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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 2:10-22

Justly are these called Lamentations, and they are very pathetic ones, the expressions of grief in perfection, mourning and woe, and nothing else, like the contents of Ezekiel's roll, Ezek. 2:10. I. Copies of lamentations are here presented and they are painted to the life. 1. The judges and magistrates, who used to appear in robes of state, have laid them aside, or rather are stripped of them, and put on the habit of mourners (Lam. 2:10); the elders now sit no longer in the judgment-seats,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:10

The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, and keep silence ,.... Who used to sit in the gate on thrones of judgment, and passed sentence in causes tried before them; or were wont to give advice and counsel, and were regarded as oracles, now sit on the ground, and dumb, as mourners; see Job 2:13 ; they have cast up dust upon their heads ; on their white hairs and gray locks, which bespoke wisdom, and made them grave and venerable: they have girded themselves with... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:11

Mine eyes do fail with tears ,.... According to Aben Ezra, everyone of the elders before mentioned said this; but rather they are the words of the Prophet Jeremiah, who had wept his eyes dry, or rather blind, on account of the calamities of his people; though he himself obtained liberty and enlargement by means thereof: my bowels are troubled ; all his inward parts were distressed: my liver is poured upon the earth ; his gall bladder, which lay at the bottom of his liver, broke, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:12

They say to their mothers, where is corn and wine ?.... Not the sucklings who could not speak, nor were used to corn and wine, but the children more grown; both are before spoken of, but these are meant, even the young men of Israel, as the Targum; and such as had been brought up in the best manner, had been used to wine, and not water, and therefore ask for that as well as corn; both take in all the necessaries of life; and which they ask of their mothers, who had been used to feed them,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:13

What thing shall I take to witness for thee ?.... What argument can be made use of? what proof or evidence can be given? what witnesses can be called to convince thee, and make it a clear case to time, that ever any people or nation was in such distress and calamity, what with sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity, as thou art? what thing shall I liken thee to, O daughter of Jerusalem ? what kingdom or nation ever suffered the like? no example can be given, no instance that comes up... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:14

Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee ,.... Not the prophets of the Lord; but false prophets, as the Targum; which were of the people's choosing, and were acceptable to them; prophets after their own hearts, because they prophesied smooth things, such as they liked; though in the issue they proved "vain" and "foolish", idle stories, impertinent talk, the fictions of their own brains; and yet they pretended to have visions of them from the Lord; as that within two years... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:15

All that pass by clap their hands at thee ,.... Travellers that passed by, and saw Jerusalem in ruins, clapped their hands at it, by way of rejoicing, as well pleased at the sight. This must be understood, not of the inhabitants of the land, but of strangers, who had no good will to it; though they seem to be distinguished from their implacable enemies in Lamentations 2:16 , they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem ; by way of scorn and derision; hereby expressing... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:16

All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee ,.... Or "widened" F24 פצו "dilatant", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. them; stretched them out as far as they could, to reproach, blaspheme, and insult; or, like gaping beasts, to swallow up and devour: they hiss and gnash their teeth ; hiss like serpents, and gnash their teeth in wrath and fury; all expressing their extreme hatred and abhorrence of the Jews, and the delight they took in their ruin and destruction: ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:17

The Lord hath done that which he had devised ,.... It was not so much the Chaldeans that did it, though they ascribed it to themselves; but it was the Lord's doing, and what he had deliberately thought of, purposed and designed within himself; all whose purposes and devices certainly come to pass: he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old ; not only by the mouth of Jeremiah, years ago, or in the times of Isaiah, long before him; but even in the days of Moses;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:18

Their heart cried unto the Lord ,.... Either the heart of their enemies, as Aben Ezra; which cried against the Lord, and blasphemed him; or rather the heart of the Jews in their distress, when they saw the walls of the city breaking down, they cried unto the Lord for help and protection, whether sincerely or not; no doubt some did; and all were desirous of preservation: O wall of the daughter of Zion ! this seems to be an address of the prophet to the people of Jerusalem carried captive,... read more

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