Lamentations 3:13

"He hath caused the shafts of his quiver

to enter into my reins.

I am become a derision to all my people,

and their song all the day.

He hath filled me with bitterness,

he hath sated me with wormwood.

He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones;

he hath covered me with ashes.

And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace;

I forgat prosperity.

And I said, My strength is perished,

and mine expectation from Jehovah."

"I am become a derision to all my people ... their song all the day" (Lamentations 3:14). "Here Jeremiah drops all metaphor and shows exactly what is meant by all those `arrows' he mentioned."[20] Note also that the entire nation `all my people' know who this sufferer is; and they have made him the butt of public ridicule and taunting songs. It is just too bad that the critics don't know who he was! "What other person (except Jeremiah) was the cynosure of all eyes as was Jeremiah"?[21] He hath broken my teeth with gravel (Lamentations 3:16). This is very likely more metaphor describing Jeremiah's sorrow; but Cheyne thought of it as a literal reference to what happened to the Jews in exile. They had to bake their bread in pits dug in the ground, "And they were obliged to eat bread with grit in it."[22]

"My strength is perished and mine expectation from Jehovah" (Lamentations 3:18). We read this as hyperbole for the near- despair that tempted Jeremiah; however the next section of the chapter will indicate, as Cook noted, that, "He soon reaches firm ground."[23]