Note, God has many arrows in his quiver, and they fly swiftly and pierce deeply. You have slain and not pitied. More is implied than is expressed. What Every Christian Should Know about the Protestant Reformation. My soul, having them in remembrance, is humbled in me, not only oppressed with a sense of the trouble, but in bitterness for sin. And be full of reproach. c. Because His compassions fail not: Even in the severity of correction Gods people endured, there was evidence of His compassions. Luke-Acts Shall a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? 61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me; 62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. i. Words of comfort to God's people when they are in trouble and distress, ver 21-36. In the midst of these sad complaints here is one word of comfort, by which it appears that their case was not altogether so bad as they made it, v. 50. 5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. Our website uses cookies to store user preferences. The Whole Bible (Lamentations 3:64-66) Giving vengeance to God. V. That afflictions are really good for us, and, if we bear them aright, will work very much for our good. We may bear ourselves up with this, 1. 2. hichphishani beepher, "he hath plunged me into the dust." Lamentations chapter 3. i. Do not hide Your ear Judah has gone into exile, but she does not find any rest there among the nations. That grief returned upon every remembrance of his troubles, and his reflections were as melancholy as his prospects, v. 19, 20. I am their taunting song. 7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. In Lamentations 3:34-36, certain acts of tyranny, malice, and injustice are specified, which men often indulge themselves in the practice of towards one another, but which the Divine goodness is far from countenancing or approving by any similar conduct. All the prisoners of the earth, a. Minor Prophets What have I contributed to the public flames?" Without interruption, Amralkeis, one of the writers of the Moallakat, terms a man grievously afflicted [Arabic] a pounder of wormwood. Gods response to this seeking soul was, Do not fear!, i. 2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; 3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. 4. He does not dispense his frowns as he does his favours, ex mero motufrom his mere good pleasure. Poetical Books This verse seems to allude to the Chaldaic prediction, in Jeremiah 10:11. Did ever man paint sorrow like this man? Minor Prophets Things are bad but they might have been worse, and therefore there is hope that they may be better. Lamentations 3 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate This page was last edited on 17 April 2023, at 10:57 (UTC). From under the heavens of the Lord. Lamentations 3:32 (HCSB) Verse Thoughts Jeremiah is often called 'the weeping prophet' for he was to prophecy to deaf ears and witness to blinded, callused hearts. a. And again, a man! I am chastened every morning," Ps 73 14. We must not quarrel with God for any affliction that he lays upon us at any time (v. 39): Wherefore does a living man complain? Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him: Jeremiah said this in the context of patiently enduring suffering (Lamentations 3:27-29). Luke-Acts It was only a breathing. (Clarke), ii. But through all of his long and faithful ministry, he was (like the Lord Jesus) despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with much grief. Till the LORD from heaven And here are two things with which he comforts himself:, I. i. (Lamentations 3:1-9) The man afflicted by the LORD. 4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old. He silenced their fears, and quieted their spirits. Do not be in a hurry; do not expect to be delivered out of your trouble the first time you begin to cry unto God. Jeremiahs personal lament is a reminder that suffering is always personal. 3. 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. He hath made me drunken with wormwood. I have become the ridicule of all my people Perhaps they had some tune or play, some opera or interlude, that was called the destruction of Jerusalem, which, though in the nature of a tragedy, was very entertaining to those who wished ill to the holy city. That God appears against him as an enemy, as a professed enemy. Afflictions do and will work very much for good: many have found it good to bear this yoke in their youth; it has made many humble and serious, and has weaned them from the world, who otherwise would have been proud and unruly. The enemies, having taken some of them like a bird in a snare, chased others as a harmless bird is chased by a bird of prey (v. 52): My enemies chased me sorely like a bird which is beaten from bush to bush, as Saul hunted David like a partridge. 