which he is immured, that his voice can find no egress.”
Lamentations 3:9, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:9
“Inclosed - Or, hedged Lam 3:7. Hath, made crooked - Or, “hath” turned aside. A solid wall being built across the main road, Jeremiah turns aside into by-ways, but finds them turned aside, so that they lead him back after long wandering to the place from where he started.”
3. (vv. 10-13)
a.He was unto me as a bear lying in wait: , and as a lion in secret places, casts the Lord's dealing in the language of ambush, an enemy who waits rather than one who strikes openly. Turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces, he hath made me desolate follows the predator figure with the same violence stated plainly, no longer softened by simile. The picture changes to the archer for the unit's close, he hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow, the arrows of his quiver entering into my reins, affliction now aimed rather than merely encountered.
Lamentations 3:10, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:10
“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 to take every opportunity and advantage, and fall upon any creature that comes that way. The same thing is signified here as before; see Hos 5:14.”
Lamentations 3:10
“Having dwelt upon the difficulties which hemmed in his path, he now shows that there are dangers attending upon escape. Lam 3:11 The meaning is, “God, as a lion, lying in wait, has made me turn aside from my path, but my flight was in vain, for springing upon me from His ambush lie has torn me in pieces.” Desolate - Or, astonied, stupefied that he cannot flee. The word is a favorite one with Jeremiah.”
Lamentations 3:11, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:11
“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. Jarchi interprets the word of thorns, and of scattering the way with thorns, and hedging it up with them, so that there was no passing, Hos 2:6; the sense seems to be the same with Lam 3:9; and pulled me in pieces: as any creature that falls into the hands of a bear or lion.”
Lamentations 3:12, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:12
“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 him, or his people, as enemies, the object of his wrath and indignation; and if he directed his arrow against them, it must needs hit them; there was no escaping his vengeance; see Job 7:20.”
Lamentations 3:12
“He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow - One might conjecture that the following thought in the Toozek i Teemour was borrowed from this: - “One addressed the caliph Aaly, and said, ‘If the heavens were a bow, and the earth the cord thereof; if calamities were arrows, man the butt for those arrows; and the holy blessed God the unerring marksman; where could the sons of Adam flee for succor?’ The caliph replied, ‘The children of Adam must flee unto the Lord.’” This was the state of poor Jerusalem.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:13, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:13
“The arrows of his quiver - בני אשפתו beney ashpatho, “The sons of his quiver.” The issue or effect; the subject, adjunct, or accident, or produce of a thing, is frequently denominated its son or child. So arrows that issue from a quiver are here termed the sons of the quiver.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
4. (vv. 14-18)
a.I was a derision to all my people: Public shame joins private pain, I was a derision to all my people, and their song all the day, the sufferer's grief made into other people's entertainment. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood gives the affliction a taste, the same wormwood the Law names as the fruit of turning from the covenant, a word the bench hears chosen deliberately. The unit ends at its lowest point, my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord, hope named as gone in the man's own words, the floor the chapter's turn will rise from.
Lamentations 3:14, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:14
“Third, the delusion of those persons punished is exposed: "I have become the laughing stock of all peoples, the burden of their songs all day long." As elsewhere said: "I have become a laughing stock all the day; every one mocks me." (Jeremiah 20:7). That …”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:14
“Jeremiah herein was a type of Messiah. "All my people" (Joh 1:11).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Lamentations 3:15, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:15
“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.”
