14 The elders have ceased from the gate, The young men from their music.
Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.
Judges and officers shall you make you in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
When I went forth to the city gate, When I prepared my seat in the street, The young men saw me and hid themselves, The aged rose up and stood; The princes refrained from talking, And laid their hand on their mouth; The voice of the nobles was hushed, And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; And when the eye saw me, it commended me: Because I delivered the poor who cried, And the fatherless also, who had none to help him. The blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, And feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I didn't know, I searched out. I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, And plucked the prey out of his teeth.
"But now those who are younger than I, have me in derision, Whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
The new wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted do sigh. The mirth of tambourines ceases, the noise of those who rejoice ends, the joy of the harp ceases. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to those who drink it. The waste city is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying in the streets because of the wine; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
For thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; All her gates are desolate, her priests do sigh: Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.
I called for my lovers, [but] they deceived me: My priests and my elders gave up the spirit in the city, While they sought them food to refresh their souls.
I will cause the noise of your songs to cease; and the sound of your harps shall be no more heard.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Lamentations 5
Commentary on Lamentations 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
This chapter, though it has the same number of verses with the 1st, 2nd, and 4th, is not alphabetical, as they were, but the scope of it is the same with that of all the foregoing elegies. We have in it,
Some ancient versions call this chapter, "The Prayer of Jeremiah.'
Lam 5:1-16
Is any afflicted? let him pray; and let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God, and make known before him his trouble. The people of God do so here; being overwhelmed with grief, they give vent to their sorrows at the footstool of the throne of grace, and so give themselves ease. They complain not of evils feared, but of evils felt: "Remember what has come upon us, v. 1. What was of old threatened against us, and was long in the coming, has now at length come upon us, and we are ready to sink under it. Remember what is past, consider and behold what is present, and let not all the trouble we are in seem little to thee, and not worth taking notice of,' Neh. 9:32. Note, As it is a great comfort to us, so it ought to be a sufficient one, in our troubles, that God sees, and considers, and remembers, all that has come upon us; and in our prayers we need only to recommend our case to his gracious and compassionate consideration. The one word in which all their grievances are summer up is reproach: Consider, and behold our reproach. The troubles they were in compared with their former dignity and plenty, were a greater reproach to them than they would have been to any other people, especially considering their relation to God and dependence upon him, and his former appearances for them; and therefore this they complain of very sensibly, because, as it was a reproach, it reflected upon the name and honour of that God who had owned them for his people. And what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
Lam 5:17-22
Here,