Lamentations 5:1-22

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 5:1-16

Isa. any afflicted? let him pray; and let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God, and make known before him his trouble. The people of God do so here; being overwhelmed with grief, they give vent to their sorrows at the footstool of the throne of grace, and so give themselves ease. They complain not of evils feared, but of evils felt: ?Remember what has come upon us, Lam. 5:1. What was of old threatened against us, and was long in the coming, has now at length come upon us, and we are... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 5:17-22

Here, I. The people of God express the deep concern they had for the ruins of the temple, more than for any other of their calamities; the interests of God's house lay nearer their hearts than those of their own (Lam. 5:17, 18): For this our heart is faint, and sinks under the load of its own heaviness; for these things our eyes are dim, and our sight is gone, as is usual in a deliquium, or fainting fit. ?It is because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the holy mountain, and the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 5:1

Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us ,.... This chapter is called, in some Greek copies, and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, "the prayer of Jeremiah". Cocceius interprets the whole of the state of the Christian church after the last destruction of Jerusalem; and of what happened to the disciples of Christ in the first times of the Gospel; and of what Christians have endured under antichrist down to the present times: but it is best to understand it of the Jews in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 5:2

Our inheritance is turned to strangers ,.... The land of Canaan in general, which was given to Abraham and his seed to be their inheritance; and their field, and vineyards in particular, which came to them by inheritance from their fathers, were now in the hands of the Chaldeans, strangers to God, and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, as all Gentiles were, Ephesians 2:12 ; our houses to aliens ; which they had built or purchased, or their fathers had left them, were now inhabited... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 5:3

We are orphans and fatherless ,.... In every sense; in a natural sense, their fathers having been cut off by the sword, famine, or pestilence; in a civil sense, their king being taken from them; and in a religious sense, God having forsaken them for their sins: our mothers are as widows ; either really so, their husbands being dead; or were as if they had no husbands, they not being able to provide for them, protect and deferred them. The Targum adds, "whose husbands are gone to the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 5:4

We have drunken our water for money ,.... They who in their own land, which was a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, had wells of water of their own, and water freely and in abundance, now were obliged to pay for it, for drink, and other uses: our wood is sold unto us ; or, "comes to us by a price" F18 במחיר יבאו "in pretio venerunt", Pagninus, Montanus; "caro nobis pretio veniunt", Michaelis. ; and a dear one; in their own land they could have wood out of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 5:5

Our necks are under persecution ,.... A yoke of hard servitude and bondage was put upon their necks, as Jarchi interprets it; which they were forced to submit unto: or, "upon our necks we are pursued" F19 על צוארנו נרדפנו "super colla nostra persecutionem passi sumus", Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin; "vel patimur", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. ; or, "suffer persecution": which Aben Ezra explains thus, in connection with the Lamentations 5:4 ; if we carry water or... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 5:6

We have given our hand to the Egyptians ,.... Either by way of supplication, to beg bread of them; or by way of covenant and agreement; or to testify subjection to them, in order to be supplied with food: many of the Jews went into Egypt upon the taking of the city, Jeremiah 43:5 ; and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread ; among whom many of the captives were dispersed; since from hence they are said to be returned, as well as from Egypt, Isaiah 11:16 . read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 5:7

Our fathers have sinned, and are not ,.... In the world, as the Targum adds; they were in being, but not on earth; they were departed from hence, and gone into another world; and so were free from the miseries and calamities their children were attended with, and therefore more happy: and we have borne their iniquities ; the punishment of them, or chastisement for them: this is not said by way of complaint, much less as charging God with injustice, in punishing them for their fathers'... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 5:8

Servants have ruled over us ,.... The Targum is, "the sons of Ham, who were given to be servants to the sons of Shem, they have ruled over us;' referring to the prophecy of Noah, Genesis 9:26 ; or such as had been tributary to the Jews, as the Edomites; so Aben Ezra; the Babylon, an, are meant; and not the nobles and principal inhabitants only, but even their servants, had power and authority over the Jews and they were at their beck and command; which made their servitude the more... read more

Group of Brands