Lamentations 3:15
“He hath filled me with bitterness - במרורים bimrorim, with bitternesses, bitter upon bitter. He hath made me drunken with wormwood - I have drunk the cup of misery till I am intoxicated with it. Almost in all countries, and in all languages, bitterness is a metaphor to express trouble and affliction. The reason is, there is nothing more disagreeable to the taste than the one; and nothing more distressing to the mind than the other. An Arabic poet. Amralkeis, one of the writers of the Moallakat, terms a man grievously afflicted a pounder of wormwood.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:16, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:16
“He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones - What a figure to express disgust, pain, and the consequent incapacity of taking food for the support of life; a man, instead of bread, being obliged to eat small pebbles till all his teeth are broken to pieces by endeavoring to grind them. One can scarcely read this description without feeling the toothache. The next figure is not less expressive.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:17, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:17
"My soul is bereft of peace." Here is assumed a rejection: "My soul is bereft": of God's divine mercy. Like Psalm 89:39 declares: "Thou hast renounced the covenant with thy servant; thou hast defiled his crown in the dust." "I have forgotten what happiness is." …
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:17
“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 their own, and far from the place of divine worship; nor could the prophet have any peace of soul, in the consideration of these things, the city, temple, and nation, being desolate, though he himself was not in captivity.”
Lamentations 3:18, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:18
“And my hope - That first, that last support of the miserable - it is gone! it is perished! The sovereign God alone can revive it.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
5. (vv. 19-20)
Lamentations 3:19-21
a.Remembering mine affliction and my misery: , the wormwood and the gall repeats the taste of the previous unit, memory at first only rehearsing the pain rather than relieving it. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me shows grief working its way down into humility before it becomes anything else. The turn arrives in one short sentence, this I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope, and the bench marks the pivot exactly here: something else is recalled to mind, unnamed until the next unit, hope following the recalling rather than replacing the grief that came before it.
Lamentations 3:19, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:19-20
“It was an affliction that was misery itself. My affliction and my transgression (so some read it), my trouble and my sin that brought it upon me; this was the wormwood and the gall in the affliction and the misery. It is sin that makes the cup of affliction a bitter cup.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Lamentations 3:20, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:20
“Second, memory reduces itself to the benefits the people received. "My soul continually thinks of it," the benefits. And: "is bowed down within me." That is, memory fails from admiration, or desire. As Psalm 42:4 says: "These things I remember, as I pour out my …”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:20
“By soul - is humbled in me - It is evident that in the preceding verses there is a bitterness of complaint against the bitterness of adversity, that is not becoming to man when under the chastising hand of God; and, while indulging this feeling, all hope fled. Here we find a different feeling; he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives, Lam 3:21.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
B. His Mercies Are New Every Morning
1. (v. 21)
Lamentations 3:21, 3 voices
Lamentations 3:21
Third, memory results regards faithfulness. "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope." Hence Sirach 51:8 says: "Then I remembered thy mercy, O Lord, and thy work from of old."
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:21
“This I recall - Rather, “This will I bring back to my heart, therefore will I hope.” Knowing that God hears the prayer of the contrite, he begins again to hope.”
Lamentations 3:21
“MEMORY is very often the servant of despondency. Despairing minds call to remembrance every dark foreboding in the past and every gloomy feature in the present. Memory stands like a handmaiden clothed in sackcloth, presenting to her master a cup of mingled gall and wormwood. Like Mercury, she hastens with winged heel to gather fresh thorns with which to fill the uneasy pillow and to bind fresh rods with which to scourge the already bleeding heart. There is, however, no necessity for this. Wisdom will transform Memory into an angel of comfort.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 654: “Memory—The Handmaid Of Hope” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1865)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
2. (vv. 22-24)
a.It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed: What is recalled to mind is named here, and the bench marks this as the book's structural and theological center, the alphabet of ruin interrupted by a confession that does not depend on Jerusalem's circumstances at all: it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness, the verse behind the hymn that still carries its wording, states the mercy as renewed rather than merely remembered, a fresh grant each day rather than a stock running down. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him answers the earlier despair verse for verse, my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord at 3:18 now met by a chosen portion in that same Lord, hope relocated from the man's circumstances to the object of his faith. Calvin reads the placement as deliberate, the single steadiest confession in the Old Testament set at the center of its bleakest book, grief carried rather than denied and mercy declared in the middle of it rather than after it ends.
