Lamentations 3:31-39

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

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 3:37-41

That we may be entitled to the comforts administered to the afflicted in the Lam. 3:21-36, and may taste the sweetness of them, we have here the duties of an afflicted state prescribed to us, in the performance of which we may expect those comforts. I. We must see and acknowledge the hand of God in all the calamities that befal us at any time, whether personal or public, Lam. 3:37, 38. This is here laid down as a great truth, which will help to quiet our spirits under our afflictions and to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:31

For the Lord will not cast off for ever. Which is not to be understood of all his creatures; for there are some he does cast off for ever, as the angels that sinned; reprobate men, profligate and abandoned sinners, that live and die impenitent; and unbelievers, carnal professors, and apostates; but not his own special and peculiar people, the people whom he has foreknown and loved with an everlasting love, his spiritual Israel; or, as the Targum supplies it, "his servants"; see Psalm 94:14 ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:32

But though he cause grief ,.... As he sometimes does in his own people; by convincing them of sin, and producing in them godly sorrow, which worketh repentance unto life, not to be repented of; by correcting and chastising them for it, and by hiding his face from them; all which are grievous to them: yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies ; his mercies are many, both temporal and spiritual, and his compassion is answerable; which he shows to his people by... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:33

For he doth not afflict willingly ,.... Or, "from his heart" F5 מלבו "ex corde suo", Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin. ; he does afflict; for all afflictions are from God, but they do not come from the mere motion of his heart, or are the effects of his sovereign will and pleasure, as the good things he bestows upon his people do, without any respect to any cause or occasion in them; but sin is the cause and occasion of these, as Jarchi well observes: it is with reluctance the Lord... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:34

To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth. These words, with what follow in Lamentations 3:35 ; either depend upon the preceding, and are to be connected with them, "he doth not afflict", &c.; Lamentations 3:33 ; though he lays his hand on men, he do not crush them under his feet, or break them in pieces, and utterly destroy them, even such, and all such, as are bound in affliction and iron; or, in a spiritual sense, such as are prisoners to sin, Satan, and the law, as... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:35

To turn aside the right of a man ,.... The Targum is, of a poor man; not to do him justice in a court of judicature; to cause judgment to incline to the wrong side; to give the cause against a man, to give a wrong sentence; this is disapproved of by the Lord, and forbidden by him: before the face of the most High ; either before the most high God, he being present and among the gods, the judges, when they pass sentence; and yet, to pass a wrong one in his presence, without any regard to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:36

To subvert a man in his cause ,.... A poor man, as the Targum, which aggravates it; as by courses and methods taken in an open court, so by secret underhand ways, to get the cause from him, and injure him in his property: the Lord approveth not ; or, "seeth not" F7 לא ראה "non vidit, vel videt", Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin. ; which some understand as spoken by wicked men, who do the above things, and flatter themselves that God sees not, and takes no notice of them, Ezekiel 9:9... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:37

Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass ?.... Or, "who that says this shall be , and it cometh to pass?" or, "who is he that saith this shall come to pass?" F9 So some in Gataker. this, or that, or the other thing, he wills and desires, and his heart is set upon: when the Lord commandeth it not ? has not willed and decreed it, but determined the contrary; for nothing escapes his knowledge and foreknowledge; or can resist his will; or control his power; or... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:38

Out of the mouth of the most High proceed not evil and good? Certainly they do; they come to pass, both one and the other, as God has pronounced, and his will determined; even "evils", as it is in the plural number; not the evil of sin, or of fault; this comes not out of the mouth of God, but is forbidden and condemned by him; much less is he the author of it, or tempter to it; indeed it is not without his knowledge, nor in some sense without his will; not with his will of approbation, but... read more

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