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Lamentations 1

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Jerusalem's Solitary State 1–7

1
How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! She is become as a widow, that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the provinces is become tributary! ​
2
She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; Among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are become her enemies. ​
3
Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude; She dwelleth among the nations, she findeth no rest: All her persecutors overtook her within the straits. ​
4
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. ​
5
Her adversaries are become the head, her enemies prosper; For Jehovah hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: Her young children are gone into captivity before the adversary. ​
6
And from the daughter of Zion all her majesty is departed: Her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, And they are gone without strength before the pursuer. ​
7
Jerusalem remembereth in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that were from the days of old: When her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and none did help her, The adversaries saw her, they did mock at her desolations. ​

The Cause: Sin and Shame 8–11

8
Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is become as an unclean thing; All that honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: Yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward. ​
9
Her filthiness was in her skirts; she remembered not her latter end; Therefore is she come down wonderfully; she hath no comforter: Behold, O Jehovah, my affliction; for the enemy hath magnified himself. ​
10
The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: For she hath seen that the nations are entered into her sanctuary, Concerning whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thine assembly. ​
11
All her people sigh, they seek bread; They have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the soul: See, O Jehovah, and behold; for I am become abject. ​

Jerusalem Addresses the World 12–17

12
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is brought upon me, Wherewith Jehovah hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. ​
13
From on high hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them; He hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: He hath made me desolate and faint all the day. ​
14
The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand; They are knit together, they are come up upon my neck; he hath made my strength to fail: The Lord hath delivered me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand. ​
15
The Lord hath set at nought all my mighty men in the midst of me; He hath called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men: The Lord hath trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah. ​
16
For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water; Because the comforter that should refresh my soul is far from me: My children are desolate, because the enemy hath prevailed.
17
Zion spreadeth forth her hands; there is none to comfort her; Jehovah hath commanded concerning Jacob, that they that are round about him should be his adversaries: Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing. ​

Confession and Prayer for Justice 18–22

18
Jehovah is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and behold my sorrow: My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity. ​
19
I called for my lovers, butthey deceived me: My priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, While they sought them food to refresh their souls. ​
20
Behold, O Jehovah; for I am in distress; my heart is troubled; My heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: Abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death. ​
21
They have heard that I sigh; there is none to comfort me; All mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it: Thou wilt bring the day that thou hast proclaimed, and they shall be like unto me. ​
22
Let all their wickedness come before thee; And do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Lamentations 1

Verse 1

How doth the city sit solitary — The same 'How' opens chapters 2 and 4 (2:1; 4:1), and the cry is Isaiah's over the faithful city (Isa 1:21). 'Great among the nations' is the Jerusalem of Solomon, who 'reigned over all kingdoms from the river' (1 Kgs 4:21). 'Tributary' is mas, forced labour, the 'tribute of bondservice' (1 Kgs 9:21) that Solomon had laid on others.

Verse 2

among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her — 'Comfort' (nacham) is the chapter's refrain, in vv.2, 9, 16, 17 and 21. The 'lovers' are the nations she courted, of whom Jeremiah had said 'thy lovers shall go into captivity' (Jer 22:22). 'Dealt treacherously' is bagad, to break faith; Mic 7:5 gives the like counsel, 'Trust ye not in a friend'.

Verse 3

between the straits — 'Straits' is metsar, a tight place, found elsewhere only in Ps 116:3 and 118:5, 'I called upon the LORD in distress'. The scattering among the nations, with 'no rest', is the curse of Deut 28:64–65: 'among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest'.

Verse 4

none come to the solemn feasts — 'Solemn feasts' is mo'ed, the set times of Lev 23, for three of which 'all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD' (Ex 23:17). The 'ways' are the roads by which 'the tribes go up' (Ps 122:4). 'Afflicted' is yagah, the verb of vv.5 and 12 as well.

Verse 5

Her adversaries are the chief — 'Chief' is literally 'the head', the reversal of Deut 28:44, 'he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail'. The cause is named, 'the multitude of her transgressions' (pesha, a word repeated in vv.14 and 22). 'Afflicted' (yagah) is the LORD's act here, as in v.12.

Verse 6

harts that find no pasture — The princes flee like the 'hind' that 'calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass' (Jer 14:5). 'Pursuer' is radaph, the verb of 'persecutors' in v.3. The flight recalls that of Zedekiah's men, overtaken 'in the plains of Jericho' (Jer 52:7–8).