Lamentations 3:22, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:22
“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed - Being thus humbled, and seeing himself and his sinfulness in a proper point of view, he finds that God, instead of dealing with him in judgment, has dealt with him in mercy; and that though the affliction was excessive, yet it seas less than his iniquity deserved. If, indeed, any sinner be kept out of hell, it is because God’s compassion faileth not.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:22
“That great is his faithfulness. Though the covenant seemed to be broken, they owned that it still continued in full force; and, though Jerusalem be in ruins, the truth of the Lord endures for ever. Note, Whatever hard things we suffer, we must never entertain any hard thoughts of God, but must still be ready to own that he is both kind and faithful.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Lamentations 3:23, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:23
“They are new every morning - Day and night proclaim the mercy and compassion of God. Who could exist throughout the day, if there were not a continual superintending Providence? Who could be preserved in the night, if the Watchman of Israel ever slumbered or slept?”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:24, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:24
“Third, there is an intended conclusion: "The Lord is my portion," my soul says, "therefore I will hope in him." Namely, since I (Jeremiah) choose his divine mercy in portions while others despise it. As said in Psalm 16:5: "The Lord is my chosen portion …”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:24
“The Lord is my portion - “My portion is Yahweh,” see Num 18:20; Psa 16:5 ff. Therefore will I hope in him - A more full expression of the confidence present in the prophet’s mind in Lam 3:21, but based now upon God’s faithfulness in showing mercy.”
3. (vv. 25-27)
a.The Lord is good unto them that wait for him: , to the soul that seeketh him, turns the confession of the previous unit into instruction, goodness as something waited for rather than only received in a moment. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord names the waiting itself as good, not merely the outcome it leads to, patience given its own worth. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth closes the unit with a proverb the bench reads alongside Jeremiah's own life, discipline accepted early rather than resented, the same yoke language the book has used of Babylon's rule now turned toward formation.
Lamentations 3:25, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:25
"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?
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2:5.4patristic
Lamentations 3:25
“In these three verses, each beginning in the Hebrew with the word good, we have first the fundamental idea that Yahweh Himself is good, and if good to all, then especially is He so to those who being in adversity can yet wait in confidence upon His mercy. Lam 3:26 And quietly wait - literally, “and be in silence,” i. e. abstain from all complaining.”
Lamentations 3:26, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:26
“It is good that a man should both hope - Hope is essentially necessary to faith; he that hopes not, cannot believe; if there be no expectation, there can be no confidence. When a man hopes for salvation, he should not only waft for it, but use every means that may lead to it; for hope cannot live, if there be no exercise. If hope become impatient, faith will be impossible: for who can believe for his salvation when his mind is agitated? He must therefore quietly wait.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:27, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:27
“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.”
Lamentations 3:27
“YOKE-BEARING is not pleasant, but it is good. It is not every pleasant thing that is good, nor every good thing that is pleasant. Sometimes the goodness may be just in proportion to the unpleasantness. Now, it is childish to be always craving for sweets—those, who by reason of use have had their senses exercised, should prefer the wholesome to the palatable. It ought to reconcile us to that which is unsavory when we are informed that it is good! A little child is not easily reconciled that way, because, as yet, he cannot think and judge.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1291: “The Best Burden for Young Shoulders” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1876)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
C. Let Him Sit Alone and Keep Silence
1. (vv. 28-30)
a.He sitteth alone and keepeth silence: , because he hath borne it upon him, describes a chosen posture, solitude taken up rather than only suffered, the same discipline as the yoke of the verse before it. He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope keeps the posture from becoming despair, an act still aimed at hope even at its lowest physical expression. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him closes the unit in nonresistance, and the older commentators read it as the pattern of a sufferer who answers violence with submission rather than retaliation, the same spirit the imprecations later in the chapter will test.
Lamentations 3:28, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:28-29
“THUS the Prophet describes the conduct of a person in deep anguish of heart. When he does not know what to do, his soul, as if by instinct, humbles itself. He gets into some secret place, he utters no speech, he gives himself over to moaning and to tears, and then he bows himself lower and yet lower before the Divine Majesty, as if he felt that the only hope for him in the extremity of his sorrow was to make complete submission to God and to lie in the very dust before Him.”
