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Matthew Henry

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:20

My soul hath them still in remembrance ,.... That is, according to our version, affliction and misery, compared to wormwood and gall: but the words, "my soul", are fetched from the next clause, where they ought to stand, and this to be rendered, "in remembering thou wilt remember" F20 זכור תזכור "recordando recordaberis", Luther, Michaelis. ; or, "thou wilt surely remember", and so expresses the confidence of the prophet, and his firm belief, his faith and hope increasing in... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:20

By soul - is humbled in me - It is evident that in the preceding verses there is a bitterness of complaint against the bitterness of adversity, that is not becoming to man when under the chastising hand of God; and, while indulging this feeling, all hope fled. Here we find a different feeling; he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives, Lamentations 3:21 . read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:20

Verse 20 The Prophet seems in other words to confirm what he had said, even that the memory of afflictions overwhelmed his soul. For the soul is said to be humbled in or upon man, when he lies down under the burden of despair. It is the soul that raises man up, and as it were revives him; but when the soul is cast as it were on man, it is a most grievous thing; for it is better to lie down a dead body than to have this additional burden, which makes the case still worse. A dead body might... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:1-21

MONOLOGUE SPOKEN BY AN INDIVIDUAL BELIEVER WHOSE FATE IS BOUND UP WITH THAT OF THE NATION ; OR PERHAPS BY THE NATION PERSONIFIED (see Introduction). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:19-20

Remembering affliction. As the prophet entreats the Lord to remember the afflictions he and his countrymen have passed through, he records his own vivid recollection of bygone misery and humiliation. Now, the counsel of the world would be—Forget your troubles; they are past; why allow them to disturb and to distress the mind? There are, however, good reasons why this advice should be rejected, why the afflictions we have passed through should sometimes be recalled to mind. I. THIS ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:19-21

These verses prepare the way for a brief interval of calmness and resignation. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:19-21

God taking notice of man's affliction, In his distress the sufferer cries to God, calling upon his great Helper to note his condition and remember it. Then he is calmed by prayer, and rests in the assurance that God does not forget his trouble. Recalling this thought to mind, he recovers hope. I. THE CRY FOR GOD 'S NOTICE . 1 . It is to God. At first it seems as though God bad forgotten his afflicted child. The vision of the Divine countenance is clouded; no voice... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:20

My soul, etc. This rendering is difficult. In the next verse we read, "This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope," which seems inconsistent with Lamentations 3:20 as given in the Authorized Version. An equally grammatical and still more obvious translation is, Thou ( O God! ) wilt surely remember, for my soul is bowed down within me. The latter part of the line is a reminiscence of Psalms 42:5 , at least, if the text be correct, for the closing words do not cohere well with... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:1-66

Grief, repentance and hope (3:1-66)This poem is different in style from the previous two. The poet speaks as if he is the representative of all Judah, describing Judah’s sufferings as if they were his own. And those sufferings are God’s righteous judgment (3:1-3). He is like a starving man ready to die. Indeed, he feels as if he already dwells in the world of the dead (4-6). He is like a man chained and locked inside a stone prison from which there is no way out (7-9).To the writer God seems... read more

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