4. The arrows of his quiver beney ashpatho, "The sons of his quiver." By this rod we must expect to see affliction, and, if we be made to see more than ordinary affliction by that rod, we must not quarrel, for we are sure that the anger is just and affliction mild and mixed with mercy. The above verse is quoted in reference to our Lord's passion, by Matthew 26:62. He has bent His bow: This figure shows the power of the archers arm, which transfixed the poet with arrows. (Ellison), ii. "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. He hath filled me with bitterness bimrorim, with bitternesses, bitter upon bitter. d. You have made us an offscouring and refuse: In the desire to turn back to the LORD, Jeremiah knew that it was important to honestly see their condition. They confess the righteousness of God in afflicting them (v. 42): We have transgressed and have rebelled. Why, said the master, I have first to teach you to hold your tongue, and afterwards to instruct you how to speak. The Lord teaches true penitents how to hold their tongues. (Spurgeon), ii. He hath hedged me about This also may refer to the lines drawn round the city during the siege. God's ear is wont to be open to the prayers of his people, and his door of mercy to those that knock at it; but now both are shut, even to one that cries and shouts. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation. Our lives are frail and forfeited, and yet we are alive; now the living, the living, they should praise, and not complain (Isa 38 19); while there is life there is hope, and therefore, instead of complaining that things are bad, we should encourage ourselves with the hope that they will be better. God had been for him, but no "Surely against me is he turned (v. 3), as far as I can discern; for his hand is turned against me all the day. The Lord does not approve. 4. You have covered Yourself with a cloud, The prophet complains, 1. The Lord is my portion Psalms 119:57. Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the LORD: Even under the great sense that God was their opponent and adversary (Lamentations 3:1-18), Jeremiah recommended the proper and humble approach. There was still a remnant, and remnant with a promise of restoration. The Blue Letter Bible ministry and the BLB Institute hold to the historical, "If God, who now covers himself with a cloud, as if he took no notice of our troubles (Job 22 13), would but shine forth, all would be well; if he look upon us, we shall be saved," Ps 80 19; Dan 9 17. Luke-Acts All Rights Reserved. It is barbarous to trample on those that are down, and to crush those that are bound and cannot help themselves. It was an affliction that was misery itself. It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth: There are seasons of adversity, and sometimes it is better to have those seasons when one is young. My strength and my hope have perished from the LORD: No wonder Jeremiah and Jerusalem could say this. This was the language of God's grace, by the witness of his Spirit with their spirits. But these and similar expressions in the following verses may be merely metaphorical, to point out their straitened, oppressed, and distressed state. (Clarke), ii. 7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; Due thoughts of the evil of sin, and of our own sinfulness, will convince us that it is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed. While they continued weeping, they continued waiting; and neither did nor would expect relief and succour from any but the Lord. Hoping and waiting differ but as the mother and daughter, hope being the mother of patience and waiting; or as the habit and act, hoping and waiting being ranch the same, flowing from a gracious power and habit given the soul to wait. a. Note, We all owe it to the sparing mercy of God that we are not consumed. That, when God returns to deal graciously with us, it will not be according to our merits, but according to his mercies, according to the multitude, the abundance, of his mercies. d. It is good that he should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD: Everything previous in Lamentations was deep in despair, and the misery was by no means over. I do not see that we gain any thing by this. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly He has made me desolate. If there be any way to acquire and secure a good hope under our afflictions, it is this way, and yet we must be very modest in our expectations of it, must look for it with an it may be, as those who own ourselves utterly unworthy of it. English Standard Version. Yes, this was Jeremiah, but it certainly was not only him. This was the state of poor Jerusalem. In his own day he was called the German beast, that for lust must needs marry Catharine. This was a pathway to hope for him. If inward impressions be not in some measure answerable to outward expressions, we do but mock God and deceive ourselves. 2. He putteth his mouth in the dust Lives in a state of deep humility. He will deliver his people from every trouble, and revive his church from every persecution. Remember my affliction and roaming, Our hearts must go with our prayers. If hope become impatient, faith will be impossible: for who can believe for his salvation when his mind is agitated? 