Chapter One

1–11. The prophet laments the calamitous state of Jerusalem. 12–19. Jerusalem itself joins in the prophet’s weeping. 20–22. The prophet again complains about the hopeless state of his people.

(Lam 1:1-11.) The state of Jerusalem awakens deep sorrow in the prophet’s heart. The city, once having a numerous population, now sits like a lonely widow. The city, once standing high above others as a prince, has become in the position of a handmaiden. Her disgrace and humiliation are so great that she does not cease to shed tears day and night. She has no friends who would help her. The days have passed when thousands of Jews rushed to the city for the great festivals. The streets are empty, at the gates no one is there. The priests sigh and the maidens are in sorrow. But Jerusalem herself is guilty of her own fall; the enemies triumphing over her are only blind instruments of God’s wrath, punishing the Jews for their transgressions. From ancient times Jerusalem had many good things, but this could not save her from sins. Now she feels even greater sorrow, remembering these benefits, which she has lost, in these days of humiliation. Therefore she complains of her fate before the Lord and asks Him for help.

Lamentations 1:1. How lonely the city sits, once so full of people! It has become like a widow; great among nations, a princess over the provinces, has become a tribute-bearer. Jerusalem is now alone, like a childless widow. Earlier, in the days of David and Solomon, she had high significance in the eyes of the peoples surrounding Judah — the Moabites, the Elamites, the Arabs, the Philistines, and others — and sometimes even became in the position of a prince over different regions of the heathen that the kings of Judah subdued. Now she has been reduced to the degree of a slave, obliged to serve her conquerors, to furnish them tribute, even if by various products of the fields (tribute in kind).

Lamentations 1:2. Bitterly she weeps at night, and tears are on her cheeks. She has no one to comfort her among all who loved her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies. The nations that apparently loved the Jews now showed their treachery and even began on their own to oppress the unfortunate Jews (cf. Ps 136:7; Jer 25:3).

Lamentations 1:3. Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells among the nations and finds no resting place; all her pursuers have overtaken her in the midst of her distress. “Judah has gone into exile” — more correctly: “Judah has been taken into captivity.” — “Because of affliction and hard servitude” — more correctly: “from affliction and dreadful burden.” The prophet speaks of how, after various calamities inflicted on the Jewish state by invasions of Egyptians and then Chaldeans, the exile of the Jews to Babylon was accomplished. — “Dwells” — more precisely: “they (the Jews) now live among the nations.” — “And finds no resting place” — “and they do not find rest.” This means that even resettlement in captivity was not yet the final punishment for the Jews; even in captivity the Jews continue to suffer as if driven into a tight corner by enemies who do with them as they wish. The prophet has in mind partly the Jews transported to Babylon before the destruction of Jerusalem, partly also those who have only recently been taken into captivity.

Lamentations 1:4. The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to the appointed feasts; all her gates are desolate; her priests groan, her maidens are in sorrow, and she herself is bitter. “The roads to Zion” — more correctly: “the roads leading to Zion.” — “No one comes” — According to the law of Moses, all the male population was obliged to appear at the three great festivals to the tent of meeting (Exod 23:17), and in consequence of this, crowds of pilgrims flowed to Jerusalem before the great festivals. — At the gates, people ordinarily gathered for the purchase of various goods brought into the city. Here also the settlement of various legal disputes took place. — “The priests” and “the maidens.” He mentions the first in connection with the foregoing. Since there are no pilgrims who would come with sacrifices and various offerings, the priests remain without work and without income. From this we can see, moreover, that the Chaldeans did not lead away all the priests in captivity. Some of them remained in the land and came to see the ruins of the temple. The prophet speaks of the maidens because they often, by their singing and playing of musical instruments, increased the joy and solemnity of the festival.

Lamentations 1:5. Her adversaries have become the head, her enemies prosper, because the Lord has brought her sorrow because of the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone into captivity before the foe. “Before the foe” — that is, the enemies drove the children of the Jews forward so that they would not fall behind from the caravan.

Lamentations 1:6. And all her glory has departed from the daughter of Zion; her princes are like deer that find no pasture; they have fled weakly before the pursuer. “Deer that find no pasture” — deer, which have long not eaten and not drunk, and barely move their feet.

