1I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
3Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.
4He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
5He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
7He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
8Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
10He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
11He has turned away my ways, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate.
12He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
14I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long.
15He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood.
16He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes.
17You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity.
18I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from Yahweh.”
19Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness.
20My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.
21This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope.
22It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail.
23They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
24“Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
25Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.
27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.
29Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope.
30Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.
31For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
33For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
Drawn from the public-domain commentaries and Spurgeon sermons that cover this exact passage · ~889 words.
Matthew Henry. He has also (Lam 3:9) enclosed my ways with hewn stone, not only hedged up my way with thorns (Hos 2:6), but stopped it up with a stone wall, which cannot be broken through, so that my paths are made crooked; I traverse to and fro, to the right hand, to the left, to try to get forward, but am still turned back." It is just with God to make those who walk in the crooked paths of sin, crossing God's laws, walk in the crooked paths of affliction, crossing their designs and breaking their measures. God had said once (Hos 5:14), I will be as a lion to the house of Judah, and now he has made his word good (Lam 3:10): "He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, surprising me with his judgments, and as a lion in secret places; so that which way soever I went I was in continual fear of being set upon and could never think myself safe." Do men shoot at those thy are enemies to? Those that do so will find it good for them (Lam 3:26): It is good (it is our duty, and will be our unspeakable comfort and satisfaction) to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord, to hope that it will come, thought eh difficulties that lie in the way of it seem insupportable, to wait till it does come, though it be long delayed, and while we wait to be quiet and silent, not quarrelling with God nor making ourselves uneasy, but acquiescing in the divine disposals. Our Lord Jesus has left us an example of this, for he gave his back to the smiter, Isa 50:6. he who can bear contempt and reproach, and not render railing for railing, and bitterness for bitterness, who, when he is filled full with reproach, keeps it to himself, and does not retort it and empty it again upon those who filled him with it, but pours it out before the Lord (as those did, Psa 123:4, whose souls were exceedingly filled with the contempt of the proud), he shall find that it is good to bear the yoke, that it shall turn to his spiritual advantage. That afflictions are really good for us, and, if we bear them aright, will work very much for our good. it is not only good to hope and wait for the salvation, but it is good to be under the trouble in the mean time (Lam 3:27): It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
Jamieson–Fausset–Brown. set me--HENDERSON refers this to the custom of placing the dead in a sitting posture. dark places--sepulchers. turned aside--made me wander out of the right way, so as to become a prey to wild beasts. pulled in pieces-- (Hos 6:1), as a "bear" or a "lion" (Lam 3:10). As often as my soul calls them to remembrance, it is humbled or bowed down in me. quietly wait--literally, "be in silence." Compare Lam 3:28 and Psa 39:2, Psa 39:9, that is, to be patiently quiet under afflictions, resting in the will of God (Psa 37:7). The mouth in the dust is the attitude of suppliant and humble submission to God's dealings as righteous and loving in design (compare Ezr 9:6; Co1 14:25). if so be there may be hope--This does not express doubt as to whether GOD be willing to receive the penitent, but the penitent's doubt as to himself; he whispers to himself this consolation, "Perhaps there may be hope for me."
John Calvin. It would have been better had each verse contained a letter, for the length of this chapter is the same with the two foregoing; the only difference is, that the lines, or alternate lines, begin with the same letter three times, as follows, -- ' I am the man who hath seen affliction, Through the rod of his indignation; ' Me hath he led and caused to walk In darkness, and not in light; ' Surely against me he turns, Upset me does his hand all the day. Let us, then, bear in mind, theft though God may not help us soon, yet our prayers are never repudiated by him; and since we see that the holy fathers experienced the same thing, let us not wonder, if the Lord at this day were to try our faith in the same manner. Though, then, it does not seem that it was said in due honor, that God did lie in wait as bears for travelers, or as lions in their dens; yet, if we consider how much the faithful dreaded the tokens of God's wrath, we shall not wonder at this excess. But the best way of comfort is, when we do not flatter ourselves in our bitterness and grief, but seek the purifying of our souls, and in a manner lay them open, so that whatever bitter thing may be there, God may take it away and so feed us, as it is said elsewhere, with the sweetness of his goodness. A dead body might indeed lie on the ground without strength and motion, but it may still retain its own place; but when the soul is thus cast down, it is said to press down man, though lifeless, more and more.
