Psalms 34:22–35:1(v58)Yahweh redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned. Contend, Yahweh, with those who contend…
Isaiah 41:10(v57)Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will…
James 4:8(v57)Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Jeremiah 51:36(v58)Therefore Yahweh says: “Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
Psalms 103:4(v58)who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies,
Show all 71 cross-references
Isaiah 58:9(v57)Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away from among you the yoke,…
Psalms 71:23(v58)My lips shall shout for joy! My soul, which you have redeemed, sings praises to you!
Isaiah 41:14(v57)Don’t be afraid, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel. I will help you,” says Yahweh. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
Jeremiah 50:34(v58)Their Redeemer is strong: Yahweh of Armies is his name. He will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and…
Revelation 2:10(v57)Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be…
Job 34:28(v56)so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him. He heard the cry of the afflicted.
Psalms 35:19(v52)Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes.
Psalms 145:18(v57)Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
Isaiah 38:5(v56)“Go, and tell Hezekiah, ‘Yahweh, the God of David your father, says, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add…
Isaiah 43:1-2(v57)But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel, says: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by…
Jonah 2:3-5(v54)For you threw me into the depths, in the heart of the seas. The flood was all around me. All your waves and your billows passed over me. I…
Jeremiah 38:6(vv53, 55)Then they took Jeremiah and threw him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard. They let down…
Psalms 6:8-9(v56)Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for Yahweh has heard the voice of my weeping. Yahweh has heard my supplication. Yahweh accepts…
Psalms 34:6(v56)This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
Psalms 35:7(v52)For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul.
Psalms 55:1(v56)Listen to my prayer, God. Don’t hide yourself from my supplication.
Psalms 88:13-14(v56)But to you, Yahweh, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you. Yahweh, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face…
Jeremiah 38:9(v53)“My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon. He is…
Ezekiel 37:11(v54)Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is…
Daniel 6:17(v53)A stone was brought, and laid on the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that…
Acts 18:9(v57)The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Don’t be afraid, but speak and don’t be silent;
Acts 27:24(v57)saying, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’
Genesis 48:16(v58)the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and…
2 Chronicles 33:13(v56)He prayed to him; and he was entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then…
Psalms 3:4(v56)I cry to Yahweh with my voice, and he answers me out of his holy hill.
Psalms 18:4(v54)The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
Psalms 66:19(v56)But most certainly, God has listened. He has heard the voice of my prayer.
Psalms 69:18(v57)Draw near to my soul and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies.
Psalms 116:1-2(v56)I love Yahweh, because he listens to my voice, and my cries for mercy. Because he has turned his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as…
Jeremiah 1:17(v57)“You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you…
Jeremiah 37:16(v53)When Jeremiah had come into the dungeon house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,
Lamentations 3:18(v54)I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from Yahweh.”
Acts 16:24-28(v55)who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks. But about midnight Paul and…
Romans 8:26(v56)In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession…
2 Corinthians 1:8-10(v54)For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down…
1 Samuel 24:10-15(v52)Behold, today your eyes have seen how Yahweh had delivered you today into my hand in the cave. Some urged me to kill you; but I spared you;…
1 Samuel 25:28-29(v52)Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For Yahweh will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights Yahweh’s battles.…
1 Samuel 25:39(v58)When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed is Yahweh, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has…
1 Samuel 26:18-20(v52)He said, “Why does my lord pursue his servant? For what have I done? What evil is in my hand? Now therefore, please let my lord the king…
2 Chronicles 33:11-12(v55)Therefore Yahweh brought on them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, bound him with fetters, and…
2 Chronicles 33:19(v56)His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places, and set…
Job 17:11-16(v54)My days are past. My plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into day, saying ‘The light is near’ in…
Psalms 11:1(v52)In Yahweh, I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain”?
Psalms 18:5-6(v55)The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me. In my distress I called on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my…
Psalms 31:22(v54)As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.” Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.
Psalms 40:1-2(v55)I waited patiently for Yahweh. He turned to me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set…
Psalms 69:1-2(v54)Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck! I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where…
Psalms 69:4(v52)Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are…
Psalms 69:13-18(v55)But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of…
Psalms 69:15(v54)Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.
Psalms 109:3(v52)They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.
Psalms 116:3-4(v55)The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called on Yahweh’s name: “Yahweh,…
Psalms 119:161(v52)Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.
Psalms 124:4-5(v54)then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; then the proud waters would have gone over our soul.
Psalms 130:1-2(v55)Out of the depths I have cried to you, Yahweh. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions.
Psalms 142:3-7(v55)When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, you knew my route. On the path in which I walk, they have hidden a snare for me. Look on my…
Isaiah 38:10-13(v54)I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years.” I said, “I won’t see Yah, Yah in…
Jeremiah 37:15-16(v52)The princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the…
Jeremiah 37:18(v52)Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put…
Jeremiah 37:20(v53)Now please hear, my lord the king: please let my supplication be presented before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of…
Jeremiah 38:4-6(v52)Then the princes said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death; because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this…
Jonah 2:2-4(v55)He said, “I called because of my affliction to Yahweh. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice. For you threw…
Matthew 27:60(v53)and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock, and he rolled a great stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.
Matthew 27:66(v53)So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone.
John 15:25(v52)But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
Revelation 1:17(v57)When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,
71 distinct cross-references across this passage (72 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv52–58We shall see to the end of the chapter…
We shall see to the end of the chapter the various complaints, by which the Prophet deplored the miseries of his own nation, that he might at length obtain the mercy of God. He takes here the comparison of a bird or a sparrow. He says that the Chaldeans had been like fowlers, and the Jews like sparrows: and we know that there is neither prudence nor courage in birds. He, then, means that the Jews had been destitute of all help, having been exposed as a prey to their enemies, who were like fowlers.
And he seems to allude to the words of Solomon, when he says, that without a cause is the net spread for birds (Proverbs 1:17;) and he means that innocent men are circumvented by the wicked, when they spread for them their snares as it were on every side, while they are like the birds, who have no prudence to avoid them.
Read full note →
We now, then, understand the drift of what the Prophet says: he amplifies the indignity of their calamity by this comparison, — that the Chaldeans at their pleasure plundered the miserable people, who were not able to resist them, who were indeed without any power to defend themselves. It follows, —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv53, 58Read Jer. 37:16, how he was in the miry…
Read Jer. 37:16, how he was in the miry dungeon.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv52–58Lam 3:52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a…
Lam 3:52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
Ver. 52. Mine enemies chased me sore.] In a most eager and extreme manner, with utmost cruelty and craft.
Read full note →
As a bird.] Beaten from bush to bush.
Without cause.] Jeremiah and the godly party might say so; but not Zedekiah and other perfidious ones.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv52–58As boys beat a bird from bush to bush,…
As boys beat a bird from bush to bush, suffering it to rest no where, so mine enemies, to whom I gave no cause, pursued me.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v55We may observe throughout this chapter a struggle in…
We may observe throughout this chapter a struggle in the prophet's breast between sense and faith, fear and hope; he complains and then comforts himself, yet drops his comforts and returns again to his complaints, as Psa 42:1-11. But, as there, so here, faith gets the last word and comes off a conqueror; for in these verses he concludes with some comfort. And here are two things with which he comforts himself: -
I. His experience of God's goodness even in his affliction. This may refer to the prophet's personal experience, with which he encourages himself in reference to the public troubles. He that has seasonably succoured particular saints will not fail the church in general. Or it may include the remnant of good people that were among the Jews, who had found that it was not in vain to wait upon God. In three things the prophet and his pious friends had found God good to them: - 1. He had heard their prayers; though they had been ready to fear that the cloud of wrath was such as their prayers could not pass through (Lam 3:44), yet upon second thoughts, or at least upon further trial, they find it otherwise, and that God had not said unto them, Seek you me in vain. When they were in the low dungeon, as free among the dead, they called upon God's name (Lam 3:55); their weeping did not hinder praying. Note, Though we are cast into ever so low a dungeon, we may thence find a way of access to God in the highest heavens. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee (Psa 130:1), as Jonah out of the whale's belly. And could God hear them out of the low dungeon, and would he? Yes, he did: Thou hast heard my voice; and some read the following words as carrying on the same thankful acknowledgment: Thou didst not hide thy ear at my breathing, at my cry; and the original will bear that reading. We read it as a petition for further audience: Hide not thy ear. God's having heard our voice when we cried to him, even out of the low dungeon, is an encouragement for us to hope that he will not at any time hide his ear. Observe how he calls prayer his breathing; for in prayer we breathe towards God, we breathe after him. Though we be but weak in prayer, cannot cry aloud, but only breathe in groanings that cannot be uttered, yet we shall not be neglected if we be sincere. Prayer is the breath of the new man, sucking in the air of mercy in petitions and returning it in praises; it is both the evidence and the maintenance of the spiritual life. Some read it, at my gasping. "When I lay gasping for life, and ready to expire, and thought i was breathing my last, then thou tookest cognizance of my distressed case." 2. He had silenced their fears and quieted their spirits (Lam 3:57): "Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou didst graciously assure me of thy presence with me, and give me to see thee nigh unto me, whereas I had thought thee to be at a distance from me." Note, When we draw nigh to God in a way of duty we may by faith see him drawing nigh to us in a way of mercy. But this was not all: Thou saidst, Fear not. This was the language of God's prophets preaching to them not to fear (Isa 41:10, Isa 41:13, Isa 41:14), of his providence preventing those things which they were afraid of, and of his grace quieting their minds, and making them easy, by the witness of his Spirit with their spirits that they were his people still, though in distress, and therefore ought not to fear. 3. He had already begun to appear for them (Lam 3:58): "O Lord! thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul" (that is, as it follows), "thou hast redeemed my life, hast rescued that out of the hands of those who would have taken it away, hast saved that when it was ready to be swallowed up, hast given me that for a prey." And this is an encouragement to them to hope that he would yet further appear for them: "Thou hast delivered my soul from death, and therefore wilt deliver my feet from falling; thou hast pleaded the causes of my life, and therefore wilt plead my other causes."
