Lamentations 3:48-54

IV. HIS PERSONAL SUFFERING Lamentations 3:48-54

TRANSLATION

(48) With streams of water my eyes flow because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. (49) My eyes flow without ceasing, without any pause. (50) Until the LORD sees and looks down from. (51) My eyes afflict my soul because of all the daughters of my city. (52) Those who had no reason to be my enemies have hunted me down like a bird. (53) They have cut off my life in the pit and have cast a stone on me. (54) Waters flowed over my head. I said, I am cut off.

COMMENTS

As the weeping prophet contemplates the judgment which has befallen his people he bursts into tears anew (Lamentations 3:48). Without a moment's pause he continues his sorrowful intercession (Lamentations 3:49). He is determined to pray until the Lord looks in tender compassion upon the affliction of His people (Lamentations 3:50). The poet continues to be disturbed by the sight of the shameful defilement of the young maidens of Jerusalem (Lamentations 3:51).

A problem arises with regard to the interpretation of Lamentations 3:52-54. Many commentators feel that Jeremiah speaks here as a representative of the people of Judah and that he here is describing in figurative terms the experience of the nation. Others feel that Jeremiah is alluding here to his own experiences in the empty cistern before the fall of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 38:6-13) or to some more recent similar experience. If allowance is made for poetic imagery there is no reason why Lamentations 3:52-54 could not refer to the actual experience of the prophet. Without justification the national leaders considered Jeremiah as a traitor to his nation. They hunted him down like a fowler hunts his prey (Lamentations 3:52). They planned to get rid of the prophetic pest permanently by casting him into a dungeon and then covering the mouth of that pit with a stone (Lamentations 3:53). Jeremiah sank into the mire of that empty cistern and the waters of death, as it were, flowed over his head. In the midst of his despair he cried out unto the Lord: I am cut off i.e., I am as good as dead (Lamentations 3:54).