Matthew Henry
chapter
The scope of this chapter is the same with that of the two foregoing chapters, but the composition is somewhat different; that was in long verse, this is in short, another kind of metre; that was in single alphabets, this is in a treble one. Here is, I. A sad complaint of God's displeasure and the fruits of it (v. 1-20). II. Words of comfort to God's people when they are in trouble and distress (v. 21-36). III. Duty prescribed in this afflicted state (Lam 3:37-41). IV. The complaint renewed (Lam 3:42-54). V. Encouragement taken to hope in God, and continue waiting for his salvation, with an appeal to his justice against the persecutors of the church (Lam 3:55-66). Some make all this to be spoken by the prophet himself when he was imprisoned and persecuted; but it seems rather to be spoken in the person of the church now in captivity and in a manner desolate, and in the desolations of which the prophet did in a particular manner interest himself. But the complaints here are somewhat more general than those in the foregoing chapter, being accommodated to the case as well of particular persons as of the public, and intended for the use of the closet rather than of the solemn assembly. Some think Jeremiah makes these complaints, not only as an intercessor for Israel, but as a type of Christ, who was thought by some to be Jeremiah the weeping prophet, because he was much in tears (Mat 16:14) and to him many of the passages here may be applied.
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1–20
The title of the 102nd Psalm might very fitly be prefixed to this chapter - The prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his complaint before the Lord; for it is very feelingly and fluently that the complaint is here poured out. Let us observe the particulars of it. The prophet complains, 1. That God is angry. This gives both birth and bitterness to the affliction (Lam 3:1): I am the man, the remarkable man, that has seen affliction, and has felt it sensibly, by the rod of his wrath. Note, God is sometimes angry with his own people; yet it is to be complained of, not as a sword to cut off, by only as a rod to correct; it is to them the rod of his wrath, a chastening which, though grievous for the present, will in the issue be advantageous. By this rod we must expect to see affliction, and, if we be made to see more than ordinary affliction by that rod, we must not quarrel, for we are sure that the anger is just and affliction mild and mixed with mercy. 2. That he is at a loss and altogether in the dark. Darkness is put for great trouble and perplexity, the want both of comfort and of direction; this was the case of the complainant (Lam 3:2): "He has led me by his providence, and an unaccountable chain of events, into darkness and not into light, the darkness I feared and not into the light I hoped for." And (Lam 3:6), He has set me in dark places, dark as the grave, like those that are dead of old, that are quite forgotten, nobody knows who or what they were. Note, The Israel of God, though children of light, sometimes walk in darkness. 3. That God appears against him as an enemy, as a professed enemy. God had been for him, but no "Surely against me is he turned (Lam 3:3), as far as I can discern; for his hand is turned against me all the day. I am chastened every morning," Psa 73:14. And, when God's hand is continually turned against us, we are tempted to think that his heart is turned against us too. God had said once (Hos 5:14), I will be as a lion to the house of Judah, and now he has made his word good (Lam 3:10): "He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, surprising me with his judgments, and as a lion in secret places; so that which way soever I went I was in continual fear of being set upon and could never think myself safe." Do men shoot at those thy are enemies to? He has bent his bow, the bow that was ordained against the church's prosecutors, that is bent against her sons, Lam 3:12. He has set me as a mark for his arrow, which he aims at, and will be sure to hit, and then the arrows of his quiver enter into my reins, give me a mortal wound, an inward wound, Lam 3:13. Note, God has many arrows in his quiver, and they fly swiftly and pierce deeply. 