14 The elders H2205 have ceased H7673 from the gate, H8179 the young men H970 from their musick. H5058
Then will I cause to cease H7673 from the cities H5892 of Judah, H3063 and from the streets H2351 of Jerusalem, H3389 the voice H6963 of mirth, H8342 and the voice H6963 of gladness, H8057 the voice H6963 of the bridegroom, H2860 and the voice H6963 of the bride: H3618 for the land H776 shall be desolate. H2723
Judges H8199 and officers H7860 shalt thou make H5414 thee in all thy gates, H8179 which the LORD H3068 thy God H430 giveth H5414 thee, throughout thy tribes: H7626 and they shall judge H8199 the people H5971 with just H6664 judgment. H4941
When I went out H3318 to the gate H8179 through the city, H7176 when I prepared H3559 my seat H4186 in the street! H7339 The young men H5288 saw H7200 me, and hid H2244 themselves: and the aged H3453 arose, H6965 and stood up. H5975 The princes H8269 refrained H6113 talking, H4405 and laid H7760 their hand H3709 on their mouth. H6310 The nobles H5057 held H2244 their peace, H6963 and their tongue H3956 cleaved H1692 to the roof of their mouth. H2441 When the ear H241 heard H8085 me, then it blessed H833 me; and when the eye H5869 saw H7200 me, it gave witness H5749 to me: Because I delivered H4422 the poor H6041 that cried, H7768 and the fatherless, H3490 and him that had none to help H5826 him. The blessing H1293 of him that was ready to perish H6 came H935 upon me: and I caused the widow's H490 heart H3820 to sing for joy. H7442 I put H3847 on righteousness, H6664 and it clothed H3847 me: my judgment H4941 was as a robe H4598 and a diadem. H6797 I was eyes H5869 to the blind, H5787 and feet H7272 was I to the lame. H6455 I was a father H1 to the poor: H34 and the cause H7379 which I knew H3045 not I searched out. H2713 And I brake H7665 the jaws H4973 of the wicked, H5767 and plucked H7993 the spoil H2964 out of his teeth. H8127
But now they that are younger H6810 H3117 than I have me in derision, H7832 whose fathers H1 I would have disdained H3988 to have set H7896 with the dogs H3611 of my flock. H6629
My harp H3658 also is turned to mourning, H60 and my organ H5748 into the voice H6963 of them that weep. H1058
The mighty man, H1368 and the man H376 of war, H4421 the judge, H8199 and the prophet, H5030 and the prudent, H7080 and the ancient, H2205 The captain H8269 of fifty, H2572 and the honourable H5375 man, H6440 and the counsellor, H3289 and the cunning H2450 artificer, H2791 and the eloquent H995 orator. H3908
The new wine H8492 mourneth, H56 the vine H1612 languisheth, H535 all the merryhearted H8056 H3820 do sigh. H584 The mirth H4885 of tabrets H8596 ceaseth, H7673 the noise H7588 of them that rejoice H5947 endeth, H2308 the joy H4885 of the harp H3658 ceaseth. H7673 They shall not drink H8354 wine H3196 with a song; H7892 strong drink H7941 shall be bitter H4843 to them that drink H8354 it. The city H7151 of confusion H8414 is broken down: H7665 every house H1004 is shut up, H5462 that no man may come in. H935 There is a crying H6682 for wine H3196 in the streets; H2351 all joy H8057 is darkened, H6150 the mirth H4885 of the land H776 is gone. H1540
For thus saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts, H6635 the God H430 of Israel; H3478 Behold, I will cause to cease H7673 out of this place H4725 in your eyes, H5869 and in your days, H3117 the voice H6963 of mirth, H8342 and the voice H6963 of gladness, H8057 the voice H6963 of the bridegroom, H2860 and the voice H6963 of the bride. H3618
The ways H1870 of Zion H6726 do mourn, H57 because none come H935 to the solemn feasts: H4150 all her gates H8179 are desolate: H8074 her priests H3548 sigh, H584 her virgins H1330 are afflicted, H3013 and she is in bitterness. H4843
I called H7121 for my lovers, H157 but they deceived H7411 me: my priests H3548 and mine elders H2205 gave up the ghost H1478 in the city, H5892 while they sought H1245 their meat H400 to relieve H7725 their souls. H5315
The elders H2205 of the daughter H1323 of Zion H6726 sit H3427 upon the ground, H776 and keep silence: H1826 they have cast up H5927 dust H6083 upon their heads; H7218 they have girded H2296 themselves with sackcloth: H8242 the virgins H1330 of Jerusalem H3389 hang down H3381 their heads H7218 to the ground. H776
And I will cause the noise H1995 of thy songs H7892 to cease; H7673 and the sound H6963 of thy harps H3658 shall be no more heard. H8085
And G2532 the voice G5456 of harpers, G2790 and G2532 musicians, G3451 and G2532 of pipers, G834 and G2532 trumpeters, G4538 shall be heard G191 no more G3364 at all G2089 in G1722 thee; G4671 and G2532 no G3364 G3956 craftsman, G5079 of whatsoever G3956 craft G5078 he be, shall be found G2147 any more G2089 in G1722 thee; G4671 and G2532 the sound G5456 of a millstone G3458 shall be heard G191 no more G3364 at all G2089 in G1722 thee; G4671
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Lamentations 5
Commentary on Lamentations 5 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 5
La 5:1-22. Epiphonema, or a Closing Recapitulation of the Calamities Treated in the Previous Elegies.