3. We are sinful men, and that which we complain of is the just punishment of our sins; nay, it is far less than our iniquities have deserved. "I am chained; and as some notorious malefactors are double-fettered, and loaded with irons, so he has made my chain heavy. He must expect, and yet be dumb, as the words imply; ever feeling his utter unworthiness; and, without murmuring, struggle into life. Verse 17. (Genesis 18:25). They complain of the afflictions they are under, not without some reflections upon God, which we are not to imitate, but, under the sharpest trials, must always think and speak highly and kindly of him. 5. The LORD is my portion, says my soul, 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 141 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. And covered me with ashes. Or, My weeping eye affects my heart; the venting of the grief, instead of easing it, did but increase and exasperate it. Thus emphatically does he speak of his affliction, for thus did he think of it, thus heavily did it lie when he reviewed it! Verse 29. He must therefore quietly wait. The struggle between unbelief and faith is often very severe. With this should go the complete submission to God pictured in v. 29 by the Oriental obeisance. It was and is worse to be at the mercy of blind fate. Without doubt it was his infirmity to say this (Ps 77 10), for with God there is everlasting strength, and he is his people's never-failing hope, whatever they may think. Lamentations 3 1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the LORD's wrath. 2 15, 16. God had said once (Hos 5 14), I will be as a lion to the house of Judah, and now he has made his word good (v. 10): "He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, surprising me with his judgments, and as a lion in secret places; so that which way soever I went I was in continual fear of being set upon and could never think myself safe." 4 He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has made me drink wormwood. i. Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? It will tell her so much. (great love [mercies]), the covenant love and loyalty of the Lord that leads to rahamim (compassion, mercy), derived from re?em (womb). (Ellison), ii. That we may be entitled to the comforts administered to the afflicted in the foregoing verses, and may taste the sweetness of them, we have here the duties of an afflicted state prescribed to us, in the performance of which we may expect those comforts. I said, I am cut off! I. You have heard their reproach, O LORD, 29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. You have heard my voice: 6. It was an affliction that was misery itself; for sin makes the cup of . Those that blame their lot reproach him that allotted it to them. Verse 24. She is overwhelmed with fears, not only grieves for what is, but fears worse, and gives up all for gone (v. 54): "Then I said, I am cut off, ruined, and see no hope of recovery; I am as one dead." That God's compassions fail not; they do not really fail, no, not even when in anger he seems to have shut up his tender mercies. All our enemies We dont live constantly focused on our sins and failings, but there are appropriate times to carefully, deliberately search out and examine our ways. Even when I cry and shout, The title of the 102nd Psalm might very fitly be prefixed to this chapterThe prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his complaint before the Lord; for it is very feelingly and fluently that the complaint is here poured out. The scope of this chapter is the same with that of the two foregoing chapters, but the composition is somewhat different; that was in long verse, this is in short, another kind of metre; that was in single alphabets, this is in a treble one. The poet said in effect, that he has had so little of this worlds goods and pleasures because his share has been the Lord. (Ellison). However it be, yet God is good to them (Ps 73 1), and they may by faith see love in his heart even when they see frowns in his face and a rod in his hand. Verse 36. We must see and acknowledge the hand of God in all the calamities that befal us at any time, whether personal or public, v. 37, 38. And to us who profess Christianity it may be added, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as having died for thee; and thou shalt not perish, but have everlasting life. Remember my affliction and roaming: Jeremiah did not prescribe positive thinking for this deep affliction. And, when God's hand is continually turned against us, we are tempted to think that his heart is turned against us too. The sum is, If tribulation work patience, that patience will work experience, and that experience a hope that makes not ashamed. That great is his faithfulness. 3 I am the one who has seen the afflictions. Our enemies have opened their mouths against us (v. 46), have gaped upon us as roaring lions, to swallow us up, or made mouths at us, or have taken liberty to say what they please of us." Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete). By proceeding, you consent to our cookie usage. When nations go through times of tragedy and tribulation, the greatest suffering always takes place at the individual level. (Ryken), iii. Verse 52. In Your anger, "When I lay gasping for life, and ready to expire, and thought i was breathing my last, then thou tookest cognizance of my distressed case." He is good to those who do so, v. 25. 