4. That he is as one sorely afflicted both in body and mind. The Jewish state may now be fitly compared to a man wrinkled with age, for which there is no remedy (Lam 3:4): "My flesh and my skin has he made old; they are wasted and withered, and I look like one that is ready to drop into the grave; nay, he has broken my bones, and so disabled me to help myself, Lam 3:15. He has filled me with bitterness, a bitter sense of his calamities." God has access to the spirit, and can so embitter that as thereby to embitter all the enjoyments; as, when the stomach is foul, whatever is eaten sours in it: "He has made me drunk with wormwood, so intoxicated me with the sense of my afflictions that I know not what to say or do. He has mingled gravel with my bread, so that my teeth are broken with it (Lam 3:16) and what I eat is neither pleasant nor nourishing. He has covered me with ashes, as mourners used to be, or (as some read it) he has fed me with ashes. I have eaten ashes like bread," Psa 102:9. 5. That he is not able to discern any way of escape or deliverance (Lam 3:5): "He has built against me, as forts and batteries are built against a besieged city. Where there was a way open it is now quite made up: He has compassed me on ever side with gall and travel; I…
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21–36
Here the clouds begin to disperse and the sky to clear up; the complaint was very melancholy in the former part of the chapter, and yet here the tune is altered and the mourners in Zion begin to look a little pleasant. But for hope, the heart would break. To save the heart from being quite broken, here is something called to mind, which gives ground for hope (Lam 3:21), which refers to what comes after, not to what goes before. I make to return to my heart (so the margin words it); what we have had in our hearts, and have laid to our hearts, is sometimes as if it were quite lost and forgotten, till God by his grace make it return to our hearts, that it may be ready to us when we have occasion to use it. "I recall it to mind; therefore have I hope, and am kept from downright despair." Let us see what these things are which he calls to mind.
I. That, bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy of God that they are not worse. We are afflicted by the rod of his wrath, but it is of the lord's mercies that we are not consumed, Lam 3:22. When we are in distress we should, for the encouragement of our faith and hope, observe what makes for us as well as what makes against us. Things are bad but they might have been worse, and therefore there is hope that they may be better. Observe here, 1. The streams of mercy acknowledged: We are not consumed. Note, The church of God is like Moses's bush, burning, yet not consumed; whatever hardships it has met with, or may meet with, it shall have a being in the world to the end of time. It is persecuted of men, but not forsaken of God, and therefore, though it is cast down, it is not destroyed (Co2 4:9), corrected, yet not consumed, refined in the furnace as silver, but not consumed as dross. 2. These streams followed up to the fountain: It is of the Lord's mercies. here are mercies in the plural number, denoting the abundance and variety of those mercies. God is an inexhaustible fountain of mercy, the Father of mercies. Note, We all owe it to the sparing mercy of God that we are not consumed. Others have been consumed round about us, and we ourselves have been in the consuming, and yet we are not consumed; we are out of the grave; we are out of hell. Had we been dealt with according to our sins, we should have been consumed long ago; but we have been dealt with according to God's mercies, and we are bound to acknowledge it to his praise.
II. That even in the depth of their affliction they still have experience of the tenderness of the divine pity and the truth of the divine promise. They had several times complained that God had not pitied (Lam 2:17, Lam 2:21), but here they correct themselves, and own, 1. That God's compassions fail not; they do not really fail, no, not even when in anger he seems to have shut up his tender mercies. These rivers of mercy run fully and constantly, but never run dry. No; they are new every morning; every morning we have fresh instances of God's compassion towards us; he visits us with them every morning (Job 7:18); every morning does he bring his judgment to light, Zep 3:5. When our comforts fail, yet God's compassions do not. 2. That great is his faithfulness. Though the covenant seemed to be broken, they owned that it still continued in full force; and, though Jerusalem be in ruins, the truth of the Lord endures for ever. Note, Whatever hard things we suffer, we must never entertain any hard thoughts of God, but must still be ready to own that he is both kind and faithful.