Read full note →
II. He comforts himself with an appeal to God's justice, and (in order to the sentence of that) to his omniscience.
1. He appeals to God's knowledge of the matter of fact, how very spiteful and malicious his enemies were (Lam 3:59): "O Lord! thou hast seen my wrong, that I have done no wrong at all, but suffer a great deal." He that knows all things knew, (1.) The malice they had against him: "Thou hast seen all their vengeance, how they desire to do me a mischief, as if it were by way of reprisal for some great injury I had done them." Note, We should consider, to our terror and caution, that God knows all the revengeful thoughts we have in our minds against others, and therefore we should not allow of those thoughts nor harbour them, and that he knows all the revengeful thoughts others have causelessly in their minds against us, and therefore we should not be afraid of them, but leave it to him to protect us from them. (2.) The designs and projects they had laid to do him a mischief: Thou hast seen all their imaginations against me (Lam 3:60), and again, "Thou hast heard all their imaginations against me (Lam 3:61), both the desire and the device they have to ruin me; whether it show itself in word or deed, it is known to thee; nay, though the products of it are not to be seen nor heard, yet their device against me all the day is perceived and understood by him to whom all things are naked and open." Note, The most secret contrivances of the church's enemies are perfectly known to the church's God, from whom they can hide nothing. (3.) The contempt and calumny wherewith they loaded him, all that they spoke slightly of him, and all that they spoke reproachfully: "Thou hast heard their reproach (Lam 3:61), all the bad characters they give me, laying to my charge things that I know not, all the methods they use to make me odious and contemptible, even the lips of those that rose up against me (Lam 3:62), the contumelious language they use whenever they speak of me, and that at their sitting down and rising up, when they lie down at night and get up in the morning, when they sit down to their meat and with their company, and when they rise from both, still I am their music; they make themselves and one another merry with my miseries, as the Philistines made sport with Samson." Jerusalem was the tabret they played upon. Perhaps they had some tune or play, some opera or interlude, that was called the destruction of Jerusalem, which, though in the nature of a tragedy, was very entertaining to those who wished ill to the holy city. Note, God will one day call sinners to account for all the hard speeches which they have spoken against him and his people, Jde 1:15.
2. He appeals to God's judgment upon this fact: "Lord, thou hast seen my wrong; there is no need of any evidence to prove it, nor any prosecutor to enforce and aggravate it; thou seest it in its true colours; and now I leave it with thee. Judge thou my cause, Lam 3:59. Let them be dealt with," (1.) "As they deserve (Lam 3:64): Render to them a recompence according to the work of their hands. Let them be dealt with as they have dealt with us; let thy hand be against them as their hand has been against us. They have created us a great deal of vexation; now, Lord, give them sorrow of heart (Lam 3:65), perplexity of heart" (so some read it); "let them be surrounded with threatening mischiefs on all sides, and not be able to see their way out. Give them despondence of heart" (so others read it); "let them be driven to despair, and give themselves up for gone." God can entangle the head that thinks itself clearest, and sink the heart that thinks itself stoutest. (2.) "Let them be dealt with according to the threatenings: Thy curse unto them; that is, let thy curse come upon them, all the evils that are pronounced in thy word against the enemies of thy people, Lam 3:65. They have loaded us with curses; as they loved cursing, so let it come unto them, thy curse which will make them truly miserable. Theirs is causeless, and therefore fruitless, it shall not come; but thine is just, and shall take effect. Those whom thou cursest are cursed indeed. Let the curse be executed, Lam 3:66. Persecute and destroy them in anger, as they persecute and destroy us in their anger. Destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord; let them have no benefit of the light and influence of the heavens. Destroy them in such a manner that all who see it may say, It is a destruction from the Almighty, who sits in the heavens and laughs at them (Psa 2:4), and may own that the heavens do rule," Dan 4:26. What is said of the idols is here said of their worshippers (who in this also shall be like unto them), They shall perish from under these heavens, Jer 10:11. They shall be not only excluded from the happiness of the invisible heavens, but cut off from the comfort even of these visible ones, which are the heavens of the Lord (Psa 115:16) and which those therefore are unworthy to be taken under the protection of who rebel against him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv52–58Thou drewest near in the day that I called…
Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee,.... When persons draw nigh to God in a way of duty, and particularly in this of prayer, and calling on his name; he draws nigh to them in a way of grace and mercy, and manifests himself to them, and works salvation for them. The Targum is,
"thou didst cause an angel to draw near to deliver me in the day that I prayed unto thee:''
Read full note →
thou saidst, fear not; any of thine enemies; or that thou shouldest not be delivered from them; see Isa 41:10.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv53, 54, 56, 58Dungeon - Dungeon seems here to be taken for…
Dungeon - Dungeon seems here to be taken for the lowest condition of misery.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv52, 56, 57Verse 52. Mine enemies chased me] From this to…
Verse 52. Mine enemies chased me] From this to the end of the chapter the prophet speaks of his own personal sufferings, and especially of those which he endured in the dungeon. See Jer 38:6, &c.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v52Lam 3:52-58. Mine enemies chased me sore — “The…
Lam 3:52-58. Mine enemies chased me sore — “The prophet in this, and the following verses, describes his own sufferings, when his enemies seized him and put him into the dungeon, Jer 37:16; Jer 38:6. He compares them to a fowler in pursuit of a bird; so, saith he, they sought all opportunities to take an advantage against me, and to deprive me of my life and liberty: and this they did without any provocation given on my part. So the word חנם, without cause, signifies.” — Lowth. They have cut off my life — I was not only sequestered from all human society, like a dead man, but in apparent danger of losing my life in the dungeon. And their laying a stone upon the entrance of that dark pit resembled the burying me alive. Waters flowed over my head; then I said, &c. — When I sunk down into the mire in this dungeon, I despaired of my life, just as if I had been sinking over head in a river. I called upon thy name, O Lord — I had recourse to thee, O Jehovah, in my distress; out of the low dungeon — As Jonah out of the whale’s belly. Observe, reader, though we be cast into ever so low a dungeon of calamity and trouble, we may from thence find a way of access to God in the highest heavens. Thus the psalmist, Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, Psa 130:1. Hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry — So he terms his prayer. It was his breathing toward God, and after God. Prayer is the breath of the new man, drawing in the air of grace in petitions, and returning it in praises; it is both the evidence and maintenance of the spiritual life. Some read it, at my gasping; when I lay gasping for life, and ready to expire, and thought I was breathing my last, then thou tookest cognizance of my distressed case. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee — That is, thou didst graciously assure me of thy presence with me, and didst give me to see thee nigh unto me, whereas I had thought thee to be at a distance from me. Thou saidst, Fear not — This was the language, 1st, of God’s prophets, preaching to them not to fear, Isa 41:10; Isa 41:13; Isaiah 2 d, of his providence, preventing those things which they were afraid of; and, 3d, of his grace, quieting their minds, and making them easy, by the witness of his Spirit with their spirits, that they were his people still, though in distress, and therefore ought not to fear. Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul — That is, as it follows, Thou hast redeemed my life, hast rescued it out of the hands of those that would have taken it away, hast saved it when it was ready to be swallowed up; thou hast given me my life for a prey.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv52–55Or, “They who without cause are mine enemies have…
Or, “They who without cause are mine enemies have hunted me sore like a bird.” Probably the prophet is speaking of his personal sorrows.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn v53Over me, as if I were buried. (Haydock) ---…
Over me, as if I were buried. (Haydock) --- Jeremias was in prison (chap. xxxviii. 6.) when he prayed, ver. 54., and chap. xx. 7. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv52–58a bird--which is destitute of counsel and strength. The…
a bird--which is destitute of counsel and strength. The allusion seems to be to Pro 1:17 [CALVIN].
without cause-- (Psa 69:4; Psa 109:3-4). Type of Messiah (Joh 15:25).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv52–5652. Without cause — The order of the words…
52. Without cause — The order of the words in this verse should be, to express the precise sense of the original, “without cause mine enemies chased me.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv52, 54, 56, 57, 5852–54. There is a possible reference on the part…
52–54. There is a possible reference on the part of the writer to Jer_38:6, but this is rendered unlikely by the fact that the “dungeon” had no water in it, and thus Lam_3:54 is inapplicable. The use of the singular “stone” in Lam_3:53 is difficult to understand, unless it refers to covering thus the mouth of a pit.
52–66. See intr. note.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv52, 53, 55, 56, 58(52) Without cause . . .—The words connect themselves…
(52) Without cause . . .—The words connect themselves in the Hebrew with “mine enemies” (comp. Psa_35:7; Psa_35:19; Psa_69:4), and it has been inferred from this that Jeremiah speaks not of the Chaldeans as enemies of his nation, but of those who were individually his persecutors. The hypothesis receives some confirmation from the apparent reference in the “dungeon” and the “waters” to the narrative of Jeremiah 38. It has been urged, on the other hand, that those expressions may be figurative here, as they are in Psa_42:7; Psa_88:7; Psa_124:4.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58Vers. 52-66. THE SPEAKER"S SUFFERINGS; AN EARNESTLY BELIEVING PRAYER…
Vers. 52-66. THE SPEAKER"S SUFFERINGS; AN EARNESTLY BELIEVING PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE. He speaks as a representative of the nation; if we should not rather say that the nation itself, personified, is the speaker. In the first triad some have supposed a reference to the persecution suffered by Jeremiah at the hands of his countrymen. The "dungeon," or rather "pit," will in this case be the "dungeon" ("pit") mentioned in Jer_38:6. But a "pit" is a figure in the psalms for destruction, (Psa_40:2 Psa_69:15) and there is nothing recorded in Jeremiah as to the" princes" haying cast stones at Jeremiah, or rolled a stone on to the top of the "pit." Besides, the "pit" into which the prophet was cast had "no water, but mire.
Mine enemies... without cause. These words ought to be connected, as in the Hebrew.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible1887 · Public DomainOn v55As this third elegy-the richest and the most elaborate…
DE PROFUNDIS
Lam_3:55-66
Read full note →
As this third elegy-the richest and the most elaborate of the five that constitute the Book of Lamentations-draws to a close it retains its curious character of variability, not aiming at any climax, but simply winding on till its threefold acrostics are completed by the limits of the Hebrew alphabet, like a river that is monotonous in the very succession of its changes, now flowing through a dark gorge, then rippling in clear sunlight, and again plunging into gloomy caverns. The beauty and brightness of this very variegated poem are found at its centre. Sadder thoughts follow. But these are not so wholly complaining as the opening passages had been. There is one thread of continuity that may be traced right through the series of changes which occupy the latter part of the poem. The poet having once turned to the refuge of prayer never altogether forsakes it. The meditations as much as the petitions that here occur are all directed to God.
A peculiarity of the last portion of the elegy that claims special attention is the interesting reminiscence with which the poet finds encouragement for his present prayers. He is recalling the scenes of that most distressing period of his life, the time when he had been cast into a flooded dungeon. If ever he had come near to death it must have been then: though his life was spared the misery of his condition had been extreme. While in this most wretched situation the persecuted patriot cried to God for help, and as he now recollects for his present encouragement, he received a distinct and unmistakable answer. The scene is most impressive. As it shapes itself to his memory, the victim of tyranny is in the lowest dungeon. This phrase suggests the thought of the awful Hebrew Sheol. So dark was his experience and so near was the sufferer to death, it seems to him as though he had, been indeed plunged down into the very abode of the dead. Yet here he found utterance for prayer. It was the prayer of utter extremity, almost the last wild cry of a despairing soul, yet not quite, for that is no prayer at all, all prayer requiring some real faith, if only as a grain of mustard seed. Moreover, the poet states that he called upon the name of God.