Lamentations 1:7. Jerusalem remembers, in the days of her affliction and wandering, all her precious things which she had in former days, while her people fell by the hand of the enemy, and there is no one to help her; the enemies gaze at her and mock at her downfall. The precious things which Jerusalem had formerly are, first and foremost, the temple, then the royal power, which passed down in succession in the line of David, and so on. All of this Jerusalem now recalls with sorrow when she is in a state of humiliation. — “Mock at her downfall.” The heathen now mock these festivals, and in general the religion of the Jews, pointing out that all this could not save the Jewish state. — According to Weitzecker’s translation: “mock at her desolation.”

Lamentations 1:8. Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she has become vile; all who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness; she herself sighs and turns away. “Has become vile” — more accurately: “has become like a woman in her uncleanness.” — “Her nakedness” — that is, her shame, her sins and vices, which defiled her. — “Turns away,” that is, she is ashamed to look upon people.

Lamentations 1:9. Uncleanness clung to her hem; she did not consider her end; therefore her fall was terrible, and she has no comforter. “Behold, O Lord, my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself! “Behold, O Lord...” — before this one should add: “and therefore Jerusalem cries out.”

Lamentations 1:10. The enemy has stretched out his hand over all her precious things; for she has seen the nations invade her sanctuary, those whom you commanded that they should not enter into your assembly. The heathen were forbidden to participate in the religious assemblies of the Jews (Deut 23:3; Ezek 44:7-9), and they now enter even into the very sanctuary of the temple!

Lamentations 1:11. All her people groan, seeking bread; they trade their precious things for food to keep themselves alive. “Behold, O Lord, and see, how I am despised! During and after the siege the condition of the inhabitants of Jerusalem was very difficult. They had no bread. — “To keep themselves alive” — to sustain their strength. (Lam 1:12-19.) The sighing of Zion to the Lord concludes the first part of the first chapter. By this the prophet makes a transition to the second part, in which Zion itself begins to speak. He addresses all who pass by him and asks them to convince themselves of how great is his affliction: as if fire passes through his bones, and his feet have become entangled in a net. Thus Zion is punished for his sins. He is given over to the will of his enemies, he has no army, and the enemies treat him like workers treading grapes. How can Zion not weep in such a hard time? The prophet himself testifies that Zion will find help from no one, and then Zion again begins to speak and confesses his transgressions, but at the same time points to the depth of his sufferings.

Lamentations 1:14. The yoke of my iniquities is bound by his hand; they are twined together and set upon my neck; he has weakened my strength. The Lord has given me into the hands of those against whom I cannot stand. “The yoke of my iniquities” — more correctly from the Hebrew: “You have made heavy the yoke of my sins by Your hand,” that is, God has laid upon Jerusalem the yoke of sins as a heavy yoke, like one placed on an ox. — “They are twined together” — more correctly from the Hebrew: “they are bound to each other and placed on my back.” — “The Lord has given me” — more correctly: “the Lord has delivered me to those before whom I cannot stand.”

Lamentations 1:15. The Lord has rejected all the strong men in the midst of me; he has called an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah. The image of a winepress is frequently found in the prophets, cf., for example, Isa 63:1-6.

Lamentations 1:17. Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob that his adversaries should surround him; Jerusalem has become an unclean thing in the midst of them. The voice of the weeping Zion subsides for a moment, and the prophet now himself confirms the fact of the extreme calamitous state of Zion.

Lamentations 1:18–19. The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled against his commandment. Hear, all peoples, and behold my sorrow: my maidens and my young men have gone into captivity. I cry to my beloved, but they have deceived me; my priests and my elders expire in the city, seeking food for themselves, to keep themselves alive. Zion’s thoughts turn in another direction, and he begins to confess his guilt before God. He recognizes the futility of his former hopes for help from his allies: no one helps the Jews, and even the priests and respected elders are left without food. (Lam 1:20-22.) On the basis of such acknowledgment of God’s righteousness and his own guilt, Jerusalem now turns to God with a prayer that He might look down from on high upon his city and punish the enemies of Jerusalem, who are rejoicing at his fall.

Lamentations 1:20. Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress; my soul is in turmoil, my heart is turned within me, for I have been very rebellious. Outside the sword bereaves, inside it is like death. “Outside the sword bereaves.” This expression is borrowed from the book of Deut 32:25, but the word “like” is superfluous. We should read simply: “inside (of houses) — death,” that is, plague.