Lamentations Commentary

Introduction

In this document, I have revised, condensed, and paraphrased the book of Lamentations for the purpose of more easily understanding and grasping what it was like to live in those times when Babylon sieged Jerusalem (587 BC), destroyed the city, and exiled her people. The original text is actually like a dirge or funeral song. Don’t think American, think more Middle Eastern. Think something very somber.

Because of this, the information is scattered all throughout the book without the best logical order. So I did my best to organize it in such a way that reads more like Jeremiah is retelling the events that took place. To have a better understanding of what’s really going on here, I would recommend reading the book of Jeremiah because in it, Jeremiah speaks about all of the sins of the people of Israel and Judah and how they have turned away from the Lord. Also, read Deuteronomy 28 about God’s covenant with Israel and all the warnings for disobeying that covenant. If you’re just jumping into Lamentations without reading Jeremiah or Deuteronomy 28, you might be wondering why God would do all these things to His people. But it was because of their sins. God had sent them prophet after prophet, message after message, and warning after warning, but the people were still rebellious and stubborn in heart. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet to them as a young man and he preached to them his whole life but only a couple people are recorded to have believed in him. And even after Jerusalem’s destruction they didn’t believe in him, though he had prophesied time and time again that this would happen and it finally came to pass. God was more than patient with them. Even right up until the siege took place, God gave them options for lesser punishment but they refused (Jer. 38:2, 17). See also Jeremiah 32 and 37 for further study.

The people of Jerusalem could have avoided judgement but they chose not to because they didn’t believe anything like this could ever happen to them. They thought they were untouchable. After all, the Lord’s temple was in Jerusalem. How could God destroy His own beautiful and holy temple? And so they didn’t believe in Jeremiah whenever he prophesied that destruction would come upon them if they didn’t turn away from their sins. Though their sins were great, God makes it clear in both the book of Jeremiah and the book of Lamentations that He does not delight in seeing people suffer. So this isn’t some kind of cruel or sick joke. God is not malevolent. He wants to bring His salvation throughout the whole world but He can’t do that if His own people don’t even believe in Him or love Him anymore. He wants to bring eternal life to the world. But Jerusalem was getting in the way because their hearts had proved to be hardened in their sin beyond what any warning or rebuke could fix. So God destroyed them to the end that they would humble themselves again to seek the Lord and enter back into relationship with Him. God wants to have our hearts—He always has. God’s love is holy, jealous, and fierce. He will win His people back by any means necessary. He is also just, which means He is equitable. So God governs the world and punishes sin. Just because Judah and Israel were God’s chosen people, that doesn’t mean they can just get away with everything. God brings justice to all the nations as well as His own people because He is not a God to show partiality.

I have condensed each chapter and have sought to re-organize the words and add meaning to the language, all while being as faithful as possible to the original message of the text. Most of the sufferings that these people endured is straightforward information. However, when it comes to Jeremiah’s relationship with God, his prayers, and how he interpreted what was going on, this is where I wrote a paraphrase that is more line by line through the text. I used various translations and Blueletter Bible lexicons to seek out the author’s true meaning. You can find that section in chapter three.

To understand the book of Lamentations, it’s important to note that since these are somber songs, they are written in a poetic fashion. This means that we have to interpret poetic literature not super literally if we are going to be faithful stewards of the Bible. It’s not a good idea to place the foundations of our theology upon songs that were translated literally from poetic literature from an ancient language. We must also keep in mind that these songs were probably written with the intention of them being sung by the people once they were exiled in memory of their sufferings. So the way the author writes them may reflect that intention. The grief that the author expresses is sometimes his own grief and sometimes he places himself in the shoes of his own people and speaks on their behalf. After all, the grief of his own people is his grief because he loves them so much. He identifies himself with their suffering, even though it is justly deserved. In how he expresses himself, we can also see the heart of Jesus over our suffering (Mt. 23:37; Jn. 11:35; Lk 23:28).

Even though Jeremiah is aware that God’s judgement was rightfully deserved for Jerusalem, he struggles to see it. He struggles to believe it. The pain and agony of their suffering were so intense that it was all too easy to lose sight of God and what is true. He was still human, after all. He was there in Jerusalem with his people when these things happened and his affection for his people is so fond that he uses phrases like, “my dear people,” or “my children.” He doesn’t cut his heart off from them to avoid the pain but he suffers with them.

Far from our Father God being distant and aloof in our suffering, we must remember that He sent Jesus to this world to suffer alongside us. So may no one make the accusation that God is uncaring or turns a blind eye to our afflictions because Jesus identified with us in our sufferings. He bore our suffering on our behalf on the cross. He left the glories and pleasures of heaven to come down to this world of affliction so that He could rescue us from it—to give us abundant life and eternal life.

The purpose of this commentary is not to be super detailed or exhaustive. There are other commentaries for that. My goal is to just help the reader get the main idea and message, especially in our modern culture with our short attention spans. Below are the paraphrased sections. For some areas, I did not paraphrase but just added the New Living Translation to fill in the rest of the verses to continue reading. Those sections are clearly designated. I would recommend reading the book of Lamentations or reading this paraphrase out loud.