Now in the Bible the name always stands for the attributes which it connotes. To call on Gods name is to make mention of some of His known and revealed characteristics. The man who will do this is more than one "feeling after God"; he has a definite conception of the nature and disposition of the Being to whom he is addressing himself. Thus it happens that old, familiar ideas of God, as He had been known in the days of light and joy, rise up in the heart of the miserable man, and awaken a longing desire to seek the help of One so great and good and merciful. Just in proportion to the fulness of the meaning of the name of God as it is conceived by us, will our prayers win definiteness of aim and strength of wing. The altar to "an unknown god" can excite but the feeblest and vaguest devotion. Inasmuch as our Lord has greatly enriched the contents of the name of God by His full revelation of the Divine Father, to us Christians there has come a more definite direction and a more powerful impulse for prayer. Even though this is a prayer de profundis it is an enlightened prayer. We may believe that, like a star seen from the depths of a well which excludes the glare of day, the significance of the sacred Name shone out to the sufferer with a beauty never before perceived when he looked up to heaven from the darkness of his pit of misery.
It has been suggested that in this passage the elegist is following the sixty-ninth psalm, and that perhaps that psalm is his own composition and the expression of the very prayer to which he is here referring. At all events, the psalm exactly fits the situation; and therefore it may be taken as a perfect illustration of the kind of prayer alluded to. The psalmist is "in deep mire, where there is no standing"; he has "come into deep waters, where the floods overthrow" him; he is persecuted by enemies who hate him "without a cause"; he has been weeping till his eyes have failed. Meanwhile he has been waiting for God, in prayers mingled with confessions. It is his zeal for Gods house that has brought him so near to death. He beseeches God that the flood may not be allowed to overwhelm him, nor "the pit shut her mouth upon him." He concludes with an invocation of curses upon the heads of his enemies. All these as well as some minor points agree very closely with our poets picture of his persecutions and the prayer he here records.
Read in the light of the elegists experience, such a prayer as that of the psalm cannot be taken as a model for daily devotion. It is a pity that our habitual use of the Psalter should encourage this application of it. The result is mischievous in several ways. It tends to make our worship unreal, because the experience of the psalmist, even when read metaphorically, as it was probably intended to be read, is by no means a type of the normal condition of human life. Besides, in so far as we bring ourselves to sympathise with this piteous outcry of a distressed soul, we reduce our worship to a melancholy plaint, when it should be a joyous anthem of praise. At the same time, we unconsciously temper the language we quote with the less painful feelings of our own experience, so that its force is lost upon us.
Yet the psalm is of value as a revelation of a souls agony relieved by prayer; and there are occasions when its very words can be repeated by men and women who are indeed overwhelmed by trouble. If we do not spoil the occasional by attempting to make it habitual it is wonderful to see how rich the Bible is in utterances to suit all cases and all conditions. Such an outpouring of a distressed heart as the elegist hints at and the psalmist illustrates, is itself full of profound significance. The stirring of a soul to its depths is a revelation of its depths. This revelation prevents us from taking petty views of human nature. No one can contemplate the Titanic struggle of Laocoon or the immeasurable grief of Niobe without a sense of the tragic greatness of which human life is capable. We live so much on the surface that we are in danger of forgetting that life is not always a superficial thing. But when a volcano bursts out of the quiet plain of everyday existence, we are startled into the perception that there must be hidden fires which we may not have suspected before. And, further, when the soul in its extremity is seen to be turning for refuge to God, the revelation of its Gethsemane gives a new meaning to the very idea of prayer. Here is prayer indeed, and at the sight of such a profound reality we are shamed into doubting whether we have ever begun to pray at all, so stiff and chill do our utterances to the Unseen now appear to be in comparison with this Jacob-like wrestling.
Immediately after mentioning the fact of his prayer the elegist adds that this was heard by God. His cry rose up from "the lowest dungeon" and reached the heights of heaven. And yet we cannot credit this to the inherent vigour of prayer. If a petition can thus wing its way to heaven, that is because it is of heavenly origin. There is no difficulty in making air to rise above water; the difficulty is to sink it; and if any could be taken to the bottom of the sea, the greater the depth descended the swifter would it shoot up. Since all true prayer is an inspiration it cannot spend itself until it has, so to speak, restored the equilibrium by returning to its natural sphere. But the elegist puts the case another way. In His great condescension God stoops to the very lowest depths to find one of His distressed children. It is not hard to make the prayer of the dungeon reach the ear of God, because God is in the dungeon. He is most near when He is most needed.
The prayer was more than heard; it was answered there was a Divine voice in response to this cry to God, a voice that reached the ear of the desolate prisoner in the silence of his dungeon. It consisted of but two words, but those two words were clear and unmistakable, and quite sufficient to satisfy the listener. The voice said, "Fear not." {Lam_3:57} That was enough.
Shall we doubt the reality of the remarkable experience that the elegist here records? Or can we explain it away by reference to the morbid condition of the mind of a prisoner enduring the punishment of solitary confinement? It is said that this unnatural punishment tends to develop insanity in its miserable victims. But the poet is now reviewing the occurrence, which made so deep an impression on his mind at the time, in the calm of later reflection; and evidently he has no doubt of its reality. It has nothing in it of the wild fancy of a disordered brain. Lunacy raves; this simple message is calm. And it is just such a message as God might be expected to give if He spoke at all-just like Him, we may say. To this remark some doubting critic may reply, "Exactly; and therefore the more likely to have been imagined by the expectant worshipper." But such an inference is not psychologically correct. The reply is not in harmony with the tone of the prayer, but directly opposed to it. Agony and terror cannot generate an assurance of peace and safety. The poison does not secrete its own antidote. Here is an indication of the presence of another voice, because the words breathe another spirit. Besides, this is not an unparalleled experience.
Most frequently, no doubt, the answer to prayer is not vocal, and yet the reality of it may not be any the less certain to the seeking soul. It may be most definite, although it comes in a deed rather than in a word. Then the grateful recipient can exclaim with the psalmist-
"This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.". {Psa_34:6}
Here is an answer, but not a spoken one, only an action, in saving from trouble. In other cases, however, the reply approaches nearer the form of a message from heaven. When we remember that God is our Father the wonder is not that at rare intervals these voices have been heard, but rather that they are so infrequent. It is so easy to become the victim of delusions that some caution is requisite to assure ourselves of the existence of Divine utterances. The very idea of the occurrence of such phenomena is discredited by the fact that those persons who profess most eagerly to have heard supernatural voices are commonly the subjects of hysteria; and when the voices become frequent this fact is taken by physicians as a symptom of approaching insanity. Among semi-civilised people madness is supposed to be closely allied to inspiration. The mantis is not far from the mad man. Such a man is not the better off for the march of civilisation. The ancients would have honoured him as a prophet; we shut him up in a lunatic asylum. But these discouraging considerations do not exhaust the question. Delusions are not in themselves disproofs of the existence of the occurrences they emulate. Each case must be taken on its own merits; and when, as in that which is now under our consideration, the character of the incident points to a conviction of its solid reality, it is only a mark of narrowness of thought to refuse to lift it out of the category of idle fancies.
But, quite apart from the question of the sounding of Divine voices in the bodily ear, the more important truth to be considered is that in some way, if only by spiritual impression, God does most really speak to His children, and that He speaks now as surely as He spoke in the days of Israel. We have no new prophets and apostles who can give us fresh revelations in the form of additions to our Bible. But that is not what is meant. The elegist did not receive a statement of doctrine in answer to his prayer, nor, on this occasion, even help for the writing of his inspired poetry. The voice to which he here alludes was of quite a different character.
This was in the olden times; but if then, why not also now? Evidently the elegist regarded it as a rare and wonderful occurrence-a single experience to which he looked back in after years with the interest one feels in a vivid recollection which rises like a mountain, clean cut against the sky, above the mists that so quickly gather on the low plains of the uneventful past. Perhaps it is only in one of the crises of life that such an indubitable message is sent-when the soul is in the lowest dungeon, in extremis, crying out of the darkness, helpless if not yet hopeless, overwhelmed, almost extinguished. But if we listened for it, who can tell but that the voice might not be so rare? We do not believe in it; therefore we do not hear it. Or the noise of the worlds great loom and the busy thoughts of our own hearts drown the music that still floats down from heaven to ears that are tuned to catch its notes; for it does not come in thunder, and we must ourselves be still if we would hear the still small voice, inwardly still, still in soul, stifling the chatter of self, stopping our ears to the din of the world. There are those today who tell us with calm assurance, not at all in the visionarys falsetto notes, that they have known just what is here described by the poet-in the silence of a mountain valley, in the quiet of a sick chamber, even in the noisy crowd at a railway station.
When this is granted it is still well for us to remember that we are not dependent for Divine consolation on voices which to many must ever be as dubious as they are rare. This short message of two words is in effect the essence of teachings that can be gathered as freely from almost every page of the Bible as flowers from a meadow in May. We have the "more sure word of prophecy," and the burden of it is the same as the message of the voice that comforted the poet in his dungeon.
That message is wholly reassuring-"Fear not." So said God to the patriarch: "Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward"; {Gen_15:1} and to His people through the prophet of the restoration: "Fear not, thou worm Jacob"; {Isa_41:14} and Jesus to His disciples in the storm: "Be of good cheer: it is I: be not afraid"; {Mar_6:50} and our Lord again in His parting address: "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful"; {Joh_14:27} and the glorified Christ to His terrified friend John, when He laid His right hand on him with the words: "Fear not; I am the first and the last; and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more, and I have the keys of death and of Hades." {Rev_1:17-18} This is the word that God is continually speaking to His faint-hearted children. When "the burthen of the mystery," and
"the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world"
oppress, when the greater sorrows threaten to crush outright, listening for the voice of God, we may hear the message of love from a Fathers heart as though spoken afresh to each of us; for we have but to acquaint ourselves with Him to be at peace.
The elegist does not recall this scene from his past life merely in order to indulge in the pleasures of memory-generally rather melancholy pleasures, and even mocking if they are in sharp contrast to the present. His object is to find encouragement for renewed hope in the efficacy of prayer. In the complaint that he has put into the mouth of His people He has just been depicting the failure of prayer. But now he feels that if for a time God has wrapped Himself in a mantle of wrath this cannot be forever, for He who was so gracious to the cry of His servant on that evermemorable occasion will surely attend again to the appeal of distress. This is always the greatest encouragement for seeking help from God. It is difficult to find much satisfaction in what is called with an awkward inconsequence of diction the "philosophy of prayer"; the spirit of philosophy is so wholly different from the spirit of prayer. The great justification for prayer is the experience of prayer. It is only the prayerless man who is wholly sceptical on this subject. The man of prayer cannot but believe in prayer; and the more he prays and the oftener he turns to this refuge in all times of need the fuller is his assurance that God hears and answers him.