Charles Spurgeon· written before 1892· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2468: “Solitude, Silence, Submission” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Lamentations 3:28-30
“He does not fight against the yoke (Jer 31:18; Ac 9:5), but accommodates himself to it. alone--The heathen applauded magnanimity, but they looked to display and the praise of men. The child of God, in the absence of any witness, "alone," silently submits to the will of God. borne it upon him--that is, because he is used to bearing it on him.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Lamentations 3:29, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:29
“Second, the condition of the person expecting refers to humbleness of location. "Let him put his mouth in the dust—there may yet be hope." Namely, while humbly speaking. Since Isaiah 29:4 reflects: "Then deep from the earth you shall speak, from low in the dust …”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:29
The mouth in the dust is the attitude of suppliant and humble submission to God's dealings as righteous and loving in design (compare Ezr 9:6; 1Co 14:25). if so be there may be hope--This does not express doubt as to whether GOD be willing to receive the penitent, but the penitent's doubt as to himself; he whispers to himself this consolation, "Perhaps there may be hope for me."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Lamentations 3:30, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:30
“Third, the condition of the person expecting can refer to their patience in tribulation. "Let him give his cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults." That is, be prepared to give: "his cheek to the smiter." For the Apostle Matthew states: "but if …”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:30
“He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth - He has that love that is not provoked. He is not quarrelsome, nor apt to resent injuries; he suffers long and is kind. Or, it may be rendered, “let him give his cheek.” He is filled full with reproach - Though all this take place, yet let his “trust be in God, who will not cast off for ever.” God will take his part, and bring him safely through all hardships.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2. (vv. 31-33)
a.For the Lord will not cast off for ever: states the limit on the affliction directly, judgment bounded rather than final. But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies pairs the two acts as the same hand's work, grief and compassion held together rather than set against each other. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men gives the chapter's clearest statement on the nature of divine judgment, the bench reading willingly as reluctance rather than delight, a God who judges because justice requires it and not because he enjoys the sentence.
Lamentations 3:31, 3 voices
Lamentations 3:31-33
“Is it not evident that the Lord Jesus is angry with us when we sin in order that he may convert us through fear of his indignation? His indignation, then, is not the carrying out of vengeance but rather the working out of forgiveness, for these are his words: "If you shall turn and lament, you shall be saved." He waits for our lamentations here, that is, in time, that he may spare us those that shall be eternal. He waits for our tears that he may pour forth his goodness.”
Ambrose of Milan· written before 397· Concerning Repentance 1.5.22-24patristic
Lamentations 3:31
“The Lord - אדני Adonai; but one of my ancient MSS. has יהוה Jehovah. The above verse is quoted in reference to our Lord’s passion, by Mat 26:62.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:31-32
“Therefore the sufferer is thus penitent, thus patient, because he believes that God is gracious and merciful, which is the great inducement both to evangelical repentance and to Christian patience.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Lamentations 3:33, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:33
“He does not afflict any willingly (literally, "from His heart," that is, as if He had any pleasure in it, Eze 33:11), much less the godly (Heb 12:10).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Lamentations 3:33
“He comes out of his place to punish, for his place is the mercy-seat. He delights not in the misery of any of his creatures, but, as it respects his own people, he is so far from it that in all their afflictions he is afflicted and his soul is grieved for the misery of Israel.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
3. (vv. 34-36)
a.To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth: opens a list of the injustices the Lord does not approve, prisoners abused, a man's right turned aside before the face of the most High, a man subverted in his cause. The three lines share one grammatical subject held back until the end, the Lord approveth not, so that the reader hears each wrong named before learning that God stands against it rather than behind it. Barnes reads the unit as answering any reading of the chapter's earlier suffering that would make God the author of injustice generally, the specific complaint against the exile's own cruelty rather than a claim that no suffering is ever just.