11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. There may yet be hope. Formerly he inflicted punishments with reluctance, while there was any hope of amendment: but, in the instance before us, the case was so hopeless, that God acts according to the simple principle of vindictive justice. Look at their sitting down and their rising up; a. Pauline Epistles 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. Let us search and try our ways, search what they have been, and then try whether they have been right and good or no; search as for a malefactor in disguise, that flees and hides himself, and then try whether guilty or not guilty. He who has not got under wholesome restraint in youth will never make a useful man, a good man, nor a happy man. It is just with God to make those who walk in the crooked paths of sin, crossing God's laws, walk in the crooked paths of affliction, crossing their designs and breaking their measures. In the time of his trial the Lord had become terrible to him. Verse 22. Silence implies both an acceptance of Gods will and a refusal to complain to men. Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness. i. 33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. Verse 39. It is the heart that God looks at in that and every other service; for what will a sacrifice without a heart avail? 4. And turn back to the LORD; 2 17, 21), but here they correct themselves, and own, 1. We are afflicted by the rod of his wrath, but it is of the lord's mercies that we are not consumed, v. 22. We may observe throughout this chapter a struggle in the prophet's breast between sense and faith, fear and hope; he complains and then comforts himself, yet drops his comforts and returns again to his complaints, as Ps 42. 5. One might conjecture that the following thought in the Toozek i Teemour was borrowed from this: -. I have forgotten prosperity. When the Lord has not commanded it? 59 O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause. We are men, and not angels, and therefore cannot expect to be free from troubles as they are; we are not inhabitants of that world where there is no sorrow, but this where there is nothing but sorrow. Pauline Epistles Clarke, Adam "Clarke's Commentary: The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments with a Commentary and Critical Notes" Volume 4 (Isaiah-Malachi) (New York: Eaton and Mains, 1827), Ellison, H.L. Instead of Adonai, seventeen MSS., of Kennicott's, and one ancient of my own, have Yehovah. (Lamentations 3:24-26) Gods goodness to the seeking soul. And my hope That first, that last support of the miserable-it is gone! II. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High 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. ( Lamentations 3:21-23 KJV) Verse 23 tells us, "They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness," like we sing in the old hymn. He has made my chain heavy. Lamentations 3 - God's Mercy in the Midst of Disaster "The third poem is significantly different in structure from the others, being made up of single lines grouped in threes, and commencing with the same consonant of the Hebrew alphabet." (R.K. Harrison) Ps 119 59, I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. 2. Note, While trouble is prolonged, and deliverance is deferred, we must patiently wait for God and his gracious returns to us. 1. (Lamentations 3:57-63) Thankful and confident of future help. Or, My eye melts my soul; I have quite wept away my spirits; not only my eye is consumed with grief, but my soul and my life are spent with it, Ps 31 9, 10. The villages about Jerusalem. "Do I well to be angry? They were against him like a fowler is against a bird. The prophet addressed him personally and directly: Great is your faithfulness. They had not the assurance and comfort of the pardon; the judgments brought upon them for their sins were not removed, and therefore they thought they could not say the sin was pardoned, which was a mistake, but a common mistake with the people of God when their souls are cast down and disquieted within them. i. He gets good by the yoke who gives his cheek to him that smites him, and rather turns the other cheek (Matt 5 39) than returns the second blow. That God is angry. My eyes overflow with rivers of water: Earlier in Lamentations 2:18 Jeremiah expressed a prayer in the mouth of Jerusalems enemies, a prayer that the city and her walls would weep without end. He that has seasonably succoured particular saints will not fail the church in general. It was only a breathing. 63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their music. Though we be but weak in prayer, cannot cry aloud, but only breathe in groanings that cannot be uttered, yet we shall not be neglected if we be sincere. It is not only good to hope and wait for the salvation, but it is good to be under the trouble in the mean time (v. 27): It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. 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. Though God serves his own purposes by the violence of wicked and unreasonable men, yet it does no therefore follow that he countenances that violence, as his oppressed people are sometimes tempted to think. You have covered Yourself with anger 5. Give them despondence of heart" (so others read it); "let them be driven to despair, and give themselves up for gone." Its New Testament counterpart (1 Corinthians 4:13) is equally rare, depicting the suffering of the apostles. (Harrison), ii. One can scarcely read this without feeling a suppression of breath, or a stricture upon the lungs! A mother listens for the breathing of her babe in the dark. Read full chapter Lamentations 2 Lamentations 4 New International Version (NIV) Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year. 44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through. See where Jeremiah gets his