III. That God is, and ever will be, the all-sufficient happiness of his people, and they have chosen him and depend upon him to be such (Lam 3:24): The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; that is, 1. "When I have lost all I have in the world, liberty, and livelihood, and almost life itself, yet I have not lost my interest in God." Portions on earth are perishing things, but God is portion for ever. 2. "While I have an interest in God, therein I have enough; I have that which is sufficient to co…
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John Calvin
1
Lamentations 3:1
1. I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
1. Ego vir videns afflictionem in virga Indignationis ejus.
The word, vrh obere, properly means assault, passing over limits; but what is peculiar to man is often in Scripture ascribed to God. Here also he changes the person, for he spoke before of the people under the person of a woman, as it is often done; but now the Prophet himself comes before us. At the same time there is no doubt but that by his own example he exhorted all others to lamentation, which was to be connected with true repentance. And this chapter, as we shall see, is full of rich instruction, for it contains remarkable sentiments which we shall consider in their proper places.
Some think that this Lamentation was written by Jeremiah when he was cast into prison; but this opinion seems not probable to me; and the contents of the chapter sufficiently shew that this ode was composed to set forth the common calamity of the whole people. Jeremiah, then, does not here plead his own private cause, but shews to his own nation what remedy there was for them in such a state of despair, even to have an immediate recourse to God, and on the one hand to consider their sins, and on the other to look to the mercy of God, so that they might entertain hope, and exercise themselves in prayer. All these things we shall see in their due order.
The Prophet then says that he was an afflicted man, or a man who saw affliction. This mode of speaking, we know, is common in Scripture -- to see affliction -- to see good and evil -- to see life and death. He then says that he had experienced many afflictions, and not only so, but that he had been given up as it were to miseries, -- how? by the rod of his fury. He does not mention the name of God, but Jeremiah speaks of him as of one well known, using only a pronoun. Now, then, at the very beginning, he acknowledges that whatever he suffered had been inflicted by God's hand. And as all the godly ought to be convinced of this, that God is never angry without just reasons, there is included in the word wrath a brief confession, especially when it is added, by the rod, or staff. In short, the Prophet says that he was very miserable, and he also expresses the cause, for he had been severely chastised by an angry God.
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2
Lamentations 3:2
2. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
2. Me deduxit et proficisci fecit in tenebras, et non in lucem.
The letters of the alphabet are tripled in this chapter, which I had omitted to mention. In the first two chapters each verse begins with the successive letters of the alphabet, except that in the last chapter there is one instance of inversion, for Jeremiah has put ph, phi, before , oin; or it may be that the order has been changed by the scribes; but this is uncertain. Here then, as I have said, each letter is thrice repeated. Then the first, the second, and the third verse begins with ' aleph; and the fourth begins with v, beth, and so he goes on to the end. [174]
He confirms here the last verse, for lie shews the cause or the manner of his afflictions, for he had been led into darkness and not into light. This kind of contrast has not the same force in other languages as it has in Hebrew. But when the Hebrews said that they were in darkness and not in the light, they amplified that obscurity, as though they had said that there was not even a spark of light in that darkness, it being so thick and obscure. This is what the Prophet now means. And we know what is everywhere understood in Scripture by darkness, even every kind of Lamentation: for the appearance of light exhilarates us, yea, the serenity of heaven cheers and revives the minds of men. Then darkness signifies all sorts of adversities and the sorrow which proceeds from them. He afterwards adds, --
Footnotes:
[174] The verses in this chapter are needlessly multiplied. It would have been better had each verse contained a letter, for the length of this chapter is the same with the two foregoing; the only difference is, that the lines, or alternate lines, begin with the same letter three times, as follows, -- ' I am the man who hath seen affliction, Through the rod of his indignation; ' Me hath he led and caused to walk In darkness, and not in light; ' Surely against me he turns, Upset me does his hand all the day. The three next lines, or alternate lines, begin with v, and so on to the end of the alphabet -- Ed
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3
Lamentations 3:3
3. Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
3. Utique contra me vertetur, eonvertet marrum suam quotidie (vel, toro die, qtuanquam in duobus verbis videtur futurtum tempus debere resolvi in all prceteritutn, vel saltem Propheta actum continuum, designat, ut soepe fieri solet.)
