lamentations-4:12-13-nasb

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 4:1-12

The elegy in this chapter begins with a lamentation of the very sad and doleful change which the judgments of God had made in Jerusalem. The city that was formerly as gold, as the most fine gold, so rich and splendid, the perfection of beauty and the joy of the whole earth, has become dim, and is changed, has lost its lustre, lost its value, is not what it was; it has become dross. Alas! what an alteration is here! I. The temple was laid waste, which was the glory of Jerusalem and its... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 4:13-20

We have here, I. The sins they were charged with, for which God brought this destruction upon them, and which served to justify God in it (Lam. 4:13, 14): It is for the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests. Not that the people were innocent; no, they loved to have it so (Jer. 5:31), and it was to please them that the prophets and priests did as they did; but the fault is chiefly laid upon them, who should have taught them better, should have reproved and admonished them, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 4:12

The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world ,.... Not only the neighbouring nations, and the kings of them, but even such in all parts of the world that knew anything of Jerusalem: would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy would have entered into the gates of Jerusalem ; when it was besieging, they did not believe it would be taken; and when they heard it was, it was incredible to them; it being so strongly fortified by art and nature, with mountains and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 4:13

For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests ,.... Aben Ezra interprets this of the prophets of Baal, and the priests of the high places; but though false prophets and wicked priests are meant, yet such as were among the Jews, made choice of and approved of by them: see 2 Chronicles 36:14 ; not that the people were faultless, but these were the principals, who by their examples led on and encouraged the common people in sin: that have shed the blood of the just in... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 4:12

The kings of the earth - Jerusalem was so well fortified, both by nature and art, that it appeared as a miracle that it should be taken at all. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 4:13

For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests - These most wretched beings, under the pretense of zeal for the true religion, persecuted the genuine prophets, priests, and people of God, and caused their blood to be shed in the midst of the city, in the most open and public manner; exactly as the murderous priests, and blood-thirsty preachers, under the reign of bloody Queen Mary, did in England. However, the profligate priests and idolatrous prophets in Jerusalem, only... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 4:12

Verse 12 He confirms the same thing; for when a thing incredible happens, either we are extremely stupid, or we must be moved and affected. The Prophet, then, now says that the destruction of the city of Jerusalem had been incredible, because God had defended it by his power; it was also so fortified that no one believed that it could be taken, and the grandeur of the city was known everywhere. He then says that Jerusalem had been taken and overthrown, which no one of the heathens, neither... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 4:13

Verse 13 The Prophet, as in a matter fully proved, rebukes the Jews, that he might, as it was necessary, bring down their pride. Had he at first condemned the wickedness of the prophets and the priests, no credit would have been given to his word. But after he had set before them what we have observed, and especially after he had shewn that the ruin of the city was a kind of prodigy, what he now adds must have been certainly inferred, even that the Jews had in so many ways and with such... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 4:12

The kings of the earth, etc. And yet Jerusalem had been taken twice before its capture by Nebuchadnezzar (see 1 Kings 14:26 ; 2 Kings 14:1-29 :131. How is the language of the second part to be accounted for? It will help us to an answer if we observe that the later Jews seem to have acquired an exorbitant confidence in their national future ever since the Book of Deuteronomy had become as it were canonical in the reign of Josiah. "The temple of Jehovah" was ever in their mouths ( ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 4:12

Incredible calamities. Not only had Jerusalem believed herself invincible, But she had been so long preserved in safety and so signally delivered in extreme danger, as in the Assyrian invasion when Hezekiah was king, that neighbouring nations had come to look upon her as secure from harm, and to regard such calamities as those which came in the wake of the Chaldean invasion as incredible. There are men whose condition in the eyes of the world is as safe as that of Jerusalem was to the... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 4:1-12

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 4:13-20

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 4:12

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 4:13

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 4:12

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 4:13

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 4:12

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 4:13

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 4:12

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 4:12

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