Considering how God acted as his advocate when he was in danger in the earlier crisis, and then redeemed his life, the poet points to this fact as a plea in his new necessity. {Lam_3:58} God will not desert the cause He has adopted. Men feel a peculiar interest in those whom they have already helped, an interest that is stronger than the sense of gratitude, for we are more attracted to our dependants than to our benefactors. If God shares this feeling, how strongly must He be drawn to us by His many former favours. The language of the elegist gains a great enrichment of meaning when read in the light of the Christian Gospel. In a deep sense, of which he could have had but the least glimmering of apprehension, we can appeal to God as the Redeemer of our life, for we can take the Cross of Christ as our plea. St. Paul makes use of this strongest of all arguments when He urges that if God gave His Son, and if Christ died for us, all other needful blessings, since they cannot involve so great a sacrifice, will surely follow. Accordingly, we can pray in the language of the "Dies Irae"-
"Wearily for me Thou soughtest,
On the Cross my life Thou boughtest.
Lose not all for which Thou wroughtest."
Rising from the image of the advocate to that of the magistrate the distressed man begs God to judge his cause. {Lam_3:59} He would have God look at his enemies-how they wrong him, insult him, make him the theme of their jesting songs. {Lam_3:60-63}
It would have been more to our taste if the poem had ended here, if there had been no remaining letters in the Hebrew alphabet to permit the extension of the acrostics beyond the point we have now reached. We cannot but feel that its tone is lowered at the close. The writer here proceeds to heap imprecations on the heads of his enemies. It is vain for some commentators to plead the weak excuse that the language is "prophetic." This is certainly more than the utterance of a prediction. No unprejudiced reader can deny that it reveals a desire that the oppressors may be blighted and blasted with rum, and even if the words were only a foretelling of a divinely-decreed fate they would imply a keen sense of satisfaction in the prospect, which they describe as something to be gloated over. We cannot expect this Jewish patriot to anticipate our Lords intercession and excuse for His enemies. Even St. Paul so far forgot himself as to treat the High Priest in a very different manner from his Masters behaviour. But we may see here one of the worst effects of tyranny-the dark passion of revenge that it rouses in its victims. The provocation was maddening, and not only of a private nature. Think of the situation-the beloved city sacked and destroyed, the sacred temple a heap of smouldering ruins, village homesteads all over the hills of Judah wrecked and deserted; slaughter, outrage, unspeakable wrongs endured by wives and maidens, little children starved to death. Is it wonderful that the patriots temper was not the sweetest when he thought of the authors of such atrocities? There is no possibility of denying the fact-the fierce fires of Hebrew hatred for the oppressors of the much-suffering race here burst into a flame, and towards the end of this finest of elegies we read the dark imprecation, "Thy curse upon them!" {Lam_3:65}
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v52(צ) Lam_3:52. They have hunted me down like a…
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—
(צ) Lam_3:52. They have hunted me down like a bird is hunted when pursued with the eagerness of those who are my enemies without cause, and who will not relax efforts till they catch the quarry.
Read full note →
Lam_3:53. He was haled to prison by them. They have cut off my life in the pit. Shut in from all activities and society, he was as a man dead, as in a tomb over which they have cast stone on me. Taking such illustrations to be chiefly figurative, yet here the first clause is a probable allusion to the treatment of Jeremiah (Jer_38:6), and the second may refer to an unmentioned incident of the same time, for which corroboration may be found in the case of Daniel (Dan_6:17.)
Lam_3:54. The peril was aggravated by waters that flowed over my head; the plural perhaps indicating the influx of a spring and the condensation of vapour in the closeness of a pit. In a state so desperate to the eyes of flesh, I said, I am cut off as a man that has no help (Psa_88:4), as He was who became sin for us (Isa_53:8).
The remaining verses of the chapter take the form of prayer, as at the close of Chapters
1. and
2. In it there are thanksgivings for relief (Lam_3:55-58), an appeal because of the evil which enemies had done and were doing (Lam_3:59-63), and a call for recompense therefor (Lam_3:64-66).
(ק) Lam_3:55. I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, asking with some true idea of what the words and works of the God of Israel revealed concerning Himself, suggestive, too, of the manner in which the Lord Jesus would have His friends to pray—Ask the Father in My name—out of the depths of the pit into which he had been thrown.
Lam_3:56. A more true position is secured than that which was held previously (Lam_3:8; Lam_3:44). My voice thou heardest at that time when I besought thee with my spirit and voice, Hide not—close not—thine ear at my breathing—my sighing for relief—at my cry. It is questionable if the rendering, Hide not thine ear for my cry for relief, is not rather an explanation than a fair version.
Lam_3:57. Thou drewest near in the day I called upon thee. Only spiritual apprehension of God as He who is behind all events and plenteous in mercy can bring a conviction of accepted prayer. The heart is then in a state to hear His comforting words, Thou saidst, Fear not.
(ר) Lam_3:58. There were rights to be maintained, wrongs to be redressed, and in both help was received from a present God. Thou, O Jehovah, hast pleaded—contended for—the causes of my soul. One thing had hurt his soul (Lam_3:51), but others also saddened and weakened thought and effort, and the Lord had counteracted them. He had also interfered when hope of living was cut off, Thou hast redeemed my life by Thy power over all.
HOMILETICS
A FAITHFUL PROPHET IN TROUBLE
(Lam_3:52-58)
I. Cruelly treated by his enemies. “Mine enemies chased me sore like a bird, without cause: I am cut off” (Lam_3:52-54). In these verses, and to the end of the chapter, Jeremiah deals with his own personal afflictions. Without the least provocation, he was treated with the most malignant enmity. He was harassed, as a bird is tired out, and at length run down by continuous pursuit. He is overwhelmed with trouble, and is as one imprisoned in a dungeon, shut off from the current of active life. He acknowledged the righteousness of the Divine dealings, but he was keenly alive to the unrighteousness and undeserved cruelty of his persecutors. Had he been the aggressor, he might have expected retaliation, but he was oppressed without cause. His enemies were actuated by sheer hatred. His only fault was his faithfulness to God and to his own conscience. Simple goodness often rouses the wanton animosity of the wicked.
II. Seeks refuge in prayer. “I called upon Thy name, O Lord; hide not Thine ear at my cry” (Lam_3:55-56). It is a relief to turn from the cruelty of man to the compassion and power of God. The soul is never so helpless but that it can pray. When we can do nothing else, we can pray. Prayer is the language of need, and we are comforted with the assurance that God will hear, and not only hear but help. It seemed at one time that prayer was useless (Lam_3:44); but better thoughts prevailed, and the soul discovered that the cry for help was not in vain. “Prayer is the breath of the new man, sucking in the air of mercy in petitions and returning it in praises; it is both the evidence and the maintenance of the spiritual life.”
III. Rescued by Divine aid. “Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee; Thou saidst, Fear not. O Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; Thou has redeemed my life” (Lam_3:57-58). When we draw near to God in prayer, He draws near to us. Our troubles are overwhelming when God is absent and we are left to ourselves. With His manifested presence our troubles vanish, and we are inspired with strength to endure and to triumph.
LESSONS.—
1. Fidelity makes many enemies.
2. The nation that ill-uses its best men courts its own ruin.
3. The Lord is ever on the side of the faithful.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Lam_3:54-57. The efficacy of prayer. I. These words show to what a state God’s most favoured servants may be reduced—extreme suffering, tears, despondency. II. The remedy open to them. Prayer expressed in cries, groans, breathings, sighs. III. The efficacy of that remedy whenever it is applied. “Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee; Thou saidst, Fear not.” In these words we hear the consolatory voice of God. Marvellous condescension; certainty of help and deliverance.—Simeon.
Lam_3:57. A wonder explained by greater wonders. I. An explanation of this wonder. God doth draw near to men.
1. Men have ever been in the thoughts of God.
2. God came tenderly near in nature.
3. The Lord Jesus was specially near in the days of His life on earth.
4. He came still nearer to us in His death.
5. In heaven He is perpetually near us.
6. Jesus may well come near to His people, for there is a mystical union which ensures it. II. Consider the wonder itself.
1. By no means is this wonder at all contrary to expectation.
2. God draws near by strengthening us to bear up under pressure.
3. By vouchsafing a doubly vivid sense of His love.
4. By granting a sensible assurance of His sympathy.
5. By speedy and remarkable deliverance out of trouble.
6. The text indicates surprise concerning the memorable graciousness of God.
7. The promptness of God.
8. The extreme tenderness of God.—C. H. Spurgeon.
Lam_3:58. God pleading for saints and saints pleading for God. I. The Divine pleading.
1. The Lord pleads our cause in the court of Providence by silencing enemies and by raising up friends for His people.
2. He pleads for them in the court of Divine law.
3. In the court of conscience.
4. In the court of heaven.
5. And at the last great day of judgment. II. If the Lord hath pleaded the causes of our soul, we should plead His cause while we have breath to pray.
1. This is the life-work of the Christian.
2. Should be done in witnessing for Christ by our consistency of conduct.
3. We can all plead for Christ in a private way. Be it mine to weep for the sins of the time and prophesy against them. Be it yours in your own private walk and conversation to rebuke private sin, and by your loving earnestness to make Jesus Christ dear to many souls!—C. H. Spurgeon.
ILLUSTRATIONS.—Faithfulness in service. If you and I show that we attach importance to the solemn performance of even the slightest duty connected with our dear Master’s service; that we consider even the office of doorkeeper in His house an office of honour; that, convinced of His presence, we are as devout in offering the prayers when only two or three are present as when there are two or three hundred—we shall find His blessing attending us, and we shall be the means of converting others.—Dean Hook.
—A carpenter was once asked, Why he troubled to finish off a certain magistrate’s bench so carefully? His reply was, “I can’t do otherwise; besides, I may have to sit on it one of these days.”
Faithful to death. When Commodore Joseph Smith saw by the first despatch that reached Washington from Fortress Monroe that the Congress, on which his son was commander, had shown the white flag, he said, “Then Joe’s dead.” It was so.
Prayer an ever-open refuge. St. Cuthbert was once in a snowstorm that drove his boat on the coast of Fife. “The snowstorm closes the road along the shore,” mourned his comrades; “the storm bars our way over the sea.” “There is still the way of heaven; that lies open,” said the devoted saint.
Divine aid works a marvellous change. Probably there is nowhere on the globe so marked a climatic boundary as that of the Cascade Mountains in both Washington Territory and Oregon. West of this boundary the winters are mild and the summers cool and showery; east of it the winters are sharp and dry and the summers very hot. On one side are gigantic firs and cedars, while on the other all are of poor size and condition. Even the flowers are of new species, and all the atmospheric conditions are changed. The line that lies between the unsaved and the saved, once crossed, what changes are manifest! “If any man be in Jesus Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; lo, all things have become new.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn v58Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa 59:20")…
redeemed
Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa 59:20") .