1. (Ps 89:50, 51).
2. Our inheritance—"Thine inheritance" (Ps 79:1). The land given of old to us by Thy gift.
3. fatherless—Our whole land is full of orphans [Calvin]. Or, "we are fatherless," being abandoned by Thee our "Father" (Jer 3:19), [Grotius].
4. water for money—The Jews were compelled to pay the enemy for the water of their own cisterns after the overthrow of Jerusalem; or rather, it refers to their sojourn in Babylon; they had to pay tax for access to the rivers and fountains. Thus, "our" means the water which we need, the commonest necessary of life.
our wood—In Judea each one could get wood without pay; in Babylon, "our wood," the wood we need, must be paid for.
5. Literally, "On our necks we are persecuted"; that is, Men tread on our necks (Ps 66:12; Isa 51:23; compare Jos 10:24). The extremest oppression. The foe not merely galled the Jews face, back, and sides, but their neck. A just retribution, as they had been stiff in neck against the yoke of God (2Ch 30:8, Margin; Ne 9:29; Isa 48:4).
6. given … hand to—in token of submission (see on Jer 50:15).
to … Egyptians—at the death of Josiah (2Ch 36:3, 4).
Assyrians—that is, the Chaldeans who occupied the empire which Assyria had held. So Jer 2:18.
to be satisfied with bread—(De 28:48).
7. (Jer 31:29).
borne their iniquities—that is, the punishment of them. The accumulated sins of our fathers from age to age, as well as our own, are visited on us. They say this as a plea why God should pity them (compare Eze 18:2, &c.).
8. Servants … ruled … us—Servants under the Chaldean governors ruled the Jews (Ne 5:15). Israel, once a "kingdom of priests" (Ex 19:6), is become like Canaan, "a servant of servants," according to the curse (Ge 9:25). The Chaldeans were designed to be "servants" of Shem, being descended from Ham (Ge 9:26). Now through the Jews' sin, their positions are reversed.
9. We gat our bread with … peril—that is, those of us left in the city after its capture by the Chaldeans.
because of … sword of … wilderness—because of the liability to attack by the robber Arabs of the wilderness, through which the Jews had to pass to get "bread" from Egypt (compare La 5:6).
10. As an oven is scorched with too much fire, so our skin with the hot blast of famine (Margin, rightly, "storms," like the hot simoom). Hunger dries up the pores so that the skin becomes like as if it were scorched by the sun (Job 30:30; Ps 119:83).
11. So in just retribution Babylon itself should fare in the end. Jerusalem shall for the last time suffer these woes before her final restoration (Zec 14:2).
12. hanged … by their hand—a piece of wanton cruelty invented by the Chaldeans. Grotius translates, "Princes were hung by the hand of the enemy"; hanging was a usual mode of execution (Ge 40:19).
elders—officials (La 4:16).
13. young men … grind—The work of the lowest female slave was laid on young men (Jud 16:21; Job 31:10).
children fell under … wood—Mere children had to bear burdens of wood so heavy that they sank beneath them.
14. Aged men in the East meet in the open space round the gate to decide judicial trials and to hold social converse (Job 29:7, 8).
16. The crown—all our glory, the kingdom and the priesthood (Job 19:9; Ps 89:39, 44).
17. (La 1:22; 2:11).
18. foxes—They frequent desolate places where they can freely and fearlessly roam.
19. (Ps 102:12). The perpetuity of God's rule over human affairs, however He may seem to let His people be oppressed for a time, is their ground of hope of restoration.
20. for ever—that is, for "so long a time."
21. (Ps 80:3; Jer 31:18). "Restore us to favor with Thee, and so we shall be restored to our old position" [Grotius]. Jeremiah is not speaking of spiritual conversion, but of that outward turning whereby God receives men into His fatherly favor, manifested in bestowing prosperity [Calvin]. Still, as Israel is a type of the Church, temporal goods typify spiritual blessings; and so the sinner may use this prayer for God to convert him.
22. Rather, "Unless haply Thou hast utterly rejected us, and art beyond measure wroth against us," that is, Unless Thou art implacable, which is impossible, hear our prayer [Calvin]. Or, as Margin, "For wouldest Thou utterly reject us?" &c.—No; that cannot be. The Jews, in this book, and in Isaiah and Malachi, to avoid the ill-omen of a mournful closing sentence, repeat the verse immediately preceding the last [Calvin].