20 Wherefore dost thou forget H7911 us for ever, H5331 and forsake H5800 us so long H753 time? H3117
Will the Lord H136 cast off H2186 for ever? H5769 and will H3254 he be favourable H7521 no more? Is his mercy H2617 clean gone H656 for ever? H5331 doth his promise H562 fail H1584 for evermore? H1755 H1755 Hath God H410 forgotten H7911 to be gracious? H2589 hath he in anger H639 shut up H7092 his tender mercies? H7356 Selah. H5542 And I said, H559 This is my infirmity: H2470 but I will remember the years H8141 of the right hand H3225 of the most High. H5945
LORD, H3068 how long shall the wicked, H7563 how long shall the wicked H7563 triumph? H5937 How long shall they utter H5042 and speak H1696 hard things? H6277 and all the workers H6466 of iniquity H205 boast H559 themselves?
Be not wroth H7107 very sore, H3966 O LORD, H3068 neither remember H2142 iniquity H5771 for ever: H5703 behold, see, H5027 we beseech thee, we are all thy people. H5971 Thy holy H6944 cities H5892 are a wilderness, H4057 Zion H6726 is a wilderness, H4057 Jerusalem H3389 a desolation. H8077 Our holy H6944 and our beautiful H8597 house, H1004 where our fathers H1 praised H1984 thee, is burned up H8316 with fire: H784 and all our pleasant things H4261 are laid waste. H2723 Wilt thou refrain H662 thyself for these things, O LORD? H3068 wilt thou hold thy peace, H2814 and afflict H6031 us very sore? H3966
Hast thou utterly H3988 rejected H3988 Judah? H3063 hath thy soul H5315 lothed H1602 Zion? H6726 why hast thou smitten H5221 us, and there is no healing H4832 for us? we looked H6960 for peace, H7965 and there is no good; H2896 and for the time H6256 of healing, H4832 and behold trouble! H1205 We acknowledge, H3045 O LORD, H3068 our wickedness, H7562 and the iniquity H5771 of our fathers: H1 for we have sinned H2398 against thee. Do not abhor H5006 us, for thy name's H8034 sake, do not disgrace H5034 the throne H3678 of thy glory: H3519 remember, H2142 break H6565 not thy covenant H1285 with us.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Lamentations 5
Commentary on Lamentations 5 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 5
La 5:1-22. Epiphonema, or a Closing Recapitulation of the Calamities Treated in the Previous Elegies.
1. (Ps 89:50, 51).
2. Our inheritance—"Thine inheritance" (Ps 79:1). The land given of old to us by Thy gift.
3. fatherless—Our whole land is full of orphans [Calvin]. Or, "we are fatherless," being abandoned by Thee our "Father" (Jer 3:19), [Grotius].
4. water for money—The Jews were compelled to pay the enemy for the water of their own cisterns after the overthrow of Jerusalem; or rather, it refers to their sojourn in Babylon; they had to pay tax for access to the rivers and fountains. Thus, "our" means the water which we need, the commonest necessary of life.
our wood—In Judea each one could get wood without pay; in Babylon, "our wood," the wood we need, must be paid for.
5. Literally, "On our necks we are persecuted"; that is, Men tread on our necks (Ps 66:12; Isa 51:23; compare Jos 10:24). The extremest oppression. The foe not merely galled the Jews face, back, and sides, but their neck. A just retribution, as they had been stiff in neck against the yoke of God (2Ch 30:8, Margin; Ne 9:29; Isa 48:4).
6. given … hand to—in token of submission (see on Jer 50:15).
to … Egyptians—at the death of Josiah (2Ch 36:3, 4).
Assyrians—that is, the Chaldeans who occupied the empire which Assyria had held. So Jer 2:18.
to be satisfied with bread—(De 28:48).
7. (Jer 31:29).
borne their iniquities—that is, the punishment of them. The accumulated sins of our fathers from age to age, as well as our own, are visited on us. They say this as a plea why God should pity them (compare Eze 18:2, &c.).
8. Servants … ruled … us—Servants under the Chaldean governors ruled the Jews (Ne 5:15). Israel, once a "kingdom of priests" (Ex 19:6), is become like Canaan, "a servant of servants," according to the curse (Ge 9:25). The Chaldeans were designed to be "servants" of Shem, being descended from Ham (Ge 9:26). Now through the Jews' sin, their positions are reversed.
9. We gat our bread with … peril—that is, those of us left in the city after its capture by the Chaldeans.
because of … sword of … wilderness—because of the liability to attack by the robber Arabs of the wilderness, through which the Jews had to pass to get "bread" from Egypt (compare La 5:6).
10. As an oven is scorched with too much fire, so our skin with the hot blast of famine (Margin, rightly, "storms," like the hot simoom). Hunger dries up the pores so that the skin becomes like as if it were scorched by the sun (Job 30:30; Ps 119:83).
11. So in just retribution Babylon itself should fare in the end. Jerusalem shall for the last time suffer these woes before her final restoration (Zec 14:2).
12. hanged … by their hand—a piece of wanton cruelty invented by the Chaldeans. Grotius translates, "Princes were hung by the hand of the enemy"; hanging was a usual mode of execution (Ge 40:19).
elders—officials (La 4:16).
13. young men … grind—The work of the lowest female slave was laid on young men (Jud 16:21; Job 31:10).
children fell under … wood—Mere children had to bear burdens of wood so heavy that they sank beneath them.
14. Aged men in the East meet in the open space round the gate to decide judicial trials and to hold social converse (Job 29:7, 8).
16. The crown—all our glory, the kingdom and the priesthood (Job 19:9; Ps 89:39, 44).
17. (La 1:22; 2:11).
18. foxes—They frequent desolate places where they can freely and fearlessly roam.
19. (Ps 102:12). The perpetuity of God's rule over human affairs, however He may seem to let His people be oppressed for a time, is their ground of hope of restoration.
20. for ever—that is, for "so long a time."
21. (Ps 80:3; Jer 31:18). "Restore us to favor with Thee, and so we shall be restored to our old position" [Grotius]. Jeremiah is not speaking of spiritual conversion, but of that outward turning whereby God receives men into His fatherly favor, manifested in bestowing prosperity [Calvin]. Still, as Israel is a type of the Church, temporal goods typify spiritual blessings; and so the sinner may use this prayer for God to convert him.
22. Rather, "Unless haply Thou hast utterly rejected us, and art beyond measure wroth against us," that is, Unless Thou art implacable, which is impossible, hear our prayer [Calvin]. Or, as Margin, "For wouldest Thou utterly reject us?" &c.—No; that cannot be. The Jews, in this book, and in Isaiah and Malachi, to avoid the ill-omen of a mournful closing sentence, repeat the verse immediately preceding the last [Calvin].