Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary
Lamentations 3 - Introduction
This elegy Lamentations 3 is both the most elaborate in form and themost sublime in its ideas of the five poems which compose the Book ofLamentations. It presents the image of the deepest suffering, passingon to the confession of sin, the acknowledgment of God’s justice,and the prayer of faith f... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:1
THAT HATH SEEN AFFLICTION - i. e. hath experienced, suffered it.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:3
IS HE TURNED; HE TURNETH - Or, “surely against me” hath he turned“his hand” again and again “all the day long.”... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:4
MADE OLD - Or, wasted: his strength slowly wasted as he pined away insorrow.HE HATH BROKEN MY BONES - This clause completes the representation ofthe sufferer’s physical agonies. Here the idea is that of acutepain.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:5
HE HATH BUILDED ... - The metaphor is taken from the operations in asiege.GALL AND TRAVAIL - Or “travail;” i. e. bitterness and weariness(through toil).... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:6
Or, “He hath” made me to dwell “in darkness,” i. e. in Sheolor Hades, “as those” forever “dead.”... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:7
The prophet feels as if enclosed within walls, and fettered.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:8
SHOUT - i. e. call for help.SHUTTETH OUT - Or, “shutteth in.” God has so closed up the avenuesto the place in which he is immured, that his voice can find noegress.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:9
INCLOSED - Or, hedged Lamentations 3:7.HATH, MADE CROOKED - Or, “hath” turned aside. A solid wall beingbuilt across the main road, Jeremiah turns aside into by-ways, butfinds them turned aside, so that they lead him back after longwandering to the place from where he started.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:10-18
Having dwelt upon the difficulties which hemmed in his path, he nowshows that there are dangers attending upon escape.Lamentations 3:11The meaning is, “God, as a lion, lying in wait, has made me turnaside from my path, but my flight was in vain, for springing upon mefrom His ambush lie has to... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:19
REMEMBERING - Or, as in the margin. It is a prayer to Yahweh.MY MISERY - Or, “my” homelessness (Lamentations 1:7 note).... [ Continue Reading ]
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 thecontrite, he begins again to hope.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:22
Verses 22-42 are the center of the present poem, as it also holds thecentral place in the whole series of the Lamentations. In them theriches of God’s grace and mercy are set forth in the brightestcolors, but no sooner are they ended than the prophet resumes thelanguage of woe.THAT WE - He is... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:24
THE LORD IS MY PORTION - “My portion is Yahweh,” see Numbers18:20; Psalms 16:5 ff.THEREFORE WILL I HOPE IN HIM - A more full expression of theconfidence present in the prophet’s mind in Lamentations 3:21, butbased now upon God’s faithfulness in showing mercy.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:25-27
In these three verses, each beginning in the Hebrew with the wordgood, 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 inadversity can yet wait in confidence upon His mercy.Lamentations 3:26AND QUIETLY WAIT - liter... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:28-30
Translate:Let him sit alone and keep silence;For He (God) hath laid the yoke upon him.Let him place his mouth in the dust;Perchance there is hope.Let him offer his cheek to him that smiteth him;Let him be filled to the full with reproach.It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his yout... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:31-33
Reasons for the resignation urged in the previous triplet.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:34-36
Neither does God approve of wanton cruelty inflicted by one man onanother. Three examples are given: the treatment of prisoners of war;the procuring an unjust sentence before a legal tribunal acting in thename of God (see Exodus 21:6); and the perversion of justicegenerally.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:37-39
Why then does a loving God, who disapproves of suffering wheninflicted by man upon man, Himself send sorrow and misery? “Becauseof sins.”Lamentations 3:37Literally, “Who is this that spake and it was done, though אדני_'ădonāy_ commanded it not?”Lamentations 3:39So long as God spares a m... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:40-42
The prophet urges men to search out their faults and amend them.Lamentations 3:40AND TURN AGAIN TO THE LORD - Or, “and return to Yahweh.” The prep.(to) in the Hebrew implies not half way, but the whole.Lamentations 3:41Literally, “Let us lift up our heart unto our hands unto God inheaven;”... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:43
In verses 43-66, far from pardoning, God is still actively punishingHis people.Rather, “Thou hast covered” Thyself “with wrath and pursued(Lamentations 1:3 note) us.” The covering (here and in Lamentations3:44) is that of clothing and enwrapping.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:45
Omit “as.”... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:47
DESOLATION - Or, devastation.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:48-51
The deep sympathy of the prophet, which pours itself forth in abundanttears over the distress of his people.Lamentations 3:51Or, “Mine eye” causeth pain to my soul, i. e. maketh my soul ache,because of the sad fate of the maidens (Lamentations 1:4, Lamentations1:18, ...).... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:52
Or, “They who without cause are mine enemies have hunted me sorelike a bird.” Probably the prophet is speaking of his personalsorrows.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:53
THEY HAVE CUT OFF MY LIFE IN THE DUNGEON - Or, “They destroyed mylife in the pit,” i. e. tried to destroy it by casting me into thecistern, and covering the month with a stone. See the marginreference.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:54
WATERS FLOWED OVER MINE HEAD - A figurative expression for greatmental trouble.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 3:55-66
A prayer for deliverance and for vengeance upon his enemies.Lamentations 3:55OUT OF THE LOW DUNGEON - “The lowest pit” of Psalms 88:6. Someconsider that Psalms 69 was composed by Jeremiah, and is the prayerreferred to here (Jeremiah 38:6 note).Lamentations 3:56THOU HAST HEARD - In sending... [ Continue Reading ]
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