Verse 7

mock at her sabbaths — 'Sabbaths' is mishbat, found only here, and means a ceasing. The land's own sabbaths were foretold in Lev 26:34–35, 'Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate', and 2 Chr 36:21 says the exile fulfilled it. 'Pleasant things' are named again in vv.10 and 11.

Verse 8

she is removed — Nidah, 'removal', that is exile. Its near-sound niddah, 'a menstruous woman', is the word of v.17, so the two verses make one figure of a woman set apart. 'Nakedness' is the exposure of Jerusalem's shame in Ezek 16:36–37, where it is also what her lovers see.

Verse 9

she remembereth not her last end — 'Last end' is acharit, the word of Deut 32:29, 'O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!'. 'Filthiness' is tum'ah, religious uncleanness, in her 'skirts'. At mid-verse the voice turns from 'her' to 'my': 'O LORD, behold my affliction'.

Verse 10

the heathen entered into her sanctuary — The commandment was Deut 23:3, 'An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD'. 'Congregation' is qahal. Ps 79:1 describes the like: 'the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled'. The burning of the house is told in Jer 52:13.

Verse 11

they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul — The famine of the siege was 'sore in the city' (Jer 52:6). 'Relieve the soul' is literally 'bring back the soul' (shub, nephesh), the verb of 'restoreth my soul' in Ps 23:3. The same phrase returns in vv.16 and 19, each time for food or comfort that is gone.

Verse 12

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? — 'Sorrow' is mak'ob, pain, the word of 'a man of sorrows' (Isa 53:3). 'Done unto me' is 'olal, the verb that returns in v.22 as the request, 'do unto them, as thou hast done unto me'. Dan 9:12 says 'under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem'.

Verse 13

From above hath he sent fire into my bones — The fire is the LORD's, as Jeremiah knew it in himself, 'a burning fire shut up in my bones' (Jer 20:9). The 'net' (resheth) is the one spread over Zedekiah, 'I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare' (Ezek 17:20; 12:13), and 'turned me back' is the verb of retreat.

Verse 14

The yoke of my transgressions — Jeremiah had worn the yoke and named it, 'I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations' (Jer 28:14). Here it is bound (saqad, to fasten) by the LORD's hand and 'wreathed' (sarag, twisted together) 'upon my neck', made of the people's own sins. The 'strength' that fell is koach, as in v.6.

Verse 15

he hath called an assembly against me — 'Assembly' is mo'ed, the 'solemn feasts' of v.4: the LORD has called a feast of his own, against her. 'Mighty men' is abbir, as in Jer 46:15. The 'winepress' (gath) is the LORD's own, 'I have trodden the winepress alone' (Isa 63:3), here trodden on the virgin daughter of Judah.

Verse 17

Zion spreadeth forth her hands — The gesture of prayer (Isa 1:15, where the LORD hides his eyes from it). 'Menstruous woman' is niddah, the impurity of Lev 15:19, 'she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean'. Ezek 36:17 uses the same figure: 'as the uncleanness of a removed woman'.

Verse 18

The LORD is righteous — Tsaddiq, the confession of Dan 9:14, 'the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth'. 'Commandment' is literally 'mouth' (peh), what he spoke, and 'rebelled' (marah) is the verb of 1 Sam 12:15, 'rebel against the commandment of the LORD'. It returns, doubled, in v.20.

Verse 19

I called for my lovers, but they deceived me — 'Deceived' is ramah, to betray, the word of Jacob's complaint to Laban, 'wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?' (Gen 29:25). 'Gave up the ghost' is gava, to breathe out. The priests and elders died seeking food, the same 'meat to relieve their souls' as in v.11.

Verse 20

abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death — The curse of Deut 32:25, 'The sword without, and terror within', and Ezek 7:15, 'the sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within'. 'Bowels' (me'im) is the seat of feeling, as in 'My bowels, my bowels!' (Jer 4:19). 'Grievously rebelled' repeats marah from v.18.

Verse 21

the day that thou hast called — 'Called' is the verb of v.15, 'he hath called an assembly against me': the LORD who called a time against Zion is asked to call one against those who 'are glad that thou hast done it'. The day is the vengeance on Babylon, which Jeremiah promised (Jer 50:15, 28).

Verse 22

do unto them, as thou hast done unto me — 'Do' is 'olal, the verb of v.12, 'which is done unto me'. The request answers Jer 50:15, 'as she hath done, do unto her'. 'Faint' is davvay, sick, as in Jer 8:18, 'my heart is faint in me'. 'All my transgressions' (pesha) closes the chapter on the cause of vv.5 and 14.