Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

1. Jerusalem's Misery

¹ This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.How deserted lies the city,
   once so full of people!
How like a widow is she,
   who once was great among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
   has now become a slave.

    ² Bitterly she weeps at night,
   tears are on her cheeks.
Among all her lovers
   there is no one to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her;
   they have become her enemies.

    ³ After affliction and harsh labor,
   Judah has gone into exile.
She dwells among the nations;
   she finds no resting place.
All who pursue her have overtaken her
   in the midst of her distress.

    ⁴ The roads to Zion mourn,
   for no one comes to her appointed festivals.
All her gateways are desolate,
   her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
   and she is in bitter anguish.

    ⁵ Her foes have become her masters;
   her enemies are at ease.
The LORD has brought her grief
   because of her many sins.
Her children have gone into exile,
   captive before the foe.

    ⁶ All the splendor has departed
   from Daughter Zion.
Her princes are like deer
   that find no pasture;
in weakness they have fled
   before the pursuer.

    ⁷ In the days of her affliction and wandering
   Jerusalem remembers all the treasures
   that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into enemy hands,
   there was no one to help her.
Her enemies looked at her
   and laughed at her destruction.

    ⁸ Jerusalem has sinned greatly
   and so has become unclean.
All who honored her despise her,
   for they have all seen her naked;
she herself groans
   and turns away.

    ⁹ Her filthiness clung to her skirts;
   she did not consider her future.
Her fall was astounding;
   there was none to comfort her.
“Look, LORD, on my affliction,
   for the enemy has triumphed.”

    ¹⁰ The enemy laid hands
   on all her treasures;
she saw pagan nations
   enter her sanctuary—
those you had forbidden
   to enter your assembly.

    ¹¹ All her people groan
   as they search for bread;
they barter their treasures for food
   to keep themselves alive.
“Look, LORD, and consider,
   for I am despised.”

    ¹² “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
   Look around and see.
Is any suffering like my suffering
   that was inflicted on me,
that the LORD brought on me
   in the day of his fierce anger?

    ¹³ “From on high he sent fire,
   sent it down into my bones.
He spread a net for my feet
   and turned me back.
He made me desolate,
   faint all the day long.

    ¹⁴ “My sins have been bound into a yoke Most Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint He kept watch over my sins;
   by his hands they were woven together.
They have been hung on my neck,
   and the Lord has sapped my strength.
He has given me into the hands
   of those I cannot withstand.

    ¹⁵ “The Lord has rejected
   all the warriors in my midst;
he has summoned an army against me
   to Or has set a time for me / when he will crush my young men.
In his winepress the Lord has trampled
   Virgin Daughter Judah.

    ¹⁶ “This is why I weep
   and my eyes overflow with tears.
No one is near to comfort me,
   no one to restore my spirit.
My children are destitute
   because the enemy has prevailed.”

    ¹⁷ Zion stretches out her hands,
   but there is no one to comfort her.
The LORD has decreed for Jacob
   that his neighbors become his foes;
Jerusalem has become
   an unclean thing among them.

    ¹⁸ “The LORD is righteous,
   yet I rebelled against his command.
Listen, all you peoples;
   look on my suffering.
My young men and young women
   have gone into exile.

    ¹⁹ “I called to my allies
   but they betrayed me.
My priests and my elders
   perished in the city
while they searched for food
   to keep themselves alive.

    ²⁰ “See, LORD, how distressed I am!
   I am in torment within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,
   for I have been most rebellious.
Outside, the sword bereaves;
   inside, there is only death.

    ²¹ “People have heard my groaning,
   but there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my distress;
   they rejoice at what you have done.
May you bring the day you have announced
   so they may become like me.

    ²² “Let all their wickedness come before you;
   deal with them
as you have dealt with me
   because of all my sins.
My groans are many
   and my heart is faint.”

Here the people of God complain in the person of a woman, as we have before seen, that in their calamity they were left destitute of every comfort. And it is a circumstance which increases grief, when no one is present to shew any kindness to the miserable; for it is no small alleviation of sorrow, when friends offer their kind services, and as far as they can, endeavor to mitigate the severity of the evil.

The Church of God now says, that she was so forsaken by friends as to be left alone to pine away in her mourning and sorrow. There may, however, be here an allusion to shameful and impure connections; for by this term, friends, the Spirit often points out the Egyptians as well as others in whom the Israelites had foolishly trusted; for in this manner, we know, they had turned aside from conjugal fidelity. God had bound them to himself, that they might acquiesce in his favor alone; and so to acquiesce was their spiritual chastity. Rightly, then, does Scripture compare both the Egyptians and the Assyrians to harlots, whenever the Israelites sought aid from them. But as this explanation seems too refined, I am content to view what is said simply as a complaint., that the people of God, though looking in all directions, yet could find no comfort in the world. I cried, she said, to my friends; they deceived me.

It is then added, My priests and mine elders expired in the city. Had they been slain in battle, it would have been no wonder; for they who go against an enemy, go as it were to meet death. But God’s people here deplore a more grievous evil, that the priests died in the city, not through the enemies’ sword, but through famine, which is as it were the extreme of evils. It is then said, that the priests as well as the elders perished through famine, because they could not find food. And when it is said that they sought food to refresh the soul, there is a contrast to be understood between ordinary food and a remedy for the famine; for we naturally seek food whenever we feel hungry; but the Prophet refers here to something more than this, even that the priests and the elders sought food, because long abstinence urged them; and it was very sad, that the priests, who excelled in honor, and also the elders, were thus reduced to want. Had such a thing happened to the common people, it would not have been so wonderful; for the long siege of the city had consumed all their provisions. But when the priests, and those who had wealth, were thus oppressed with hunger, we may conclude that the want which the Prophet wished to describe was extreme. It follows, —