Lamentations 3:34, 3 voices
Lamentations 3:34
“To crush under his feet - He can neither gain credit nor pleasure in trampling upon those who are already bound, and in suffering; such he knows to be the state of man here below. From which it most assuredly follows, that God never afflicts us but for our good, nor chastises but that we may be partakers of his holiness. All the prisoners of the earth - By the prisoners of the earth, or land, Dr. Blayney understands those insolvent debtors who were put in prison, and there obliged to work out the debt.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:34-36
“This triplet has an infinitive in the beginning of each verse, the governing finite verb being in the end of La 3:36, "the Lord approveth not," which is to be repeated in each verse.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Lamentations 3:34-36
“If men injure them under colour of law, and in the pretended administration of justice,--if they turn aside the right of a man, so that he cannot discover what his rights are or cannot come at them, they are out of his reach,--if they subvert a man in his cause, and bring in a wrong verdict, or give a false judgment, let them know, (1.) That God sees them.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Lamentations 3:35, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:35
“To turn aside the right of a man - To make a man lose his right, because one of the higher orders opposes him. Dr. Blayney thinks that עליון elyon, instead of being referred to God, should be considered as pointing out one of the chief of the people. I do not see that we gain any thing by this.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:36, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:36
“To subvert a man in his cause - To prevent his having justice done him in a lawsuit, etc., by undue interference, as by suborning false witnesses, or exerting any kind of influence in opposition to truth and right. - Blayney. The Lord approved not - Instead of אדני Adonai, seventeen MSS., of Kennicott’s, and one ancient of my own, have יהוה Yehovah. Approveth not, לא ראה lo raah, doth not see, turns away his face from it, abhors it.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
4. (vv. 37-39)
a.Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass: , when the Lord commandeth it not? presses the chapter's theology of sovereignty into a single question, nothing happening apart from what the Lord has commanded. Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good states the same claim from the other direction, calamity and blessing both traced to the one source, which the bench reads as covenant language, the curses and blessings of the Law rather than a claim that God authors moral evil. Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins closes the unit with the chapter's own answer to complaint, judgment read as consequence for sin rather than as an arbitrary blow.
Lamentations 3:37, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:37
“Why then does a loving God, who disapproves of suffering when inflicted by man upon man, Himself send sorrow and misery? “Because of sins.” Lam 3:37 Literally, “Who is this that spake and it was done, though אדני 'ădonāy commanded it not?” Lam 3:39 So long as God spares a man’s life, why does he complain? The chastisement is really for his good; only let him use it aright, and he will be thankful for it in the end.”
Lamentations 3:38, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:38
"Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come?" Namely from good results prosperity, from bad results adversity. For, in such an idea is excluded the error of those persons who claim everything happens from chance, like Cicero, the …
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:39, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:39
“Wherefore doth a living man complain - He who has his life still lent to him has small cause of complaint. How great soever his affliction may be, he is still alive; therefore, he may seek and find mercy unto eternal life. Of this, death would deprive him; therefore let not a living man complain.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:39
“If sin were punished as it deserves, life itself would be forfeited by the sinner. "Complaining" (murmuring) ill becomes him who enjoys such a favor as life (Pr 19:3). for the punishment of his sins--Instead of blaming God for his sufferings, he ought to recognize in them God's righteousness and the just rewards of his own sin.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
D. Let Us Search and Try Our Ways and Turn Again
1. (vv. 40-42)
a.Let us search and try our ways: , and turn again to the Lord marks the chapter's turn from the individual voice to the whole community, the man's own confession becoming a summons the people can take up together. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens pairs inward examination with outward gesture, the hands lifted matching the heart searched. We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned states the confession in its plainest form, and the bench notes the honesty of the last clause, the community naming its sin without yet claiming the forgiveness the chapter's center already declared for the man who spoke first.
