Lamentations 3:15 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 3:1-20

The title of the Ps. 102:1-28 might very fitly be prefixed to this chapter?The 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. Let us observe the particulars of it. The prophet complains, 1. That God is angry. This gives both birth and bitterness to the affliction (Lam. 3:1): I am the man, the remarkable man, that has seen affliction, and has felt it sensibly, by the rod... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:15

He hath filled me with bitterness ,.... Or "with bitternesses" F13 במרורים "amaritudinibus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Michaelis, "amaroribus", Cocceius. ; instead of food, bitter herbs; the allusion perhaps is to the bitter herbs eaten at the passover, and signify bitter afflictions, sore calamities, of which the prophet and his people had their fill. The Targum is, "with the gall of serpents;' see Job 20:14 ; he hath made me drunken with wormwood ; with wormwood drink;... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:15

He hath filled me with bitterness - במרורים bimrorim , with bitternesses, bitter upon bitter. He hath made me drunken with wormwood - I have drunk the cup of misery till I am intoxicated with it. Almost in all countries, and in all languages, bitterness is a metaphor to express trouble and affliction. The reason is, there is nothing more disagreeable to the taste than the one; and nothing more distressing to the mind than the other. An Arabic poet. Amralkeis, one of the writers of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:15

Verse 15 Some render the last word “wormwood,” but this word seems not to me to suit the passage, for though wormwood is bitter, yet it is a wholesome herb. I therefore take it in this and like places for poison or gall; and ראש, rash, as we shall see, is joined with it. To satiate, is also a metaphor very common. Then the Prophet means that lie was full of bitterness and gall; and lie thus had regard to those calamities from which so much sorrow had proceeded. We hence also gather that the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:1-21

MONOLOGUE SPOKEN BY AN INDIVIDUAL BELIEVER WHOSE FATE IS BOUND UP WITH THAT OF THE NATION ; OR PERHAPS BY THE NATION PERSONIFIED (see Introduction). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:15

With bitterness; literally, with bitternesses; i.e. bitter troubles. A reminiscence of Job 9:18 . With wormwood; i.e. with a drink of wormwood (comp. Jeremiah 9:15 ; Jeremiah 23:15 ). We are slightly reminded of Psalms 69:21 , "They gave me gall for my meat." read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Lamentations 3:10-18

Having dwelt upon the difficulties which hemmed in his path, he now shows that there are dangers attending upon escape.Lamentations 3:11The meaning is, “God, as a lion, lying in wait, has made me turn aside from my path, but my flight was in vain, for springing upon me from His ambush lie has torn me in pieces.”Desolate - Or, astonied, stupefied that he cannot flee. The word is a favorite one with Jeremiah.Lamentations 3:12This new simile arises out of the former one, the idea of a hunter being... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Lamentations 3:14-19

Lamentations 3:14-19. I was a derision to all my people To all the wicked among them, who made themselves merry with the prophet’s griefs and the public judgments; and their song all the day Hebrew, נגינתם , their instrument of music. The word, says Blaney, “is commonly rendered their song; but I rather think it means a subject upon which they played, as upon a musical instrument, for their diversion.” He hath filled me with bitterness A bitter sense of these calamities. God has... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:1-66

Grief, repentance and hope (3:1-66)This poem is different in style from the previous two. The poet speaks as if he is the representative of all Judah, describing Judah’s sufferings as if they were his own. And those sufferings are God’s righteous judgment (3:1-3). He is like a starving man ready to die. Indeed, he feels as if he already dwells in the world of the dead (4-6). He is like a man chained and locked inside a stone prison from which there is no way out (7-9).To the writer God seems... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Lamentations 3:15

15. wormwood— ( :-). There it is regarded as food, namely, the leaves: here as drink, namely, the juice. Vau. read more