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v55Prayer for Deliverance
Prayer for Deliverance
v. 55. I called upon Thy name, O Lord, thus overcoming the despair which was trying to paralyze his faith, out of the low dungeon, out of the pit which threatened to become his grave.
Read full note →
v. 56. Thou hast heard my voice, so he cries out in the triumphant confidence of his faith; hide not Thy ear at my breathing, at my cry, as he recovered his breath sufficiently to lay his case before Jehovah once more.
v. 57. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee. Thou saidst, Fear not, thus assuring the believer of His merciful interest and assistance. Cf Psa 145:18.
v. 58. O Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul, being active in all matters pertaining to the believer’s welfare; Thou hast redeemed my life, rescuing him from what seemed to be certain destruction.
v. 59. O Lord, Thou hast seen my wrong, how his rights were violated by the enemies; judge Thou my cause, securing for him the right which he knew was on his side.
v. 60. Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me, all their vindictive, malicious devices.
v. 61. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me,
v. 62. the lips of those that rose up against me, with scornful mockery, and their device against me all the day, as they meditated evil.
v. 63. Behold their sitting down and their rising up, observing all the conduct and doing of the enemies; I am their music, the object of their derisive songs.
v. 64. Render unto them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands, as they had so plentifully deserved it.
v. 65. Give them sorrow of heart, literally, "blindness or covering of heart," a stupidity which shut them out from spiritual understanding, Thy curse unto them!
v. 66. Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord, so that they would be forever removed from the sphere of Jehovah’s kingdom of the world, thereby losing all their opportunity to do any more harm. Christians may well pray that God would foil all attempts of the enemies to take away His honor and to harm the cause of His kingdom in the world.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv55, 58I called on your name
I called on your name
God's name represents his character, and here, "called on your name" represents trusting God's character and calling on him for help. AT: "I called to you for help" (See: Metonymy)
Read full note →
from the depths of the pit
Possible meanings are 1) this refers to the pit that author had been thrown into. AT: "from the bottom of the pit" or 2) the author was afraid that he would die soon, so he spoke as if he were in the place of the dead. AT: "from the pit of the dead"
You heard my voice
Here "voice" represents what he said. AT: "You heard my words" (See: Metonymy)
Do not close your ear
Here "close your ear" represents refusing to listen. AT: "Do not refuse to listen" (See: Metonymy)
You came near
People often come near to a person they help. Here "came near" represents helping the man. AT: "you helped me" (See: Metonymy)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv52–58 We shall see to the end of the chapter…
We shall see to the end of the chapter the various complaints, by which the Prophet deplored the miseries of his own nation, that he might at length obtain the mercy of God. He takes here the comparison of a bird or a sparrow. He says that the Chaldeans had been like fowlers, and the Jews like sparrows: and we know that there is neither prudence nor courage in birds. He, then, means that the Jews had been destitute of all help, having been exposed as a prey to their enemies, who were like fowlers.
And he seems to allude to the words of Solomon, when he says, that without a cause is the net spread for birds (Proverbs 1:17;) and he means that innocent men are circumvented by the wicked, when they spread for them their snares as it were on every side, while they are like the birds, who have no prudence to avoid them.
Read full note →
We now, then, understand the drift of what the Prophet says: he amplifies the indignity of their calamity by this comparison, — that the Chaldeans at their pleasure plundered the miserable people, who were not able to resist them, who were indeed without any power to defend themselves. It follows, —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv53, 58 Read Jer. 37:16, how he was in the miry…
Read Jer. 37:16, how he was in the miry dungeon.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv52–58 Lam 3:52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a…
Lam 3:52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
Ver. 52. Mine enemies chased me sore.] In a most eager and extreme manner, with utmost cruelty and craft.
Read full note →
As a bird.] Beaten from bush to bush.
Without cause.] Jeremiah and the godly party might say so; but not Zedekiah and other perfidious ones.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv52–58 As boys beat a bird from bush to bush,…
As boys beat a bird from bush to bush, suffering it to rest no where, so mine enemies, to whom I gave no cause, pursued me.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v55 We may observe throughout this chapter a struggle in…
We may observe throughout this chapter a struggle in the prophet's breast between sense and faith, fear and hope; he complains and then comforts himself, yet drops his comforts and returns again to his complaints, as Psa 42:1-11. But, as there, so here, faith gets the last word and comes off a conqueror; for in these verses he concludes with some comfort. And here are two things with which he comforts himself: -
I. His experience of God's goodness even in his affliction. This may refer to the prophet's personal experience, with which he encourages himself in reference to the public troubles. He that has seasonably succoured particular saints will not fail the church in general. Or it may include the remnant of good people that were among the Jews, who had found that it was not in vain to wait upon God. In three things the prophet and his pious friends had found God good to them: - 1. He had heard their prayers; though they had been ready to fear that the cloud of wrath was such as their prayers could not pass through (Lam 3:44), yet upon second thoughts, or at least upon further trial, they find it otherwise, and that God had not said unto them, Seek you me in vain. When they were in the low dungeon, as free among the dead, they called upon God's name (Lam 3:55); their weeping did not hinder praying. Note, Though we are cast into ever so low a dungeon, we may thence find a way of access to God in the highest heavens. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee (Psa 130:1), as Jonah out of the whale's belly. And could God hear them out of the low dungeon, and would he? Yes, he did: Thou hast heard my voice; and some read the following words as carrying on the same thankful acknowledgment: Thou didst not hide thy ear at my breathing, at my cry; and the original will bear that reading. We read it as a petition for further audience: Hide not thy ear. God's having heard our voice when we cried to him, even out of the low dungeon, is an encouragement for us to hope that he will not at any time hide his ear. Observe how he calls prayer his breathing; for in prayer we breathe towards God, we breathe after him. Though we be but weak in prayer, cannot cry aloud, but only breathe in groanings that cannot be uttered, yet we shall not be neglected if we be sincere. Prayer is the breath of the new man, sucking in the air of mercy in petitions and returning it in praises; it is both the evidence and the maintenance of the spiritual life. Some read it, at my gasping. "When I lay gasping for life, and ready to expire, and thought i was breathing my last, then thou tookest cognizance of my distressed case." 2. He had silenced their fears and quieted their spirits (Lam 3:57): "Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou didst graciously assure me of thy presence with me, and give me to see thee nigh unto me, whereas I had thought thee to be at a distance from me." Note, When we draw nigh to God in a way of duty we may by faith see him drawing nigh to us in a way of mercy. But this was not all: Thou saidst, Fear not. This was the language of God's prophets preaching to them not to fear (Isa 41:10, Isa 41:13, Isa 41:14), of his providence preventing those things which they were afraid of, and of his grace quieting their minds, and making them easy, by the witness of his Spirit with their spirits that they were his people still, though in distress, and therefore ought not to fear. 3. He had already begun to appear for them (Lam 3:58): "O Lord! thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul" (that is, as it follows), "thou hast redeemed my life, hast rescued that out of the hands of those who would have taken it away, hast saved that when it was ready to be swallowed up, hast given me that for a prey." And this is an encouragement to them to hope that he would yet further appear for them: "Thou hast delivered my soul from death, and therefore wilt deliver my feet from falling; thou hast pleaded the causes of my life, and therefore wilt plead my other causes."
Read full note →
II. He comforts himself with an appeal to God's justice, and (in order to the sentence of that) to his omniscience.
1. He appeals to God's knowledge of the matter of fact, how very spiteful and malicious his enemies were (Lam 3:59): "O Lord! thou hast seen my wrong, that I have done no wrong at all, but suffer a great deal." He that knows all things knew, (1.) The malice they had against him: "Thou hast seen all their vengeance, how they desire to do me a mischief, as if it were by way of reprisal for some great injury I had done them." Note, We should consider, to our terror and caution, that God knows all the revengeful thoughts we have in our minds against others, and therefore we should not allow of those thoughts nor harbour them, and that he knows all the revengeful thoughts others have causelessly in their minds against us, and therefore we should not be afraid of them, but leave it to him to protect us from them. (2.) The designs and projects they had laid to do him a mischief: Thou hast seen all their imaginations against me (Lam 3:60), and again, "Thou hast heard all their imaginations against me (Lam 3:61), both the desire and the device they have to ruin me; whether it show itself in word or deed, it is known to thee; nay, though the products of it are not to be seen nor heard, yet their device against me all the day is perceived and understood by him to whom all things are naked and open." Note, The most secret contrivances of the church's enemies are perfectly known to the church's God, from whom they can hide nothing. (3.) The contempt and calumny wherewith they loaded him, all that they spoke slightly of him, and all that they spoke reproachfully: "Thou hast heard their reproach (Lam 3:61), all the bad characters they give me, laying to my charge things that I know not, all the methods they use to make me odious and contemptible, even the lips of those that rose up against me (Lam 3:62), the contumelious language they use whenever they speak of me, and that at their sitting down and rising up, when they lie down at night and get up in the morning, when they sit down to their meat and with their company, and when they rise from both, still I am their music; they make themselves and one another merry with my miseries, as the Philistines made sport with Samson." Jerusalem was the tabret they played upon. Perhaps they had some tune or play, some opera or interlude, that was called the destruction of Jerusalem, which, though in the nature of a tragedy, was very entertaining to those who wished ill to the holy city. Note, God will one day call sinners to account for all the hard speeches which they have spoken against him and his people, Jde 1:15.