comfort; he seems to say, Bad as my case is, it might have been worse, for I might have been consumed, and I should have been consumed if the Lords compassions had failed. (Spurgeon). It is before the face of the Most High (v. 35); it is in his sight, under his eye, and is very displeasing to him. This must accompany the former and be the fruit of it; therefore we must search and try our ways, that we may turn from the evil of them to God. thou hast seen my wrong, that I have done no wrong at all, but suffer a great deal." Darkness is put for great trouble and perplexity, the want both of comfort and of direction; this was the case of the complainant (v. 2): "He has led me by his providence, and an unaccountable chain of events, into darkness and not into light, the darkness I feared and not into the light I hoped for." 14 I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day. Like the book of Job, Lamentations pictures a man of God puzzling over the results of evil and suffering in the world. Let them be dealt with as they have dealt with us; let thy hand be against them as their hand has been against us. i. If so be there may be hope. Note, Though we are cast into ever so low a dungeon, we may thence find a way of access to God in the highest heavens. IV. Commentary for Lamentations 3 . i. The soft, measured breath, or the laboring, gasping breath. 3. We are men, and not devils, are not in that deplorable, helpless, hopeless, state that they are in, but have something to comfort ourselves with which they have not. He has covered me with ashes, as mourners used to be, or (as some read it) he has fed me with ashes. Mine eye runneth down I weep incessantly. He has also broken my teeth with gravel: 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 endeavouring to grind them. I am the man that hath seen affliction Either the prophet speaks here of himself, or he is personating his miserable countrymen. 6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. That God turns a deaf ear to his prayers (v. 8): "When I cry and shout, as one in earnest, as one that would make him hear, yet he shuts out my prayer and will not suffer it to have access to him." 1 Cor 4 13, We are made as the filth of the world and are the off-scouring of all things. 2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; 3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. Verse 9. He is good to all; his tender mercies are over all his works; all his creatures taste of his goodness. Or, it may be rendered, "let him give his cheek.". This I recall to my mind, &c. Here the prophet begins to suggest motives of patience and consolation: as if he had said, I call to mind the following considerations, and thereupon I conceive hope and comfort. 65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them. (Lamentations 3:37-39) The God who cannot be opposed. When a man hopes for salvation, he should not only wait for it, but use every means that may lead to it; for hope cannot live, if there be no exercise. Observe how he calls prayer his breathing; for in prayer we breathe towards God, we breathe after him. He has not only failed in his dutyhis own suffering has left him without peace, happiness, energy, or hope (verses 17-18). They silenced my life in the pit Major Prophets a. 3. This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope: For perhaps the first time in the book, hope is allowed. The afflicted church is drowned in tears, and the prophet for her (v. 48, 49): My eye runs down with rivers of water, so abundant was their weeping; it trickles down and ceases not, so constant was their weeping, without any intermission, there being no relaxation of their miseries. Some think Jeremiah makes these complaints, not only as an intercessor for Israel, but as a type of Christ, who was thought by some to be Jeremiah the weeping prophet, because he was much in tears (Matt 16 14) and to him many of the passages here may be applied. Note, It becomes us to have humble hearts under humbling providences, and to renew our penitent humiliations for sin upon every remembrance of our afflictions and miseries. Fear not. All their schemes against me, 2. so Job argues, ch. 21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. To pierce my loins. He has turned His hand against me: A metaphor from buffeters, who double their blows, beating their adversaries on both sides, as the smith doth his red hot iron upon the anvil till he hath shaped it. (Trapp). That God is, and ever will be, the all-sufficient happiness of his people, and they have chosen him and depend upon him to be such (v. 24): The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; that is, 1. 5. Are we suffering for our sins? He remembered that as beat down and defeated the people of Jerusalem and Judah were, they were not yet completely consumed. This may refer to the prophet's personal experience, with which he encourages himself in reference to the public troubles. And I said, My strength and my hope Almost in all countries, and in all languages, bitterness is a metaphor to express trouble and affliction. The evil fact is, turning aside the right of a man; and the aggravation of it is, doing it before the face of the Most High; that is, in a court of justice, where God is ever considered to be present.
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