Lamentations 3:40, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:40
“Let us search - How are we to get the pardon of our sins? The prophet tells us: 1. Let us examine ourselves. 2. “Let us turn again to the Lord.” 3. “Let us lift up our heart;” let us make fervent prayer and supplication for mercy. 4. “Let us lift up our hand;” let us solemnly promise to be his, and bind ourselves in a covenant to be the Lord’s only: so much lifting up the hand to God implies.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:41, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:41
“We must pray to him, with a believing expectation to receive mercy from him; for that is implied in our lifting up our hands to him (a gesture commonly used in prayer and sometimes put for it, as Ps. cxli. 2 , Let the lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice ); it signifies our requesting mercy from him and our readiness to receive that mercy.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Lamentations 3:42, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:42
“Note, It becomes us, when we are in trouble, to justify God, by owning our sins, and laying the load upon ourselves for them. Call sin a transgression, call it a rebellion, and you do not miscall it. This is the result of their searching and trying their ways; the more they enquired into them the worse they found them.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2. (vv. 43-45)
Lamentations 3:43-51
a.Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied returns to the register of the first two chapters, the corporate voice now describing what the man described of himself. Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through names the hardest complaint of the unit, prayer itself apparently blocked, and thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people states the community's status among the nations in the plainest terms the book uses. The unit closes where much of the book closes, mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people, weeping continuing till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven, grief that keeps speaking rather than resolving into silence.
Lamentations 3:43, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:43
“In verses 43-66, far from pardoning, God is still actively punishing His people. Rather, “Thou hast covered” Thyself “with wrath and pursued (Lam 1:3 note) us.” The covering (here and in Lam 3:44) is that of clothing and enwrapping.”
Lamentations 3:43
“Their enemies persecuted and slew them, but that was not the worst of it; they were but the instruments in God's hand: " Thou hast persecuted us, and thou hast slain us, though we expected thou wouldst protect and deliver us." They complain that there was a wall of partition between them and God, and, (1.) This hindered God's favours from coming down upon them.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Lamentations 3:44, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:44
“Second, is a refusal from prayer of a person sinning. "Thou hast wrapped thyself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through." Namely, regarding such sins displaying faults against prayer. Thus, Isaiah 59:2 claims: "But your iniquities have made a separation between you …”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:44
"This cloud is so thick that our prayers seem as if they were lost in it; they cannot pass through; we cannot obtain an audience." Note, The prolonging of troubles is sometimes a temptation, even to praying people, to question whether God be what they have always believed him to be, a prayer-hearing God.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Lamentations 3:45, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:45
“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 of metal; or anything that is vile, mean, and contemptible. The apostle seems to have some reference to this passage; and his words may be an illustration of it, 1Co 4:13.”
E. Waters Flowed Over My Head; I Said, I Am Cut Off
1. (vv. 46-51)
Lamentations 3:46, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:46
“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 on account of present miseries and distresses; see Lam 2:16. The Targum adds, "to decree against us evil decrees.''”
Lamentations 3:48, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:48
“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. Here the prophet speaks in his own person, expressing the anguish of his soul he felt, and the floods of tears he shed: for the destruction of the daughter of my people; for those that were slain of them, or carried captive; see Jer 9:1. The Targum is, "for the destruction of the congregation of my people.''”
Lamentations 3:48
“The deep sympathy of the prophet, which pours itself forth in abundant tears over the distress of his people. Lam 3:51 Or, “Mine eye” causeth pain to my soul, i. e. maketh my soul ache, because of the sad fate of the maidens (Lam 1:4, Lam 1:18, ...).”
Lamentations 3:49, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:49
“The compassion of the prophet is here exposed. First is the exterior lamentation: "My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite." Namely, crying: "without ceasing": from tears: "without respite": from tribulation for the people. For Jeremiah 9:18-19 asserts: "And our eyelids gush with water. For …”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:50, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:50
“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 was waiting for; but, till it came to pass, could have no rest and comfort. The Targum is, "till he look and behold my injury;'' as if he had regard to his own personal injury done him; but the former sense is best.”
