Lamentations 2:19-22 NIV

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 2:19

Arise, cry out in the night ,.... That is, O daughter of Zion, or congregation of Israel, as the Targum; who are addressed and called upon by the prophet to arise from their beds, and shake off their sleep, and sloth, and stupidity, and cry to God in the night season; and be earnest and importunate with him for help and assistance. Aben Ezra rightly observes, that the word used signifies a lifting up of the voice both in singing and in lamentation; here it is used in the latter sense; and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:20

Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done this ,.... On whom thou hast brought these calamities of famine and sword; not upon thine enemies, but upon thine own people, that are called by thy name, and upon theirs, their young ones, who had not sinned as their fathers had: here the church does not charge God with any injustice, or complain of hard usage; only humbly entreats he would look upon her, in her misery, with an eye of pity and compassion; and consider her sorrowful... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:21

The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets ,.... Young men and old men, virgins and aged women; these promiscuously lay on the ground in the public streets, fainting and dying for want of food; or lay killed there by the sword of the enemy; the Chaldeans sparing neither age nor sex. The Targum interprets it of their sleeping on the ground, "young men slept on the ground in the villages, and old men who used to lie on pillows of fine wool, and on beds of ivory;' but the former... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:22

Thou hast called, as in a solemn day, my terrors round about ,.... Terrible enemies, as the Chaldeans; these came at the call of God, as soldiers at the command of their general; and in as great numbers as men from all parts of Judea flocked to Jerusalem on any of the three solemn feasts of passover, pentecost, and tabernacles. The Targum paraphrases it very foreign to the sense; "thou shall proclaim liberty to thy people, the house of Israel, by the Messiah, as thou didst by Moses and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:19

Arise, cry out in the night - This seems to refer to Jerusalem besieged. Ye who keep the night watches, pour out your hearts before the Lord, instead of calling the time of night, etc.; or, when you call it, send up a fervent prayer to God for the safety and relief of the place. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:20

Consider to whom thou hast done this - Perhaps the best sense of this difficult verse is this: "Thou art our Father, we are thy children; wilt thou destroy thy own offspring? Was it ever heard that a mother devoured her own child, a helpless infant of a span long?" That it was foretold that there should be such distress in the siege, - that mothers should be obliged to eat their own children, is evident enough from Leviticus 26:29 ; Deuteronomy 28:53 , Deuteronomy 28:56 , Deuteronomy... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:22

Thou hast called as in a solemn day - It is by thy influence alone that so many enemies are called together at one time; and they have so hemmed us in that none could escape, and none remained unslain or uncaptivated, Perhaps the figure is the collecting of the people in Jerusalem on one of the solemn annual festivals. God has called terrors together to feast on Jerusalem, similar to the convocation of the people from all parts of the land to one of those annual festivals. The indiscriminate... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:19

Verse 19 The Prophet now explains himself more clearly, and confirms what I have lately said, that he mentioned not the calamities of the people except for this end, that those who were almost stupid might begin to raise up their eyes to God, and also to examine their life, and willingly to condemn themselves, that thus they might escape from the wrath of God. The Prophet then bids them to rise and to cry. Doubtless they had been by force constrained by their enemies to undertake a long... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:20

Verse 20 Here, also, Jeremiah dictates words, or a form of prayer to the Jews. And this complaint availed to excite pity, that God had thus afflicted, not strangers, but the people whom he had adopted. Interpreters do, indeed, give another explanation, “See, Jehovah, To whom hast thou done this?” that is, Has any people been ever so severely afflicted? But I do not think that the comparison is made here, which they seek to make, but that the people only set before God the covenant which he had... read more

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

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:19

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:20

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:21

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:22

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:19

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:20

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:22

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:19

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:20

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