Now he says that God was an adversary to him; for this is what the verb ysv, isheb, means, he is turned against me. As an enemy, when intending to fight, comes to meet one from the opposite side, so the Prophet says of God, who had become an enemy to him; and he teaches the same thing in another way when he says that he perceived that the hand of God was against him: He turns, he says, against me his hand daily, or all the day, kl-hyvm, cal-eium. But the Prophet simply means constancy, as though he had said that there was no truce, no cessation, because God manifested the rigor of his vengeance without limit or end. He afterwards adds, --
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4
Lamentations 3:4
4. My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
4. Senio confecit earnera meam (senescere fecit, ad verbum) et pelletn meam (vel, cutem;) confregit ossa mea.
These, as it evidently appears, are metaphorical words. Illness often makes people to look old, for from pain proceeds leanness: thus the skin is contracted, and the wrinkles of old age appear even in youths. As, then, sorrows exhaust moisture and strength, hence he is said to grow old who pines away in mourning. This is what the Prophet now means. God, he says, has made my flesh and my skin, to grow old, that is, he hath worn me out, within and without, so that I am almost wasted away.
He then adds, He hath broken my bones This seems to be hyperbolical; but we have said elsewhere that this simile does not in every instance express the greatness of the sorrow which the faithful feel under a sense of God's wrath. Both David and Hezekiah spoke in this way; nay, Hezekiah compares God to a lion,
"As a lion," he says, "has he broken my bones."
(Isaiah 38:13.)
And David says at one time that his bones wasted away, at another that they were broken, and at another that they were reduced to ashes; for there is nothing more dreadful than to feel that God is angry with us. The Prophet, then, did not only regard outward calamities, but the evidence of God's vengeance; for the people could see nothing else in their distresses except that God was their enemy -- and this was true; for God had often exhorted them to repentance; but upon those whom he had found incurable, he at length, as it was just, poured forth his vengeance to the uttermost. This, then, was the reason why the Prophet said, that God had broken his bones. He then adds, --
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5
Lamentations 3:5
5. He hath builded against me, and encompassed me with gall and travail.
5. ?dificavit contra me, et circumdedit felle et molestia.
The words, as translated, may seem harsh, yet they have no common beauty in Hebrew. The Prophet says he was blocked up and straitened as it were by walls; and as we shall see, he repeats this comparison three times; in other words, indeed, but for the same purpose.
God, he says, hath built against me, as, when we wish to besiege any one, we build mounds, so that there may be no escape. This, then, is the sort of building of which the Prophet now speaks: God, he says, holds me confined all around, so that there is no way of escape open to me.
He then gives a clearer explanation, that he was surrounded by gall [175] or poison and trouble. He mentions poison first, and then, without a figure, he shews what that poison was, even that he was afflicted with many troubles. He afterwards adds, --
Footnotes:
[175] The Sept., the Targ., and the Arab. render this "my head;" but the Vulg. and the Syr., "gall." It occurs again in Lamentations 2:19, and is rendered "gall" by the Targ. and all the versions. He was "surrounded with gall," with what was bitter to him, and "with faintness," with what made him to faint. Hence, in the next verse, he represents himself as being like the dead. -- Ed.
