Lamentations 3:3-8 NIV

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 3:3

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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:5

He hath builded against me - Perhaps there is a reference here to the mounds and ramparts raised by the Chaldeans in order to take the city. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:7

He hath hedged me about - This also may refer to the lines drawn round the city during the siege. But these and similar expressions in the following verses may be merely metaphorical, to point out their straitened, oppressed, and distressed state. read more

John Calvin

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

Verse 3 Now he says that God was an adversary to him; for this is what the verb ישב,isheb, means, he is turned against me. As an enemy, when intending to fight, comes to meet one from the opposite side, so the Prophet says of God, who had become an enemy to him; and he teaches the same thing in another way when he says that he perceived that the hand of God was against him: He turns, he says, against me his hand daily, or all the day, כל-היום, cal-eium. But the Prophet simply means constancy,... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 3:1-20

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

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

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

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

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

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:5

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:7

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

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