_How doth the city sit solitary_ The short history of the desolations
of the Jewish nation, contained in the fifty-second chapter of
Jeremiah, formerly stood as a preface to the Lamentations; but,
instead of it, the Greek and Latin copies have a short introduction,
which may be thus translated: “And... [ Continue Reading ]
_She weepeth sore in the night_ In the Hebrew, according to the idiom
of that language, it is, _Weeping she weepeth_, which our old English
version renders, _She weepeth continually._ The expression, _in the
night_, is interpreted by some to signify her condition was so unhappy
that, though oppresse... [ Continue Reading ]
_Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction_, &c. Her miseries
have received their finishing stroke in a total captivity among, and
bondage to, heathen and infidels, because of the oppression exercised
by her rulers and others, and the servitude to which they obliged
their subjects and infer... [ Continue Reading ]
_The ways of Zion do mourn_ The highways leading to Zion, which used
to be thronged with people going to the solemn feasts before the Lord,
now, as it were, mourned on account of no persons travelling in them
for that purpose. _All her gates are desolate_ The gates of Jerusalem,
or of the temple: fe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jerusalem remembered in her affliction and misery._ The word
מרודים, here rendered _misery_, frequently signifies
_banishment_ and _captivity._ The LXX. render it απωσμων,
_rejections_, or _expulsions; all her pleasant things_ All her former
riches and glory, and the various benefits she enjoyed fr... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jerusalem hath grievously sinned_ Hebrew, חשׂא חשׂאה, _in
sinning hath sinned_, or _hath sinned sin:_ that is, sinned wilfully
and deliberately; hath sinned that sin which of all others is the
abominable thing which the Lord hates, the sin of idolatry. The sins
of Jerusalem, which makes such a prof... [ Continue Reading ]
_The adversary hath_ Or rather, _did, spread his hand upon all her
pleasant things_ Hebrew, מחמדיה, _her desirable things_, namely,
her riches, and what else she most desired to preserve. _She hath seen
the heathen entered into her sanctuary_, &c. She saw heathen nations,
whom thou hadst forbidden e... [ Continue Reading ]
_Is it nothing to you?_ &c. The Vulgate reads this clause without an
interrogation, thus: _O vos omnes qui transitis per viam attendite,
videte_, &c. _O all ye, who pass by the way, observe, see_, &c. Lowth
also and Blaney prefer reading it in a similar way; the former thus:
_O all ye that pass by;_... [ Continue Reading ]
_From above hath he sent fire into my bones_ Calamities as consuming
and as afflictive as fire in the bones. _He hath spread a net for my
feet_ Hath brought me into a most miserable condition, in which I am
so entangled that I cannot extricate myself nor escape from it. Thus
the prophet teaches Jeru... [ Continue Reading ]
_Zion spreadeth forth her hands_ She extendeth her hands as a
suppliant praying for relief and consolation. _And there is none to
comfort her_ None who can, or are even inclined to do it. _The Lord
hath commanded_, &c. That is, it came to pass by God's command, that
the surrounding nations were the... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled_, &c. He does me no wrong
in dealing thus with me, nor can I charge him with any injustice.
Observe, reader, whatever the troubles are which God is pleased to
inflict upon us, we must own that in them he is righteous: we neither
know him nor ourselves, if... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress_ Take cognizance of my case, and
use such means for my relief as thou pleasest. It is a matter of
comfort to us, that the troubles which oppress our spirits are
perfectly known to God, and that his eye is continually upon them.
_Abroad the sword bereaveth, at ho... [ Continue Reading ]
_They have heard that I sigh_ The nations contiguous to me, Egypt and
others, that before pretended to be my friends and allies, have been
no strangers to my bitter afflictions, which have forced sighs from
me; _but there is none to comfort me_ None of them can or will relieve
my distress, but aband... [ Continue Reading ]