Lamentations 3:50
"If God, who now covers himself with a cloud, as if he took no notice of our troubles ( Job xxii. 13 ), would but shine forth, all would be well; if he look upon us, we shall be saved, " Ps. lxxx. Bad as the case is, one favourable look from heaven will set all to rights.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Lamentations 3:51, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:51
“Mine eye affecteth mine heart - What I see I feel. I see nothing but misery; and I feel, in consequence, nothing but pain. There have been various translations of the original: but they all amount to this. The daughters of my city - The villages about Jerusalem.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2. (vv. 52-54)
a.Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause: returns the chapter to the first-person voice and to narrative, a specific memory rather than the general complaint of the verses before it. They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me describes an ancient method of sealing a pit prison, ordinarily read as biography rather than figure by the older commentators, ground the bench connects to the cistern Jeremiah was lowered into during the siege. Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off marks the low point of the narrative, drowning language used of a dry pit to state despair at its most complete.
Lamentations 3:52, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:52
“Mine enemies chased me - From this to the end of the chapter the prophet speaks of his own personal sufferings, and especially of those which he endured in the dungeon. See Jer 38:6, etc.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:52
“They have done it without cause, without any provocation given them. Though God was righteous, they were unrighteous. David often complains of those that hated him without cause; and such are the enemies of Christ and his church, John xv.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Lamentations 3:53, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:53
“They have cut off my life in the dungeon - Or, “They destroyed my life in the pit,” i. e. tried to destroy it by casting me into the cistern, and covering the month with a stone. See the margin reference.”
Lamentations 3:54, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:54
“Third, the very imprisonment of those imprisoned is exposed: "Water closed over my head; I said, 'I am lost'." Namely, the waters of tribulations are multiplied. Again: "I said, 'I am lost'." That is, desperately and impatiently. As the prophet Jonah reports: "All thy waves …”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:54
“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 afflictions, which overflowed and overwhelmed the people of the Jews.”
F. I Called Upon Thy Name Out of the Lowest Dungeon
1. (vv. 55-58)
a.I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon: answers the drowning language of the verse before it with prayer, the pit itself becoming the place the cry was made from rather than only the place of despair. Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry and thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not record an answered prayer in the plainest terms the chapter uses, the Lord's own words quoted back. O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life closes the narrative with deliverance already accomplished, the man's own rescue placed before the imprecation that follows it, testimony given before the plea for judgment on his enemies.
Lamentations 3:55, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:55
“A prayer for deliverance and for vengeance upon his enemies. Lam 3:55 Out of the low dungeon - “The lowest pit” of Psa 88:6. Some consider that Ps. 69 was composed by Jeremiah, and is the prayer referred to here (Jer 38:6 note). Lam 3:56 Thou hast heard - In sending Ebedmelech to deliver me. The next clause signifies “Hide not thine ear to my relief to my cry,” i. e. to my cry for relief.”
Lamentations 3:56, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:56
“Hide not thine ear at my breathing - He dared not even to complain, nor to cry, nor to pray aloud: he was obliged to whisper his prayer to God. It was only a breathing.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:56
“Thou hast heard--namely formerly (so in La 3:57, 58). breathing . . . cry--two kinds of prayer; the sigh of a prayer silently breathed forth, and the loud, earnest cry (compare "prayer," "secret speech," Isa 26:16, Margin; with "cry aloud," Ps 55:17).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Lamentations 3:57, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:57
“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, and manifests himself to them, and works salvation for them. The Targum is, "thou didst cause an angel to draw near to deliver me in the day that I prayed unto thee:'' thou saidst, fear not; any of thine enemies; or that thou shouldest not be delivered from them; see Isa 41:10.”
Lamentations 3:57
How different are our experiences from our fears! This man of God had said, "When I cry and shout He shuts out my prayer." He had said again, "You have covered Yourself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through." He had added to that, "Surely against me is He turned." But now he corrects his misapprehensions. Neither was prayer shut out, nor had God turned against him, for he joyfully confesses, "You drew near in the day that I called upon You: You said, Fear not."
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1812: “A Wonder Explained By Greater Wonders” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1884)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Lamentations 3:58, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:58
Here the judge and his justice is commended: "Thou hast taken up my cause, O Lord, thou hast redeemed my life." That is, during past times. As concurs Psalm 43:1: "Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people."