2. He appeals to God's judgment upon this fact: "Lord, thou hast seen my wrong; there is no need of any evidence to prove it, nor any prosecutor to enforce and aggravate it; thou seest it in its true colours; and now I leave it with thee. Judge thou my cause, Lam 3:59. Let them be dealt with," (1.) "As they deserve (Lam 3:64): Render to them a recompence according to the work of their hands. Let them be dealt with as they have dealt with us; let thy hand be against them as their hand has been against us. They have created us a great deal of vexation; now, Lord, give them sorrow of heart (Lam 3:65), perplexity of heart" (so some read it); "let them be surrounded with threatening mischiefs on all sides, and not be able to see their way out. Give them despondence of heart" (so others read it); "let them be driven to despair, and give themselves up for gone." God can entangle the head that thinks itself clearest, and sink the heart that thinks itself stoutest. (2.) "Let them be dealt with according to the threatenings: Thy curse unto them; that is, let thy curse come upon them, all the evils that are pronounced in thy word against the enemies of thy people, Lam 3:65. They have loaded us with curses; as they loved cursing, so let it come unto them, thy curse which will make them truly miserable. Theirs is causeless, and therefore fruitless, it shall not come; but thine is just, and shall take effect. Those whom thou cursest are cursed indeed. Let the curse be executed, Lam 3:66. Persecute and destroy them in anger, as they persecute and destroy us in their anger. Destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord; let them have no benefit of the light and influence of the heavens. Destroy them in such a manner that all who see it may say, It is a destruction from the Almighty, who sits in the heavens and laughs at them (Psa 2:4), and may own that the heavens do rule," Dan 4:26. What is said of the idols is here said of their worshippers (who in this also shall be like unto them), They shall perish from under these heavens, Jer 10:11. They shall be not only excluded from the happiness of the invisible heavens, but cut off from the comfort even of these visible ones, which are the heavens of the Lord (Psa 115:16) and which those therefore are unworthy to be taken under the protection of who rebel against him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv52–58 Thou drewest near in the day that I called…
Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee,.... When persons draw nigh to God in a way of duty, and particularly in this of prayer, and calling on his name; he draws nigh to them in a way of grace and mercy, and manifests himself to them, and works salvation for them. The Targum is,
"thou didst cause an angel to draw near to deliver me in the day that I prayed unto thee:''
Read full note →
thou saidst, fear not; any of thine enemies; or that thou shouldest not be delivered from them; see Isa 41:10.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv53, 54, 56, 58 Dungeon - Dungeon seems here to be taken for…
Dungeon - Dungeon seems here to be taken for the lowest condition of misery.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv52, 56, 57 Verse 52. Mine enemies chased me] From this to…
Verse 52. Mine enemies chased me] From this to the end of the chapter the prophet speaks of his own personal sufferings, and especially of those which he endured in the dungeon. See Jer 38:6, &c.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v52 Lam 3:52-58. Mine enemies chased me sore — “The…
Lam 3:52-58. Mine enemies chased me sore — “The prophet in this, and the following verses, describes his own sufferings, when his enemies seized him and put him into the dungeon, Jer 37:16; Jer 38:6. He compares them to a fowler in pursuit of a bird; so, saith he, they sought all opportunities to take an advantage against me, and to deprive me of my life and liberty: and this they did without any provocation given on my part. So the word חנם, without cause, signifies.” — Lowth. They have cut off my life — I was not only sequestered from all human society, like a dead man, but in apparent danger of losing my life in the dungeon. And their laying a stone upon the entrance of that dark pit resembled the burying me alive. Waters flowed over my head; then I said, &c. — When I sunk down into the mire in this dungeon, I despaired of my life, just as if I had been sinking over head in a river. I called upon thy name, O Lord — I had recourse to thee, O Jehovah, in my distress; out of the low dungeon — As Jonah out of the whale’s belly. Observe, reader, though we be cast into ever so low a dungeon of calamity and trouble, we may from thence find a way of access to God in the highest heavens. Thus the psalmist, Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, Psa 130:1. Hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry — So he terms his prayer. It was his breathing toward God, and after God. Prayer is the breath of the new man, drawing in the air of grace in petitions, and returning it in praises; it is both the evidence and maintenance of the spiritual life. Some read it, at my gasping; when I lay gasping for life, and ready to expire, and thought I was breathing my last, then thou tookest cognizance of my distressed case. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee — That is, thou didst graciously assure me of thy presence with me, and didst give me to see thee nigh unto me, whereas I had thought thee to be at a distance from me. Thou saidst, Fear not — This was the language, 1st, of God’s prophets, preaching to them not to fear, Isa 41:10; Isa 41:13; Isaiah 2 d, of his providence, preventing those things which they were afraid of; and, 3d, of his grace, quieting their minds, and making them easy, by the witness of his Spirit with their spirits, that they were his people still, though in distress, and therefore ought not to fear. Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul — That is, as it follows, Thou hast redeemed my life, hast rescued it out of the hands of those that would have taken it away, hast saved it when it was ready to be swallowed up; thou hast given me my life for a prey.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv52–55 Or, “They who without cause are mine enemies have…
Or, “They who without cause are mine enemies have hunted me sore like a bird.” Probably the prophet is speaking of his personal sorrows.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v53 Over me, as if I were buried. (Haydock) ---…
Over me, as if I were buried. (Haydock) --- Jeremias was in prison (chap. xxxviii. 6.) when he prayed, ver. 54., and chap. xx. 7. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv52–58 a bird--which is destitute of counsel and strength. The…
a bird--which is destitute of counsel and strength. The allusion seems to be to Pro 1:17 [CALVIN].
without cause-- (Psa 69:4; Psa 109:3-4). Type of Messiah (Joh 15:25).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv52–56 52. Without cause — The order of the words…
52. Without cause — The order of the words in this verse should be, to express the precise sense of the original, “without cause mine enemies chased me.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv52, 54, 56, 57, 58 52–54. There is a possible reference on the part…
52–54. There is a possible reference on the part of the writer to Jer_38:6, but this is rendered unlikely by the fact that the “dungeon” had no water in it, and thus Lam_3:54 is inapplicable. The use of the singular “stone” in Lam_3:53 is difficult to understand, unless it refers to covering thus the mouth of a pit.
52–66. See intr. note.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv52, 53, 55, 56, 58 (52) Without cause . . .—The words connect themselves…
(52) Without cause . . .—The words connect themselves in the Hebrew with “mine enemies” (comp. Psa_35:7; Psa_35:19; Psa_69:4), and it has been inferred from this that Jeremiah speaks not of the Chaldeans as enemies of his nation, but of those who were individually his persecutors. The hypothesis receives some confirmation from the apparent reference in the “dungeon” and the “waters” to the narrative of Jeremiah 38. It has been urged, on the other hand, that those expressions may be figurative here, as they are in Psa_42:7; Psa_88:7; Psa_124:4.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 Vers. 52-66. THE SPEAKER"S SUFFERINGS; AN EARNESTLY BELIEVING PRAYER…
Vers. 52-66. THE SPEAKER"S SUFFERINGS; AN EARNESTLY BELIEVING PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE. He speaks as a representative of the nation; if we should not rather say that the nation itself, personified, is the speaker. In the first triad some have supposed a reference to the persecution suffered by Jeremiah at the hands of his countrymen. The "dungeon," or rather "pit," will in this case be the "dungeon" ("pit") mentioned in Jer_38:6. But a "pit" is a figure in the psalms for destruction, (Psa_40:2 Psa_69:15) and there is nothing recorded in Jeremiah as to the" princes" haying cast stones at Jeremiah, or rolled a stone on to the top of the "pit." Besides, the "pit" into which the prophet was cast had "no water, but mire.
Mine enemies... without cause. These words ought to be connected, as in the Hebrew.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v55 As this third elegy-the richest and the most elaborate…
DE PROFUNDIS
Lam_3:55-66
Read full note →
As this third elegy-the richest and the most elaborate of the five that constitute the Book of Lamentations-draws to a close it retains its curious character of variability, not aiming at any climax, but simply winding on till its threefold acrostics are completed by the limits of the Hebrew alphabet, like a river that is monotonous in the very succession of its changes, now flowing through a dark gorge, then rippling in clear sunlight, and again plunging into gloomy caverns. The beauty and brightness of this very variegated poem are found at its centre. Sadder thoughts follow. But these are not so wholly complaining as the opening passages had been. There is one thread of continuity that may be traced right through the series of changes which occupy the latter part of the poem. The poet having once turned to the refuge of prayer never altogether forsakes it. The meditations as much as the petitions that here occur are all directed to God.
A peculiarity of the last portion of the elegy that claims special attention is the interesting reminiscence with which the poet finds encouragement for his present prayers. He is recalling the scenes of that most distressing period of his life, the time when he had been cast into a flooded dungeon. If ever he had come near to death it must have been then: though his life was spared the misery of his condition had been extreme. While in this most wretched situation the persecuted patriot cried to God for help, and as he now recollects for his present encouragement, he received a distinct and unmistakable answer. The scene is most impressive. As it shapes itself to his memory, the victim of tyranny is in the lowest dungeon. This phrase suggests the thought of the awful Hebrew Sheol. So dark was his experience and so near was the sufferer to death, it seems to him as though he had, been indeed plunged down into the very abode of the dead. Yet here he found utterance for prayer. It was the prayer of utter extremity, almost the last wild cry of a despairing soul, yet not quite, for that is no prayer at all, all prayer requiring some real faith, if only as a grain of mustard seed. Moreover, the poet states that he called upon the name of God.
Now in the Bible the name always stands for the attributes which it connotes. To call on Gods name is to make mention of some of His known and revealed characteristics. The man who will do this is more than one "feeling after God"; he has a definite conception of the nature and disposition of the Being to whom he is addressing himself. Thus it happens that old, familiar ideas of God, as He had been known in the days of light and joy, rise up in the heart of the miserable man, and awaken a longing desire to seek the help of One so great and good and merciful. Just in proportion to the fulness of the meaning of the name of God as it is conceived by us, will our prayers win definiteness of aim and strength of wing. The altar to "an unknown god" can excite but the feeblest and vaguest devotion. Inasmuch as our Lord has greatly enriched the contents of the name of God by His full revelation of the Divine Father, to us Christians there has come a more definite direction and a more powerful impulse for prayer. Even though this is a prayer de profundis it is an enlightened prayer. We may believe that, like a star seen from the depths of a well which excludes the glare of day, the significance of the sacred Name shone out to the sufferer with a beauty never before perceived when he looked up to heaven from the darkness of his pit of misery.
It has been suggested that in this passage the elegist is following the sixty-ninth psalm, and that perhaps that psalm is his own composition and the expression of the very prayer to which he is here referring. At all events, the psalm exactly fits the situation; and therefore it may be taken as a perfect illustration of the kind of prayer alluded to. The psalmist is "in deep mire, where there is no standing"; he has "come into deep waters, where the floods overthrow" him; he is persecuted by enemies who hate him "without a cause"; he has been weeping till his eyes have failed. Meanwhile he has been waiting for God, in prayers mingled with confessions. It is his zeal for Gods house that has brought him so near to death. He beseeches God that the flood may not be allowed to overwhelm him, nor "the pit shut her mouth upon him." He concludes with an invocation of curses upon the heads of his enemies. All these as well as some minor points agree very closely with our poets picture of his persecutions and the prayer he here records.
Read in the light of the elegists experience, such a prayer as that of the psalm cannot be taken as a model for daily devotion. It is a pity that our habitual use of the Psalter should encourage this application of it. The result is mischievous in several ways. It tends to make our worship unreal, because the experience of the psalmist, even when read metaphorically, as it was probably intended to be read, is by no means a type of the normal condition of human life. Besides, in so far as we bring ourselves to sympathise with this piteous outcry of a distressed soul, we reduce our worship to a melancholy plaint, when it should be a joyous anthem of praise. At the same time, we unconsciously temper the language we quote with the less painful feelings of our own experience, so that its force is lost upon us.