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6
Lamentations 3:6
6. He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
6. In tenebris jacere me fecit tanquam mortuos seculi.
Here he amplifies what he had before said of poison and trouble; he says that he was placed in darkness, not that he might be there for a little while, but remain there for a long time; he hath made me, he says, to dwell in darkness. But the comparison which follows more clearly explains the Prophet's meaning, as the dead of ages. The word vlm, oulam, may refer to future or past time. Some say, as the dead for ever, who are perpetually dead. But the Scripture elsewhere calls those the dead of ages who have been long buried, and have decayed, and whose memory has become nearly extinct. For as long as the dead body retains its form, it seems more like a living being; but when it is reduced to ashes, when no bone appears, when the whole skin and nerves and blood have perished, and no likeness to man remains, there can then be no hope of life. The Scripture then calls those the dead of ages, who have wholly decayed. So also in this place the Prophet says, that he dwelt in darkness, into which he had been cast by God's hand, and that he dwelt there as though he had been long dead, and his body had become now putrid.
This way of speaking appears indeed hyperbolical; but we must always remember what I have reminded you of, that it is not possible sufficiently to set forth the greatness of that sorrow which the faithful feel when terrified by the wrath of God. He then adds, --
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7
Lamentations 3:7
7. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
7 Sepsit me, ut non egrediar; aggravavit compedem meum.
Here he says, first, that he was held shut up; for gdr, gidar, is to enclose, and gdrh, gidare, means a fence or a mound, or an enclosure of any kind. He then says, that he was shut up as it were by a fence, so that he could not go forth; literally, it is, and I shall not go forth; but the conjunction here is to be taken as denoting the end. He has shut me up, he says, or he has enclosed me, that I might not get out.
It then follows, He hath made heavy my fetter. His meaning is, that he was not only bound with fetters, but so bound that he could not raise up his feet, as though he had said, that he not only had fetters, but that they were so heavy that he could not even move his feet.
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8
Lamentations 3:8
8. Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
8. Etiam si clamem et vociferer, clausit precationem meam (vel precatioi meae.)
The Prophet describes here the extremity of all evils, that it availed him nothing to cry and to pray. And yet we know that we are called to do this in all our miseries.
"The strongest tower is the name of the Lord, to it will the righteous flee and shall be safe." (Proverbs 18:10.)
Again,
"Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Joel 2:32.)
And Scripture is full of testimonies of this kind; that is, that God graciously invites all the faithful to himself:
"He shall call upon me, and I will hear him." (Psalm 91:15.)
"In the day when I call, answer me speedily."
(Psalm 102:2.)
"Before they call, I will answer." (Isaiah 65:24.)
In short, there is no need to collect all the passages; but we may be content with this one thing, that when God claims to himself this prerogative, that he answers prayers, he intimates that it is what cannot be separated from his eternal essence and godhead; that is, that he is ready to hear prayer. And hence the Psalmist concludes,
"To thee shall all flesh come." (Psalm 65:3.)
When, therefore, Jeremiah complains that his prayers were in vain, and without any fruit or effect., it seems strange and inconsistent. But we know that God holds the faithful in suspense, and so hears as to prove and try their patience, sometimes for a long time. This is the reason why he defers and delays his aid.
It is no wonder, then, that God did not hear the prayers of his servant, that is, according to the judgment of the flesh. For God never rejects his own, nor is he deaf to their prayers and their sighs; but the faithful often speak according to what the flesh judges. As, then, the Prophet found that he obtained nothing by prayer, he says that his prayer was shut out, or that the door was closed against him, so that his prayer did not come to God.
Now, this passage is worthy of special notice; for except God immediately meets us, we become languid, and not only our ardor in prayer is cooled but almost extinguished. Let us, then, bear in mind, theft though God may not help us soon, yet our prayers are never repudiated by him; and since we see that the holy fathers experienced the same thing, let us not wonder, if the Lord at this day were to try our faith in the same manner. Let us, therefore, persevere hi calling on Him; and should there be a longer delay, and our complaint be that we are not heard, yet let us proceed in the same course, as we shall see the Prophet did. It follows, --
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25 more notes on this passage are in the library.