Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. Ver. 1. _Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us._] This last chapter is a brief recapitulation _a_ of what had been said in the four former, that they might be the better remembered and considered by the reader. The ancient... [ Continue Reading ]
Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. Ver. 2. _Our inheritance is turned to strangers._] So the Jews called all other nations, as the Greeks, barbarians. From hence to Lam 5:19 there are so many verses, so many different complaints. While we are in this "vale of misery and v... [ Continue Reading ]
We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers [are] as widows. Ver. 3. _We are orphans and fatherless._] And so are become thy clients, just objects of thy pity. Hos 14:3... [ Continue Reading ]
We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. Ver. 4. _We have drunk our water for money._] Fire, water, and air are common good, _quae iure naturae sunt omnium et singulorum,_ saith Cicero. _a_ Lysimachus paid dear for a cup of water when he parted with his kingdom for it. Dives w... [ Continue Reading ]
Our necks [are] under persecution: we labour, [and] have no rest. Ver. 5. _Our necks are under persecution._] For that we would not stoop to the sweet yoke of thine obedience, but held it heavy, now, we are under an intolerable yoke of extreme slavery. _ We labour, and have no rest._] Who once trou... [ Continue Reading ]
We have given the hand [to] the Egyptians, [and to] the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. Ver. 6. _We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians._] Enemies to the Chaldeans, no less than they were to us; but hard hunger, that driveth the wolf out of the wood, hath made us glad... [ Continue Reading ]
Our fathers have sinned, [and are] not; and we have borne their iniquities. Ver. 7. _Our fathers have sinned, and are not._] They had their payment, but not comparable to ours, who have outsinned them, and do therefore justly bear the punishment of both their sins and our own too. _Nobis foret iucu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Servants have ruled over us: [there is] none that doth deliver [us] out of their hand._ Ver. 8. _Servants have ruled over us._] And they are usually most insolent, as was Tobiah the servant. Neh 2:19 Cicero, after the defeat given to! Pompey, complaineth in a certain epistle, Lords we could not aw... [ Continue Reading ]
We gat our bread with [the peril of] our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. Ver. 9. _We gat our bread with the peril of our lives._] So did our good ancestors the bread of life, while their preachers also were glad to do as Jotham did, Jdg 9:21 when they had delivered what they had to sa... [ Continue Reading ]
Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. Ver. 10. _Our skin was black like an oven._] Or, As a chimney, Isa 31:9 being still beaten upon with the fire that is within it, _ Because of the terrible famine._] _Propter procellas famis,_ because of the tempests of famine, which,... [ Continue Reading ]
They ravished the women in Zion, [and] the maids in the cities of Judah. Ver. 11. _They ravished the women in Zion._] Heb., They humbled, _i.e., _ they dishonested: although _Virgo invita vexari quidem potest, violari non potest._ The Chaldee paraphraseth thus, The wives were ravished by the Romans... [ Continue Reading ]
Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured. Ver. 12. _Princes are hanged up by the hand._] Made to die a dog's death, and, as some _a_ will have it, by their own hands, αυτοχειρες . _ The faces of the elders were not honoured._] “ _Magna fuit quondam capitis revere... [ Continue Reading ]
They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood. Ver. 13. _They took the young men to grind,_] _i.e., _ To do any base and abject business. Exodus 11:5 _; _ Exo 12:29 _Frustra enim hic Hieronymus et alii Sodomiticum quid cogitant._ And the children fell under the wood.] Bein... [ Continue Reading ]
The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick. Ver. 14. _The elders have ceased from the gate._] Where they were wont to sit, Gen 34:20 to judge between party and party. _ The young men from their music._] From their ordinary and honest recreations and disports.... [ Continue Reading ]
The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. Ver. 15. _The joy of our heart is ceased._] Heb., Keepeth Sabbath, _i.e., _ is vanished, and that because we made not God's Sabbath our delight. _as _ Isa 58:13... [ Continue Reading ]
The crown is fallen [from] our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! Ver. 16. _The crown is fallen from our head,_] _i.e., _ All our glory, both of Church and State, because we refused to serve God, which indeed is to "reign in righteousness." Now neither is all this, nor any of this, spoken to e... [ Continue Reading ]
For this our heart is faint; for these [things] our eyes are dim. Ver. 17. _For this our heart is faint._] _Ponit symbolum vere contritionis,_ we are sin sick even at heart; our sins are as so many daggers at our hearts, or bearded arrows in our flesh. _ For these things our eyes are dim._] We hav... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it._ Ver. 18. _Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate,_] _q.d., _ Next unto our sins (which are our greatest sorrow), nothing troubleth us more than this, that the public exercises of piety are put down; Zion, the... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. Ver. 19. _Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever._] _Alioqui totus totus desperassem,_ as that good man said once in like ease, Otherwise I should have but small joy of my life. But thou art everlasting, and invariable in essence... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, [and] forsake us so long time? Ver. 20. _Wherefore dost thou forget us?_] Since thy covenant runs otherwise. 2Sa 7:14 Lam 5:1 _ And forsakest us so long time?_] Heb., To length of days. _as _ Psa 23:6 Not for seventy years only, but to the end of the world;... [ Continue Reading ]
Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. Ver. 21. _Turn thou us unto thee._] That thou mayest turn thee to us. _as _ Zec 1:3 Let there be a thorough reformation wrought in us, and then a gracious restoration wrought for us.... [ Continue Reading ]
But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us. Ver. 22. _But thou hast utterly rejected us._] This is a sad catastrophe, or close of this doleful ditty, _a_ Sometimes God's suppliants are put hard to it in the course of their prayers; the last grain of their faith and patience s... [ Continue Reading ]