Lamentations 3:56

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 3:55-65

We may observe throughout this chapter a struggle in the prophet's breast between sense and faith, fear and hope; he complains and then comforts himself, yet drops his comforts and returns again to his complaints, as Ps. 42:1-11. But, as there, so here, faith gets the last word and comes off a conqueror; for in these verses he concludes with some comfort. And here are two things with which he comforts himself:? I. His experience of God's goodness even in his affliction. This may refer to the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:56

Thou hast heard my voice ,.... Either in times past, when he cried unto him, and was delivered; and this was an encouragement to call upon him again in such extremity, who had shown himself to be a God hearing and answering prayer; hence it follows: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry ; turn not a deaf ear to me, who hast been wont to hear me heretofore; stop not thine ear at my cry now, at my prayer, which he calls his "breathing"; prayer is the breath of a soul regenerated by... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:56

Hide not thine ear at my breathing - He dared not even to complain, nor to cry, nor to pray aloud: he was obliged to whisper his prayer to God. It was only a breathing. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:56

Verse 56 When the Prophet says that God heard, it is the same as though he said, that he had so prayed that God became a witness of his earnestness and solicitude; for many boast in high terms of their earnestness and fervor and constancy in prayer, but their boastings are all empty and vain. But the Prophet summons God as a witness of his crying, as though he had said that he was not so overwhelmed by his adversity, but that he always fled to God. He then says, Close not, etc.; it is... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:52-66

THE SPEAKER 'S SUFFERINGS ; AN EARNESTLY BELIEVING PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE . He speaks as a representative of the nation; if we should not rather say that the nation itself, personified, is the speaker. In the first triad some have supposed a reference to the persecution suffered by Jeremiah at the hands of his countrymen. The "dungeon," or rather "pit," will in this case be the "dungeon" ("pit") mentioned in Jeremiah 38:6 . But a "pit" is a figure in the psalms for... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:55-56

The cry from the dungeon. There seems every reason for believing that, in these words, the prophet is recording his own actual experience. Under the reign of Zedekiah, when the doom of Jerusalem was near at hand, the faithful Jeremiah prophesied to the people, and by his warnings and predictions so offended the princes who were in authority in the city that they cast him into the pit of the prison. By Divine goodness he was delivered from this misery by the agency of the eunuch... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:56

At my breathing; rather, at my sighing; literally, at my relieving myself. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Lamentations 3:55-66

A prayer for deliverance and for vengeance upon his enemies.Lamentations 3:55Out of the low dungeon - “The lowest pit” of Psalms 88:6. Some consider that Psalms 69:0 was composed by Jeremiah, and is the prayer referred to here (Jeremiah 38:6 note).Lamentations 3:56Thou hast heard - In sending Ebedmelech to deliver me. The next clause signifies “Hide not thine ear to my relief to my cry,” i. e. to my cry for relief.Lamentations 3:58God now appears as the prophet’s next of kin, pleading the... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Lamentations 3:52-58

Lamentations 3:52-58. Mine enemies chased me sore “The prophet in this, and the following verses, describes his own sufferings, when his enemies seized him and put him into the dungeon, Jeremiah 37:16; Jeremiah 38:6. He compares them to a fowler in pursuit of a bird; so, saith he, they sought all opportunities to take an advantage against me, and to deprive me of my life and liberty: and this they did without any provocation given on my part. So the word חנם , without cause, signifies.”... 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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