Verse 20
Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress ,.... Thus she turns from one to another; sometimes she addresses strangers, people that pass by; sometimes she calls to her lovers; and at other times to God, which is best of all, to have pity and compassion on her in her distress; and from whom it may be most expected, who is a God of grace and mercy:
my bowels are troubled ; as the sea, agitated by winds, which casts up mire and dirt; or as any waters, moved by anything whatsoever, become thick and muddy; or like wine in fermentation; so the word F12 "fermentavit, commiscuit, alteravit, turbavique mentem ", Castel. col. 1294. , in the Arabic language, signifies, expressive of great disturbance, confusion, and uneasiness:
mine heart is turned within me ; has no rest nor peace:
for I have grievously rebelled ; against God and his word; her sins were greatly aggravated, and these lay heavy on her mind and conscience, and greatly distressed her:
abroad the sword bereaveth ; this, and what follows in the next clause, describe the state and condition of the Jews, while the city was besieged; without it, the sword of the Chaldeans bereaved mothers of their children, and children of their parents, and left them desolate:
at home there is as death ; within the city, and in the houses of it, the famine raged, which was as death, and worse than immediate death; it was a lingering one: or, "in the house was certain death" F13 בבית כמות "in domo mors ipsa", Munster; "plane mors"; Junius & Tremellius. ; for the "caph" here is not a mere note of similitude, but of certainty and reality; to abide at home was sure and certain death, nothing else could be expected. The Targum is
"within the famine kills like the destroying angel that is appointed over death;'
see Hebrews 2:14 ; and Jarchi interprets it of the fear of demons and noxious spirits, and the angels of death.
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