4 We have drunken H8354 our water H4325 for money; H3701 our wood H6086 is sold H935 H4242 unto us.
For, behold, the Lord, H113 the LORD H3068 of hosts, H6635 doth take away H5493 from Jerusalem H3389 and from Judah H3063 the stay H4937 and the staff, H4938 the whole stay H4937 of bread, H3899 and the whole H3605 stay H4937 of water, H4325
Therefore shalt thou serve H5647 thine enemies H341 which the LORD H3068 shall send H7971 against thee, in hunger, H7458 and in thirst, H6772 and in nakedness, H5903 and in want H2640 of all things: and he shall put H5414 a yoke H5923 of iron H1270 upon thy neck, H6677 until he have destroyed H8045 thee.
Take H3947 thou also unto thee wheat, H2406 and barley, H8184 and beans, H6321 and lentiles, H5742 and millet, H1764 and fitches, H3698 and put H5414 them in one H259 vessel, H3627 and make H6213 thee bread H3899 thereof, according to the number H4557 of the days H3117 that thou shalt lie H7901 upon thy side, H6654 three H7969 hundred H3967 and ninety H8673 days H3117 shalt thou eat H398 thereof. And thy meat H3978 which thou shalt eat H398 shall be by weight, H4946 twenty H6242 shekels H8255 a day: H3117 from time H6256 to time H6256 shalt thou eat H398 it. Thou shalt drink H8354 also water H4325 by measure, H4884 the sixth part H8345 of an hin: H1969 from time H6256 to time H6256 shalt thou drink. H8354 And thou shalt eat H398 it as barley H8184 cakes, H5692 and thou shalt bake H5746 it with dung H1561 that cometh out H6627 of man, H120 in their sight. H5869 And the LORD H3068 said, H559 Even thus shall the children H1121 of Israel H3478 eat H398 their defiled H2931 bread H3899 among the Gentiles, H1471 whither I will drive H5080 them. Then said H559 I, Ah H162 Lord H136 GOD! H3069 behold, my soul H5315 hath not been polluted: H2930 for from my youth H5271 up even till now have I not eaten H398 of that which dieth of itself, H5038 or is torn in pieces; H2966 neither came H935 there abominable H6292 flesh H1320 into my mouth. H6310 Then he said H559 unto me, Lo, H7200 I have given H5414 thee cow's H1241 dung H6832 H6832 for man's H120 dung, H1561 and thou shalt prepare H6213 thy bread H3899 therewith. Moreover he said H559 unto me, Son H1121 of man, H120 behold, I will break H7665 the staff H4294 of bread H3899 in Jerusalem: H3389 and they shall eat H398 bread H3899 by weight, H4948 and with care; H1674 and they shall drink H8354 water H4325 by measure, H4884 and with astonishment: H8078 That they may want H2637 bread H3899 and water, H4325 and be astonied H8074 one H376 with another, H251 and consume away H4743 for their iniquity. H5771
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].