Lamentations 3:53-55 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 3:42-54

It is easier to chide ourselves for complaining than to chide ourselves out of it. The prophet had owned that a living man should not complain, as if he checked himself for his complaints in the former part of the chapter; and yet here the clouds return after the rain and the wound bleeds afresh; for great pains must be taken with a troubled spirit to bring it into temper. I. They confess the righteousness of God in afflicting them (Lam. 3:42): We have transgressed and have rebelled. Note, It... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 3:55-65

We may observe throughout this chapter a struggle in the prophet's breast between sense and faith, fear and hope; he complains and then comforts himself, yet drops his comforts and returns again to his complaints, as Ps. 42:1-11. But, as there, so here, faith gets the last word and comes off a conqueror; for in these verses he concludes with some comfort. And here are two things with which he comforts himself:? I. His experience of God's goodness even in his affliction. This may refer to the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:53

They have cut off my life in the dungeon ,.... Jarchi interprets it, "they bound me in the prison.' Jeremiah was both in a prison and in a dungeon, where he was deprived of the society of men, as if he had been dead; and he was in danger of losing his life; but whether any respect is had to it here is not certain: it seems rather to respect the people of the Jews in captivity, who were deprived of their rights and liberties, and of the comforts of life; and were like dead men in their... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:54

Waters flowed over mine head ,.... As in a pit or dungeon, where there is not only mire and clay, but much water, into which persons being put, sink, and are covered therewith; see Psalm 69:1 ; this is to be understood metaphorically of the waters of afflictions, which overflowed and overwhelmed the people of the Jews. Jarchi interprets it of the nations of the world, as much people are often compared to waters; and here the Chaldeans may be particularly intended, whose army overflowed the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:55

I called upon thy name, O Lord ,.... As in times past, so in the present distress; when all hope was gone, and all help failed, still there was a God to go to, and call upon: out of the low dungeon ; or "dungeon of lownesses" F18 מבור תחתיות "e cisterna infimitatum", Piscator. ; the lowest dungeon, the deepest distress, a man or people could be in; yet then and there it is not too late to call upon the Lord; and there may be hope of deliverance out of such an estate by him. read more

John Calvin

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

John Calvin

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

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:55

Verse 55 We certainly see that the Prophet had an inward conflict, which also all the faithful experience, for the spirit fights against the flesh, as Paul teaches us. (Galatians 5:17.) Though, then, he on the one hand apprehended death, he yet ceased not to flee to God; for faith strengthened his mind so that he did not succumb, but on the contrary he firmly rejected the temptation presented to him. Though, then, he was, according to the flesh, persuaded as to his own ruin, he on the other... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:37-54

EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE ; RENDERED , LAMENTATION . read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:52-66

THE SPEAKER 'S SUFFERINGS ; AN EARNESTLY BELIEVING PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE . He speaks as a representative of the nation; if we should not rather say that the nation itself, personified, is the speaker. In the first triad some have supposed a reference to the persecution suffered by Jeremiah at the hands of his countrymen. The "dungeon," or rather "pit," will in this case be the "dungeon" ("pit") mentioned in Jeremiah 38:6 . But a "pit" is a figure in the psalms for... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 3:42-54

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 3:55-65

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:53

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:54

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:55

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:53

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:54

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:55

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:37-54

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:52-66

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