John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:54
Verse 54 He now adds a third comparison, — that he had been overwhelmed, as it were, with a flood of evils. This similitude occurs often in Scripture, especially in the Psalms; for when David wished to set forth his despair, lie said that he was sunk in deep waters. (Psalms 69:15.) So also in this place the Prophet complains, that waters had flowed over his head, so that he thought himself lost. Though, indeed, this was the saying of a man in a hopeless state, it is yet evident from the context... read more
John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:53
Verse 53 He now employs other comparisons. Some improperly confine this to Jeremiah himself, as though he explained here before God the wrongs done to himself: but there is no doubt but that he undertakes the cause of the whole people; and his object was to encourage by his own example the faithful to lament their state so that they might obtain pardon from God. He then compares himself to a man half-dead, cast into a pit, and there left for lost. Then some improperly interpret the words,... read more