Lamentations 3:59-66

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 3:59

O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong ,.... Or, "my perverseness" F23 עותתי "perversitatem", Pagninus, Montanus; "quae exercetur, vel exercebatur in me", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. ; not that he or they had been guilty of; but the wrong that was done to him and them by their enemies; how perverse and ill natured they had been to them; how badly they had used them; what injuries they had done them; none of which escaped the omniscience of God, to which the appeal is made; and upon... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:60

Thou hast seen all their vengeance ,.... The spirit of revenge in them; their wrath and fury, and how they burn with a desire of doing mischief; as well as their revengeful actions, carriage, and behaviour: and all their imaginations against me ; their secret contrivances of mischief, their plots and schemes they devise to do hurt unto me. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:61

Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord ,.... Their reproachful words uttered against the prophet and his people, against God himself; their spiteful language, their taunts, and scoffs and jeers: and all their imaginations against me ; those he not only saw, as they appeared in their actions; but heard them, as they were expressed by their words; yea, they were manifest to him, while they only were in silent thought forming in the mind. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:62

The lips of those that rose up against me ,.... This is to be connected with the preceding words; and expresses the same thing in different language. The sense is, that the Lord heard the words which dropped from the lips of his enemies; their sarcasms, flouts, and jeers; their bitter reflections, severe invectives, and scornful language: and their device against me all the day ; or, "their meditation of ill against me"; or, "their speech", or discourse F24 הגיונם "meditationem... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:63

Behold their sitting down, and their rising up ,.... All their actions; the whole course of their lives; all which fell under the divine omniscience, Psalm 139:2 ; but that is not barely here meant; but that he would take particular notice hereof, and punish for the same. It may have respect both to their lying down at night, and rising in the morning; and to their sitting down at meals, and rising from them; at which times they were always meditating mischief against the people of God, or... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:64

Render unto them a recompence, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render this, and the following verses, not as petitions, but as prophecies of what should be; but they seem rather to be expressed by way of request; and here, that God would deal with them according to the law of retaliation, and requite them according to what they had done; that he would do to them as they had done to the Lord's people, and others; and this is ordered to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:65

Give them sorrow of heart ,.... That which will cause sorrow of heart; such judgments and punishments as will be grievous to them. Some have observed a likeness between the word here used and that translated "music", Lamentations 3:63 ; and think some respect may be had to it; that whereas the people of God had been matter of mirth and music to them, God would give them music, but of another sort; a song, but a doleful one. The Septuagint version renders it, "a covering of the heart"; the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:66

Persecute and destroy them in anger ,.... As they have persecuted the people of God, do thou persecute them; and never leave pursuing them untie thou hast made a full end of them, as the effect of vindictive wrath and vengeance: from under the heavens of the Lord ; which are made by him, and in which he dwells; let them not have the benefit of them, nor so much as the sight of them; but let them perish from under them, Jeremiah 10:11 . read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:60

Thou hast seen - all their imaginations - Every thing is open to the eye of God. Distressed soul! though thou knowest not what thy enemies meditate against thee; yet he who loves thee does, and will infallibly defeat all their plots, and save thee. read more

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