Yet the psalm is of value as a revelation of a souls agony relieved by prayer; and there are occasions when its very words can be repeated by men and women who are indeed overwhelmed by trouble. If we do not spoil the occasional by attempting to make it habitual it is wonderful to see how rich the Bible is in utterances to suit all cases and all conditions. Such an outpouring of a distressed heart as the elegist hints at and the psalmist illustrates, is itself full of profound significance. The stirring of a soul to its depths is a revelation of its depths. This revelation prevents us from taking petty views of human nature. No one can contemplate the Titanic struggle of Laocoon or the immeasurable grief of Niobe without a sense of the tragic greatness of which human life is capable. We live so much on the surface that we are in danger of forgetting that life is not always a superficial thing. But when a volcano bursts out of the quiet plain of everyday existence, we are startled into the perception that there must be hidden fires which we may not have suspected before. And, further, when the soul in its extremity is seen to be turning for refuge to God, the revelation of its Gethsemane gives a new meaning to the very idea of prayer. Here is prayer indeed, and at the sight of such a profound reality we are shamed into doubting whether we have ever begun to pray at all, so stiff and chill do our utterances to the Unseen now appear to be in comparison with this Jacob-like wrestling.
Immediately after mentioning the fact of his prayer the elegist adds that this was heard by God. His cry rose up from "the lowest dungeon" and reached the heights of heaven. And yet we cannot credit this to the inherent vigour of prayer. If a petition can thus wing its way to heaven, that is because it is of heavenly origin. There is no difficulty in making air to rise above water; the difficulty is to sink it; and if any could be taken to the bottom of the sea, the greater the depth descended the swifter would it shoot up. Since all true prayer is an inspiration it cannot spend itself until it has, so to speak, restored the equilibrium by returning to its natural sphere. But the elegist puts the case another way. In His great condescension God stoops to the very lowest depths to find one of His distressed children. It is not hard to make the prayer of the dungeon reach the ear of God, because God is in the dungeon. He is most near when He is most needed.
The prayer was more than heard; it was answered there was a Divine voice in response to this cry to God, a voice that reached the ear of the desolate prisoner in the silence of his dungeon. It consisted of but two words, but those two words were clear and unmistakable, and quite sufficient to satisfy the listener. The voice said, "Fear not." {Lam_3:57} That was enough.
Shall we doubt the reality of the remarkable experience that the elegist here records? Or can we explain it away by reference to the morbid condition of the mind of a prisoner enduring the punishment of solitary confinement? It is said that this unnatural punishment tends to develop insanity in its miserable victims. But the poet is now reviewing the occurrence, which made so deep an impression on his mind at the time, in the calm of later reflection; and evidently he has no doubt of its reality. It has nothing in it of the wild fancy of a disordered brain. Lunacy raves; this simple message is calm. And it is just such a message as God might be expected to give if He spoke at all-just like Him, we may say. To this remark some doubting critic may reply, "Exactly; and therefore the more likely to have been imagined by the expectant worshipper." But such an inference is not psychologically correct. The reply is not in harmony with the tone of the prayer, but directly opposed to it. Agony and terror cannot generate an assurance of peace and safety. The poison does not secrete its own antidote. Here is an indication of the presence of another voice, because the words breathe another spirit. Besides, this is not an unparalleled experience.
Most frequently, no doubt, the answer to prayer is not vocal, and yet the reality of it may not be any the less certain to the seeking soul. It may be most definite, although it comes in a deed rather than in a word. Then the grateful recipient can exclaim with the psalmist-
"This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.". {Psa_34:6}
Here is an answer, but not a spoken one, only an action, in saving from trouble. In other cases, however, the reply approaches nearer the form of a message from heaven. When we remember that God is our Father the wonder is not that at rare intervals these voices have been heard, but rather that they are so infrequent. It is so easy to become the victim of delusions that some caution is requisite to assure ourselves of the existence of Divine utterances. The very idea of the occurrence of such phenomena is discredited by the fact that those persons who profess most eagerly to have heard supernatural voices are commonly the subjects of hysteria; and when the voices become frequent this fact is taken by physicians as a symptom of approaching insanity. Among semi-civilised people madness is supposed to be closely allied to inspiration. The mantis is not far from the mad man. Such a man is not the better off for the march of civilisation. The ancients would have honoured him as a prophet; we shut him up in a lunatic asylum. But these discouraging considerations do not exhaust the question. Delusions are not in themselves disproofs of the existence of the occurrences they emulate. Each case must be taken on its own merits; and when, as in that which is now under our consideration, the character of the incident points to a conviction of its solid reality, it is only a mark of narrowness of thought to refuse to lift it out of the category of idle fancies.
But, quite apart from the question of the sounding of Divine voices in the bodily ear, the more important truth to be considered is that in some way, if only by spiritual impression, God does most really speak to His children, and that He speaks now as surely as He spoke in the days of Israel. We have no new prophets and apostles who can give us fresh revelations in the form of additions to our Bible. But that is not what is meant. The elegist did not receive a statement of doctrine in answer to his prayer, nor, on this occasion, even help for the writing of his inspired poetry. The voice to which he here alludes was of quite a different character.
This was in the olden times; but if then, why not also now? Evidently the elegist regarded it as a rare and wonderful occurrence-a single experience to which he looked back in after years with the interest one feels in a vivid recollection which rises like a mountain, clean cut against the sky, above the mists that so quickly gather on the low plains of the uneventful past. Perhaps it is only in one of the crises of life that such an indubitable message is sent-when the soul is in the lowest dungeon, in extremis, crying out of the darkness, helpless if not yet hopeless, overwhelmed, almost extinguished. But if we listened for it, who can tell but that the voice might not be so rare? We do not believe in it; therefore we do not hear it. Or the noise of the worlds great loom and the busy thoughts of our own hearts drown the music that still floats down from heaven to ears that are tuned to catch its notes; for it does not come in thunder, and we must ourselves be still if we would hear the still small voice, inwardly still, still in soul, stifling the chatter of self, stopping our ears to the din of the world. There are those today who tell us with calm assurance, not at all in the visionarys falsetto notes, that they have known just what is here described by the poet-in the silence of a mountain valley, in the quiet of a sick chamber, even in the noisy crowd at a railway station.
When this is granted it is still well for us to remember that we are not dependent for Divine consolation on voices which to many must ever be as dubious as they are rare. This short message of two words is in effect the essence of teachings that can be gathered as freely from almost every page of the Bible as flowers from a meadow in May. We have the "more sure word of prophecy," and the burden of it is the same as the message of the voice that comforted the poet in his dungeon.
That message is wholly reassuring-"Fear not." So said God to the patriarch: "Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward"; {Gen_15:1} and to His people through the prophet of the restoration: "Fear not, thou worm Jacob"; {Isa_41:14} and Jesus to His disciples in the storm: "Be of good cheer: it is I: be not afraid"; {Mar_6:50} and our Lord again in His parting address: "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful"; {Joh_14:27} and the glorified Christ to His terrified friend John, when He laid His right hand on him with the words: "Fear not; I am the first and the last; and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more, and I have the keys of death and of Hades." {Rev_1:17-18} This is the word that God is continually speaking to His faint-hearted children. When "the burthen of the mystery," and
"the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world"
oppress, when the greater sorrows threaten to crush outright, listening for the voice of God, we may hear the message of love from a Fathers heart as though spoken afresh to each of us; for we have but to acquaint ourselves with Him to be at peace.
The elegist does not recall this scene from his past life merely in order to indulge in the pleasures of memory-generally rather melancholy pleasures, and even mocking if they are in sharp contrast to the present. His object is to find encouragement for renewed hope in the efficacy of prayer. In the complaint that he has put into the mouth of His people He has just been depicting the failure of prayer. But now he feels that if for a time God has wrapped Himself in a mantle of wrath this cannot be forever, for He who was so gracious to the cry of His servant on that evermemorable occasion will surely attend again to the appeal of distress. This is always the greatest encouragement for seeking help from God. It is difficult to find much satisfaction in what is called with an awkward inconsequence of diction the "philosophy of prayer"; the spirit of philosophy is so wholly different from the spirit of prayer. The great justification for prayer is the experience of prayer. It is only the prayerless man who is wholly sceptical on this subject. The man of prayer cannot but believe in prayer; and the more he prays and the oftener he turns to this refuge in all times of need the fuller is his assurance that God hears and answers him.
Considering how God acted as his advocate when he was in danger in the earlier crisis, and then redeemed his life, the poet points to this fact as a plea in his new necessity. {Lam_3:58} God will not desert the cause He has adopted. Men feel a peculiar interest in those whom they have already helped, an interest that is stronger than the sense of gratitude, for we are more attracted to our dependants than to our benefactors. If God shares this feeling, how strongly must He be drawn to us by His many former favours. The language of the elegist gains a great enrichment of meaning when read in the light of the Christian Gospel. In a deep sense, of which he could have had but the least glimmering of apprehension, we can appeal to God as the Redeemer of our life, for we can take the Cross of Christ as our plea. St. Paul makes use of this strongest of all arguments when He urges that if God gave His Son, and if Christ died for us, all other needful blessings, since they cannot involve so great a sacrifice, will surely follow. Accordingly, we can pray in the language of the "Dies Irae"-
"Wearily for me Thou soughtest,
On the Cross my life Thou boughtest.
Lose not all for which Thou wroughtest."
Rising from the image of the advocate to that of the magistrate the distressed man begs God to judge his cause. {Lam_3:59} He would have God look at his enemies-how they wrong him, insult him, make him the theme of their jesting songs. {Lam_3:60-63}
It would have been more to our taste if the poem had ended here, if there had been no remaining letters in the Hebrew alphabet to permit the extension of the acrostics beyond the point we have now reached. We cannot but feel that its tone is lowered at the close. The writer here proceeds to heap imprecations on the heads of his enemies. It is vain for some commentators to plead the weak excuse that the language is "prophetic." This is certainly more than the utterance of a prediction. No unprejudiced reader can deny that it reveals a desire that the oppressors may be blighted and blasted with rum, and even if the words were only a foretelling of a divinely-decreed fate they would imply a keen sense of satisfaction in the prospect, which they describe as something to be gloated over. We cannot expect this Jewish patriot to anticipate our Lords intercession and excuse for His enemies. Even St. Paul so far forgot himself as to treat the High Priest in a very different manner from his Masters behaviour. But we may see here one of the worst effects of tyranny-the dark passion of revenge that it rouses in its victims. The provocation was maddening, and not only of a private nature. Think of the situation-the beloved city sacked and destroyed, the sacred temple a heap of smouldering ruins, village homesteads all over the hills of Judah wrecked and deserted; slaughter, outrage, unspeakable wrongs endured by wives and maidens, little children starved to death. Is it wonderful that the patriots temper was not the sweetest when he thought of the authors of such atrocities? There is no possibility of denying the fact-the fierce fires of Hebrew hatred for the oppressors of the much-suffering race here burst into a flame, and towards the end of this finest of elegies we read the dark imprecation, "Thy curse upon them!" {Lam_3:65}
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v52 (צ) Lam_3:52. They have hunted me down like a…
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—
(צ) Lam_3:52. They have hunted me down like a bird is hunted when pursued with the eagerness of those who are my enemies without cause, and who will not relax efforts till they catch the quarry.