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
2. (vv. 59-66)
a.O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause: turns the chapter's last unit toward the enemies who chased and mocked the sufferer, the case brought to the Judge rather than settled by the sufferer himself. Thou hast heard their reproach and their imaginations against me, the lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day, catalogues the hostility in detail before the closing plea. Render unto them a recompence, O Lord, according to the work of their hands asks for exact justice rather than excess, and persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord closes the chapter on the same imprecatory note that closed chapter 1, the bench reading these prayers as appeals to God's own justice rather than private vengeance, the sufferer's case handed over rather than taken into his own hands.
Lamentations 3:60, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:60
“Second, an accusation, as to the fury in the enemy's heart is underscored: "Thou hast seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me." For Jeremiah 18:18 reports: "Then they said 'Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from …”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:60
“Thou hast seen - all their imaginations - Every thing is open to the eye of God. Distressed soul! though thou knowest not what thy enemies meditate against thee; yet he who loves thee does, and will infallibly defeat all their plots, and save thee.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:61, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:61
“Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord,.... Their reproachful words uttered against the prophet and his people, against God himself; their spiteful language, their taunts, and scoffs and jeers: and all their imaginations against me; those he not only saw, as they appeared in their actions; but heard them, as they were expressed by their words; yea, they were manifest to him, while they only were in silent thought forming in the mind.”
Lamentations 3:62, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:62
“The people here are accused of their sins. First, regarding the affliction in their shame: "Thou hast heard their taunts, O Lord, all their devices against me." Which declares, as if: there is no need for proof. For the prophet Daniel 9:16 asserts: "And for …”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Lamentationspatristic
Lamentations 3:63, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:63
“Behold their sitting down, and their rising up,.... All their actions; the whole course of their lives; all which fell under the divine omniscience, Psa 139:2; but that is not barely here meant; but that he would take particular notice hereof, and punish for the same.”
Lamentations 3:64, 1 voice
Lamentations 3:64
“Whence Jeremiah also says: "You will render to them their recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands; You will give them as a shield for the heart Your labor." For lest the darts of preaching should penetrate their hearts, since they disdained the labor of His passion, they held that same labor of His as if it were a shield, so that by the very fact that they saw Him labor even unto death, they would not permit His words to pass through to them.”
Gregory the Dialogist· written before 604· Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 22patristic
Lamentations 3:65, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:65
“Give them sorrow of heart,.... That which will cause sorrow of heart; such judgments and punishments as will be grievous to them. Some have observed a likeness between the word here used and that translated "music", Lam 3:63; and think some respect may be had to it; that whereas the people of God had been matter of mirth and music to them, God would give them music, but of another sort; a song, but a doleful one.”
Lamentations 3:65
“Give them sorrow of heart - They shall have a callous heart, covered with obstinacy, and thy execration. The former is their state, the latter their fate. This is the consequence of their hardening their hearts from thy fear. Blayney translates, “Thou wilt give with a hearty concordance thy curse unto them.” That is, Thou wilt give it to them freely, and without reserve; intimating that God felt no longer any bowels of compassion for them.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lamentations 3:66, 2 voices
Lamentations 3:66
“Persecute and destroy them in anger,.... As they have persecuted the people of God, do thou persecute them; and never leave pursuing them untie thou hast made a full end of them, as the effect of vindictive wrath and vengeance: from under the heavens of the Lord; which are made by him, and in which he dwells; let them not have the benefit of them, nor so much as the sight of them; but let them perish from under them, Jer 10:11.”
Lamentations 3:66
“Persecute and destroy them - Thou wilt pursue them with destruction. These are all declaratory, not imprecatory. From under the heavens of the Lord - This verse seems to allude to the Chaldaic prediction, in Jer 10:11. By their conduct they will bring on themselves the curse denounced against their enemies. The Septuagint and Vulgate seem to have read “From under heaven, O Jehovah:” and the Syriac reads, “Thy heavens, O Jehovah!” None of these makes any material change in the meaning of the words.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Lamentations 3. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on 13 works. Open for the list.
This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes; Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Repentance 1.5.22-24; Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations; Charles Spurgeon; Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 22; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); John Calvin; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry; Origen of Alexandria, ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2:5.4 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.