Lamentations 2:14-17

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 2:14

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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:14

They have not discovered thine iniquity - They did not reprove for sin, they flattered them in their transgressions; and instead of turning away thy captivity, by turning thee from thy sins, they have pretended visions of good in thy favor, and false burdens for thy enemies. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:15

The perfection of beauty - This probably only applied to the temple. Jerusalem never was a fine or splendid city; but the temple was most assuredly the most splendid building in the world. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:16

This is the day that we looked for - Jerusalem was the envy of the surrounding nations: they longed for its destruction, and rejoiced when it took place. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:17

The Lord hate done that - This and the sixteenth verse should be interchanged, to follow the order of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet; as the sixteenth has פ phe for its acrostic letter, and the seventeenth has ע ain , which should precede the other in the order of the alphabet. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:14

Verse 14 Here the Prophet condemns the Jews for that wantonness by which they had, as it were, designedly destroyed themselves, as though they had willfully drunk sweet poison. They had been inebriated with those fallacies which we have seen, when impostors promised them a prosperous condition; for we have seen that false prophets often boldly declared that whatever Jeremiah threatened was of no account. Since, then, the Jews were inebriated with such flatteries, and disregarded God’s judgment,... read more

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