Lamentations 2:1-10
A DESCRIPTION OF JEHOVAH'S JUDGMENT... [ Continue Reading ]
A DESCRIPTION OF JEHOVAH'S JUDGMENT... [ Continue Reading ]
How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion, His own city, formerly the seat of His Church, WITH A CLOUD IN HIS ANGER, with the chilly darkness of ignominy and shame, AND CAST DOWN FROM HEAVEN UNTO THE EARTH THE BEAUTY OF ISRAEL, the glory of the capital itself, chosen by God, as it had been, for... [ Continue Reading ]
The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, the entire country being included in the ruin, AND HATH NOT PITIED, carrying out His judgment with merciless severity; HE HATH THROWN DOWN IN HIS WRATH THE STRONGHOLDS OF THE DAUGHTER OF JUDAH, the fortified places sharing the fate of the haml... [ Continue Reading ]
He hath cut off in His fierce anger all the horn of Israel, symbol of strength and majesty, breaking it in the heat of His indignation; HE HATH DRAWN BACK HIS RIGHT HAND FROM BEFORE THE ENEMY, withdrawing His assistance from His people and thus delivering them into the power of the invaders, AND HE... [ Continue Reading ]
He hath bent His bow like an enemy, attacking them with a deadly weapon; HE STOOD WITH HIS RIGHT HAND AS AN ADVERSARY, wielding a ruthless sword, AND SLEW ALL THAT WERE PLEASANT TO THE EYE, all that charmed and delighted the eye, both in children and in goods, IN THE TABERNACLE OF THE DAUGHTER OF ZI... [ Continue Reading ]
The Lord was as an enemy; He hath swallowed up Israel, or, "The Lord became as a hero He hath destroyed"; HE HATH SWALLOWED UP ALL HER PALACES, the fine dwellings of the rich and mighty; HE HATH DESTROYED HIS STRONGHOLDS, all the fortified places throughout the country, AND HATH INCREASED IN THE DAU... [ Continue Reading ]
And He hath violently taken away His Tabernacle as if it were of a garden, the Temple being subjected to ruin like a garden which the owner converts into some other kind of plot if it no longer suits his purposes; HE HATH DESTROYED HIS PLACES OF THE ASSEMBLY, where He met with His people in the comm... [ Continue Reading ]
The Lord hath cast off His altar, rejecting it with disdain, chiefly on account of the hypocritical worship connected with it; HE HATH ABHORRED HIS SANCTUARY, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, the center of the Jewish cultus; HE HATH GIVEN UP INTO THE HAND OF THE ENEMY THE WALLS OF HER PALACES,... [ Continue Reading ]
The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion, the destruction of Jerusalem setting into execution the judgment of God, 2 Kings 25:10; HE HATH STRETCHED OUT A LINE, in taking measures to level the city in unsparing rigidity of punishment; HE HATH NOT WITHDRAWN HIS HAND FROM DEST... [ Continue Reading ]
Her gates are sunk into the ground, buried under a mass of rubbish and earth, which the destruction of the city has scattered over them; HE HATH DESTROYED AND BROKEN HER BARS, with which the gates were bolted against the attack of the enemies. HER KING AND HER PRINCES ARE AMONG THE GENTILES, in sham... [ Continue Reading ]
The elders of the daughter of Zion, the leaders of the Jewish Church, SIT UPON THE GROUND AND KEEP SILENCE, they have no counsel to give, chiefly because they are dumb with grief; THEY HAVE CAST UP DUST UPON THEIR HEADS, THEY HAVE GIRDED THEMSELVES WITH SACKCLOTH, in token of the greatness of their... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VANITY OF HUMAN CONSOLATION TOGETHER WITH A PLEA FOR HELP... [ Continue Reading ]
Mine eyes do fail with tears, being spent, worn out, with weeping, MY BOWELS ARE TROUBLED, his heart being most deeply affected, MY LIVER IS POURED UPON THE EARTH, THAT IS, since the liver was considered the seat of the passions, all my feelings are dissolved with pain, FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE DA... [ Continue Reading ]