Read full note →
Lam_3:53. He was haled to prison by them. They have cut off my life in the pit. Shut in from all activities and society, he was as a man dead, as in a tomb over which they have cast stone on me. Taking such illustrations to be chiefly figurative, yet here the first clause is a probable allusion to the treatment of Jeremiah (Jer_38:6), and the second may refer to an unmentioned incident of the same time, for which corroboration may be found in the case of Daniel (Dan_6:17.)
Lam_3:54. The peril was aggravated by waters that flowed over my head; the plural perhaps indicating the influx of a spring and the condensation of vapour in the closeness of a pit. In a state so desperate to the eyes of flesh, I said, I am cut off as a man that has no help (Psa_88:4), as He was who became sin for us (Isa_53:8).
The remaining verses of the chapter take the form of prayer, as at the close of Chapters
1. and
2. In it there are thanksgivings for relief (Lam_3:55-58), an appeal because of the evil which enemies had done and were doing (Lam_3:59-63), and a call for recompense therefor (Lam_3:64-66).
(ק) Lam_3:55. I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, asking with some true idea of what the words and works of the God of Israel revealed concerning Himself, suggestive, too, of the manner in which the Lord Jesus would have His friends to pray—Ask the Father in My name—out of the depths of the pit into which he had been thrown.
Lam_3:56. A more true position is secured than that which was held previously (Lam_3:8; Lam_3:44). My voice thou heardest at that time when I besought thee with my spirit and voice, Hide not—close not—thine ear at my breathing—my sighing for relief—at my cry. It is questionable if the rendering, Hide not thine ear for my cry for relief, is not rather an explanation than a fair version.
Lam_3:57. Thou drewest near in the day I called upon thee. Only spiritual apprehension of God as He who is behind all events and plenteous in mercy can bring a conviction of accepted prayer. The heart is then in a state to hear His comforting words, Thou saidst, Fear not.
(ר) Lam_3:58. There were rights to be maintained, wrongs to be redressed, and in both help was received from a present God. Thou, O Jehovah, hast pleaded—contended for—the causes of my soul. One thing had hurt his soul (Lam_3:51), but others also saddened and weakened thought and effort, and the Lord had counteracted them. He had also interfered when hope of living was cut off, Thou hast redeemed my life by Thy power over all.
HOMILETICS
A FAITHFUL PROPHET IN TROUBLE
(Lam_3:52-58)
I. Cruelly treated by his enemies. “Mine enemies chased me sore like a bird, without cause: I am cut off” (Lam_3:52-54). In these verses, and to the end of the chapter, Jeremiah deals with his own personal afflictions. Without the least provocation, he was treated with the most malignant enmity. He was harassed, as a bird is tired out, and at length run down by continuous pursuit. He is overwhelmed with trouble, and is as one imprisoned in a dungeon, shut off from the current of active life. He acknowledged the righteousness of the Divine dealings, but he was keenly alive to the unrighteousness and undeserved cruelty of his persecutors. Had he been the aggressor, he might have expected retaliation, but he was oppressed without cause. His enemies were actuated by sheer hatred. His only fault was his faithfulness to God and to his own conscience. Simple goodness often rouses the wanton animosity of the wicked.
II. Seeks refuge in prayer. “I called upon Thy name, O Lord; hide not Thine ear at my cry” (Lam_3:55-56). It is a relief to turn from the cruelty of man to the compassion and power of God. The soul is never so helpless but that it can pray. When we can do nothing else, we can pray. Prayer is the language of need, and we are comforted with the assurance that God will hear, and not only hear but help. It seemed at one time that prayer was useless (Lam_3:44); but better thoughts prevailed, and the soul discovered that the cry for help was not in vain. “Prayer is the breath of the new man, sucking in the air of mercy in petitions and returning it in praises; it is both the evidence and the maintenance of the spiritual life.”
III. Rescued by Divine aid. “Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee; Thou saidst, Fear not. O Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; Thou has redeemed my life” (Lam_3:57-58). When we draw near to God in prayer, He draws near to us. Our troubles are overwhelming when God is absent and we are left to ourselves. With His manifested presence our troubles vanish, and we are inspired with strength to endure and to triumph.
LESSONS.—
1. Fidelity makes many enemies.
2. The nation that ill-uses its best men courts its own ruin.
3. The Lord is ever on the side of the faithful.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Lam_3:54-57. The efficacy of prayer. I. These words show to what a state God’s most favoured servants may be reduced—extreme suffering, tears, despondency. II. The remedy open to them. Prayer expressed in cries, groans, breathings, sighs. III. The efficacy of that remedy whenever it is applied. “Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee; Thou saidst, Fear not.” In these words we hear the consolatory voice of God. Marvellous condescension; certainty of help and deliverance.—Simeon.
Lam_3:57. A wonder explained by greater wonders. I. An explanation of this wonder. God doth draw near to men.
1. Men have ever been in the thoughts of God.
2. God came tenderly near in nature.
3. The Lord Jesus was specially near in the days of His life on earth.
4. He came still nearer to us in His death.
5. In heaven He is perpetually near us.
6. Jesus may well come near to His people, for there is a mystical union which ensures it. II. Consider the wonder itself.
1. By no means is this wonder at all contrary to expectation.
2. God draws near by strengthening us to bear up under pressure.
3. By vouchsafing a doubly vivid sense of His love.
4. By granting a sensible assurance of His sympathy.
5. By speedy and remarkable deliverance out of trouble.
6. The text indicates surprise concerning the memorable graciousness of God.
7. The promptness of God.
8. The extreme tenderness of God.—C. H. Spurgeon.
Lam_3:58. God pleading for saints and saints pleading for God. I. The Divine pleading.
1. The Lord pleads our cause in the court of Providence by silencing enemies and by raising up friends for His people.
2. He pleads for them in the court of Divine law.
3. In the court of conscience.
4. In the court of heaven.
5. And at the last great day of judgment. II. If the Lord hath pleaded the causes of our soul, we should plead His cause while we have breath to pray.
1. This is the life-work of the Christian.
2. Should be done in witnessing for Christ by our consistency of conduct.
3. We can all plead for Christ in a private way. Be it mine to weep for the sins of the time and prophesy against them. Be it yours in your own private walk and conversation to rebuke private sin, and by your loving earnestness to make Jesus Christ dear to many souls!—C. H. Spurgeon.
ILLUSTRATIONS.—Faithfulness in service. If you and I show that we attach importance to the solemn performance of even the slightest duty connected with our dear Master’s service; that we consider even the office of doorkeeper in His house an office of honour; that, convinced of His presence, we are as devout in offering the prayers when only two or three are present as when there are two or three hundred—we shall find His blessing attending us, and we shall be the means of converting others.—Dean Hook.
—A carpenter was once asked, Why he troubled to finish off a certain magistrate’s bench so carefully? His reply was, “I can’t do otherwise; besides, I may have to sit on it one of these days.”
Faithful to death. When Commodore Joseph Smith saw by the first despatch that reached Washington from Fortress Monroe that the Congress, on which his son was commander, had shown the white flag, he said, “Then Joe’s dead.” It was so.
Prayer an ever-open refuge. St. Cuthbert was once in a snowstorm that drove his boat on the coast of Fife. “The snowstorm closes the road along the shore,” mourned his comrades; “the storm bars our way over the sea.” “There is still the way of heaven; that lies open,” said the devoted saint.
Divine aid works a marvellous change. Probably there is nowhere on the globe so marked a climatic boundary as that of the Cascade Mountains in both Washington Territory and Oregon. West of this boundary the winters are mild and the summers cool and showery; east of it the winters are sharp and dry and the summers very hot. On one side are gigantic firs and cedars, while on the other all are of poor size and condition. Even the flowers are of new species, and all the atmospheric conditions are changed. The line that lies between the unsaved and the saved, once crossed, what changes are manifest! “If any man be in Jesus Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; lo, all things have become new.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v58 Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa 59:20")…
redeemed
Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa 59:20") .
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v55 Prayer for Deliverance
Prayer for Deliverance
v. 55. I called upon Thy name, O Lord, thus overcoming the despair which was trying to paralyze his faith, out of the low dungeon, out of the pit which threatened to become his grave.
Read full note →
v. 56. Thou hast heard my voice, so he cries out in the triumphant confidence of his faith; hide not Thy ear at my breathing, at my cry, as he recovered his breath sufficiently to lay his case before Jehovah once more.
v. 57. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee. Thou saidst, Fear not, thus assuring the believer of His merciful interest and assistance. Cf Psa 145:18.
v. 58. O Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul, being active in all matters pertaining to the believer’s welfare; Thou hast redeemed my life, rescuing him from what seemed to be certain destruction.
v. 59. O Lord, Thou hast seen my wrong, how his rights were violated by the enemies; judge Thou my cause, securing for him the right which he knew was on his side.
v. 60. Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me, all their vindictive, malicious devices.
v. 61. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me,
v. 62. the lips of those that rose up against me, with scornful mockery, and their device against me all the day, as they meditated evil.
v. 63. Behold their sitting down and their rising up, observing all the conduct and doing of the enemies; I am their music, the object of their derisive songs.
v. 64. Render unto them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands, as they had so plentifully deserved it.
v. 65. Give them sorrow of heart, literally, "blindness or covering of heart," a stupidity which shut them out from spiritual understanding, Thy curse unto them!
v. 66. Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord, so that they would be forever removed from the sphere of Jehovah’s kingdom of the world, thereby losing all their opportunity to do any more harm. Christians may well pray that God would foil all attempts of the enemies to take away His honor and to harm the cause of His kingdom in the world.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv55, 58 I called on your name
I called on your name
God's name represents his character, and here, "called on your name" represents trusting God's character and calling on him for help. AT: "I called to you for help" (See: Metonymy)
Read full note →
from the depths of the pit
Possible meanings are 1) this refers to the pit that author had been thrown into. AT: "from the bottom of the pit" or 2) the author was afraid that he would die soon, so he spoke as if he were in the place of the dead. AT: "from the pit of the dead"
You heard my voice
Here "voice" represents what he said. AT: "You heard my words" (See: Metonymy)
Do not close your ear
Here "close your ear" represents refusing to listen. AT: "Do not refuse to listen" (See: Metonymy)
You came near
People often come near to a person they help. Here "came near" represents helping the man. AT: "you helped me" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
call
name
Yahweh
pit
voice
fear
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv52, 58 3:52-57 This passage might refer to Jeremiah’s experience in…
3:52-57 This passage might refer to Jeremiah’s experience in the cistern (Jer 37:11-15; 38:1-13).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.