Lamentations 3:1-21

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

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 3:21-36

Here the clouds begin to disperse and the sky to clear up; the complaint was very melancholy in the former part of the chapter, and yet here the tune is altered and the mourners in Zion begin to look a little pleasant. But for hope, the heart would break. To save the heart from being quite broken, here is something called to mind, which gives ground for hope (Lam. 3:21), which refers to what comes after, not to what goes before. I make to return to my heart (so the margin words it); what we... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:1

I am the man that hath seen affliction ,.... Had a much experience of it, especially ever since he had been a prophet; being reproached and ill used by his own people, and suffering with them in their calamities; particularly, as Jarchi observes, his affliction was greater than the other prophets, who indeed prophesied of the destruction of the city and temple, but did not see it; whereas he lived to see it: he was not indeed the only man that endured affliction, but he was remarkable... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:2

He hath led me, and brought me into darkness ,.... Which oftentimes signifies distress, calamity, and affliction, of one sort or another: thus the Jews were brought into the darkness of captivity; Jeremiah to the darkness of a dungeon, to which there may be an allusion; and Christ his antitype was under the hidings of God's face; and at the same time there was darkness all around him, and all over the land; and all this is attributed to God; it being by his appointment, and by his... read more

John Gill

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

Surely against me is he turned ,.... As an enemy, who used to be a friend; he has so altered and changed the course of his providence, as if his favour and affections were wholly removed; he has planted his artillery against me, and made me the butt of his arrows: or, "only against me"; so Jarchi; as if he was the only person, or the Jews the only people, so afflicted of God: he turneth his hand against me all the day ; to smite with one blow after another, and that continually,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:4

My flesh and my skin hath he made old ,.... His flesh with blows, and his skin with smiting, as the Targum; his flesh was so emaciated, and his skin so withered and wrinkled, that he looked like an old man; as our Lord, when little more than thirty years of age, what with his sorrows and troubles, looked like one about fifty: he hath broken my bones ; that is, his strength was greatly weakened, which lay in his bones; and he could not stir to help himself, any more than a man whose bones... read more

John Gill

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

He hath builded against me ,.... Fortresses, as the Targum adds; as when forts and batteries were raised by the Chaldeans against the city of Jerusalem, in which the prophet was: and compassed me with gall and travail ; or "weariness" F5 ותלאה "et fatigatione", Montanus, Vatablus, Castalio. ; the same with gall and wormwood, Lamentations 3:19 ; as Jarchi observes. The sense is, he was surrounded with sorrow, affliction, and misery, which were as disagreeable as gall; or like... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:6

He hath set me in dark places ,.... In the dark house of the prison, as the Targum; in the dark dungeon where the prophet was put; or the captivity in which the Jews were, and which was like the dark grave or state of the dead; and hence they are said to be in their graves, Ezekiel 37:12 . Christ was laid in the dark grave literally: as they that be dead of old : that have been long dead, and are forgotten, as if they had never been; see Psalm 88:5 ; or, "as the dead of the world" ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:7

He hath hedged me about, that I cannot go out ,.... When in prison, or in the dungeon, or during the siege of Jerusalem; though the phrase may only denote in general the greatness of his troubles, with which he was encompassed, and how inextricable they were; like a hedge about a vineyard, or a wall about a city, which could not easily be got over: he hath made my chain heavy ; his affliction intolerable. It is a metaphor taken from malefactors that have heavy chains put upon their legs,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:8

Also when I cry and shout ,.... Cry, because of the distress of the enemy within; "shout", or cry aloud for help from others without; as persons in a prison do, to make them hear and pity their case: thus the prophet in his affliction cried aloud to God; was fervent, earnest, and importunate in prayer; and yet not heard: he shutteth out my prayer ; shuts the door, that it may not enter; as the door is sometimes shut upon beggars, that their cry may not be heard. The Targum is, "the... read more

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