They say to their mothers, as they are tortured with the pangs of hunger, WHERE IS CORN AND WINE? anything to eat, when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, faint with weakness for lack of food, WHEN THEIR SOUL WAS POURED OUT INTO THEIR MOTHERS' BOSOM, breathing out their lives wh... [ Continue Reading ]
What thing shall I take to witness for thee? to bring some measure of comfort from the experience of others. WHAT THING SHALL I LIKEN TO THEE, O DAUGHTER OF JERUSALEM? in making some comparison which would tend to arouse her drooping spirits. WHAT SHALL I EQUAL TO THEE THAT I MAY COMFORT THEE, O VIR... [ Continue Reading ]
Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee, namely, the false prophets, to whom the people of Jerusalem listened, much against Jeremiah's advice; AND THEY HAVE NOT DISCOVERED THINE INIQUITY, pointing out the real cause of all this misery, TO TURN AWAY THY CAPTIVITY, namely, by leading t... [ Continue Reading ]
All that pass by clap their hands at thee, in scorn and mockery; THEY HISS AND WAG THEIR HEAD AT THE DAUGHTER OF JERUSALEM, SAYING, in expressing the derision which they felt, IS THIS THE CITY THAT MEN CALL THE PERFECTION OF BEAUTY, THE JOY OF THE WHOLE EARTH? It is a question of scornful wonderment... [ Continue Reading ]
All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee, in a gesture of mockery and derision; THEY HISS AND GNASH THE TEETH, as an expression of satisfied rage, of vindictive malice. THEY SAY, WE HAVE SWALLOWED HER UP, thus effecting a complete destruction; CERTAINLY THIS IS THE DAY THAT WE LOOKED F... [ Continue Reading ]
The Lord hath done that which He had devised, what He had resolved upon; HE HATH FULFILLED HIS WORD THAT HE HAD COMMANDED IN THE DAYS OF OLD, for the holiness of the Lord demands the punishment of every act of rebellion against His holy Law; HE HATH THROWN DOWN AND HATH NOT PITIED, carrying out His... [ Continue Reading ]
Their heart, that of the Jews suffering such great afflictions, CRIED UNTO THE LORD, even while they addressed the fortifications of their city, O WALL OF THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, the city with all its inhabitants, LET TEARS RUN DOWN LIKE A RIVER DAY AND NIGHT, in the intensity of grief over the presen... [ Continue Reading ]
Arise, cry out in the night, throughout all the watches of the night; IN THE BEGINNING OF THE WATCHES, with the desire and strength for weeping renewed again and again, POUR OUT THINE HEART LIKE WATER BEFORE THE FACE OF THE LORD, the very heart dissolving in tears, as it were, in the excess of the s... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom Thou hast done this, so the prayer of the city's inhabitants now arises. SHALL THE WOMEN EAT THEIR FRUIT, AND CHILDREN OF A SPAN LONG? in revolting cannibalism caused by excessive hunger. Cf Leviticus 26:29; ' Deuteronomy 28:53; Jeremiah 19:9. SHALL THE PRIEST AN... [ Continue Reading ]
The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets, being slaughtered without mercy; MY VIRGINS AND MY YOUNG MEN ARE FALLEN BY THE SWORD, neither age nor sex being spared. THOU HAST SLAIN THEM IN THE DAY OF THINE ANGER; THOU HAST KILLED AND NOT PITIED.... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou hast called as in a solemn day, as for a festival prepared for the enemies, MY TERRORS ROUND ABOUT, from every direction, so that Jerusalem was surrounded by them, SO THAT IN THE DAY OF THE LORD'S ANGER NONE ESCAPED NOR REMAINED, all being involved in the common ruin; THOSE THAT I HAVE SWADDLED... [ Continue Reading ]