Lamentations Paraphrase

Chapters 1-2: (loose paraphrase + revision)

Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem
They have cut off our supply routes
Every day feels like an eternity
It’s not safe to go into the fields to gather food
It’s not safe to walk about in the streets
But we have to find food and water somewhere

We have no rest day and night
Our strength fails us
But if we were to fall asleep
We may never wake up
For our bodies are weak
And there are dangers all around

The cries and groanings were once loud
But they have slowly faded into faint whispers
Until all we heard was silence…

For our strength left us
And the trauma has broken our hearts forever
Is there any hope of recovery?
Could we ever be healed from our miseries?
Oh, daughter Jerusalem, your ruin is as vast as the sea
Who can heal you?

Should infants die of hunger in their mother’s arms?
Should women eat their own children?
Should the kids faint and die of hunger in the streets?
Should priests and prophets be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary?
Should young men and women be slaughtered in the streets by the sword?
All these have been killed in the day of your anger

The streets that were once crowed with people…
The nations that once flocked to Jerusalem for her festivals…
The laughter of parties…
The delight of songs…
The celebration of the groom and the bride…
…have all but departed from us
The streets are deserted

Oh Jerusalem…
What have you done?
The Great One among the nations is now like a widow
Once a Princess among provinces
Now forced into labor
Will anyone look upon your affliction in compassion?

Though you weep bitterly in the night
And tears flow down your cheeks
You have no one to comfort you
All your friends have left you
Even your lovers have rejected you
They all stabbed you in the back

Your adversaries have become your masters
Your enemies laugh over you and enjoy themselves
For the Lord has made you suffer because of all your sins
Your children have been taken away from you

All your beautiful splendor has vanished
Your precious belongings have been taken from you
Your enemies trample their feet in the most holy place
Even your leaders have become a prey
Your beautiful city has been turned upside-down

Lamentations 2:1-11 (NLT)

The Lord in his anger
has cast a dark shadow over beautiful Jerusalem.
The fairest of Israel’s cities lies in the dust,
thrown down from the heights of heaven.
In his day of great anger,
the Lord has shown no mercy even to his Temple.

2 Without mercy the Lord has destroyed
every home in Israel.
In his anger he has broken down
the fortress walls of beautiful Jerusalem.
He has brought them to the ground,
dishonoring the kingdom and its rulers.

3 All the strength of Israel
vanishes beneath his fierce anger.
The Lord has withdrawn his protection
as the enemy attacks.
He consumes the whole land of Israel
like a raging fire.

4 He bends his bow against his people,
as though he were their enemy.
His strength is used against them
to kill their finest youth.
His fury is poured out like fire
on beautiful Jerusalem.

5 Yes, the Lord has vanquished Israel
like an enemy.
He has destroyed her palaces
and demolished her fortresses.
He has brought unending sorrow and tears
upon beautiful Jerusalem.

6 He has broken down his Temple
as though it were merely a garden shelter.
The Lord has blotted out all memory
of the holy festivals and Sabbath days.
Kings and priests fall together
before his fierce anger.

7 The Lord has rejected his own altar;
he despises his own sanctuary.
He has given Jerusalem’s palaces
to her enemies.
They shout in the Lord’s Temple
as though it were a day of celebration.

8 The Lord was determined
to destroy the walls of beautiful Jerusalem.
He made careful plans for their destruction,
then did what he had planned.
Therefore, the ramparts and walls
have fallen down before him.

9 Jerusalem’s gates have sunk into the ground.
He has smashed their locks and bars.
Her kings and princes have been exiled to distant lands;
her law has ceased to exist.
Her prophets receive
no more visions from the Lord.

10 The leaders of beautiful Jerusalem
sit on the ground in silence.
They are clothed in burlap
and throw dust on their heads.
The young women of Jerusalem
hang their heads in shame.

11 I have cried until the tears no longer come;
my heart is broken.
My spirit is poured out in agony
as I see the desperate plight of my people.
Little children and tiny babies
are fainting and dying in the streets.

Chapter 3: (verse by verse paraphrase)

I am the one who has seen all the afflictions
that have come from God’s wrath
I’ve had to walk in some very dark times
But all the day, God does not help me

The suffering of my people is my suffering
God has caused my flesh and skin to waste away
He causes my bones to ache in pain

He has laid siege against the walls of my life
All around me is bitter poison and hardship
The darkness is my home like those in the grave

I’m trapped and I can’t get out!
I am weighed down with heavy chains
Though I cry and shout for help
I am not heard
There is no answer
My prayers do not make it up

I try to find a way out
But the way is blocked with large rocks
So the path ahead is crooked and uncertain
I don’t know where to turn

Like a bear sneaking in the forest
Like a lion hiding in tall grass
And waiting to attack
So God has attacked my whole life
My journey has been torn to pieces
And my future comes to ruin
My life lays there desolate

The Lord drew back His bow
And aimed at me for the target
His arrows pierced into my innermost being

I was the household joke of every party
I was a laughingstock among my people
They even wrote and sang songs mocking me
Their derision and cruelty never ceased

My life is filled with bitterness
I do not cease drinking the bitter cup of sorrows
Every time I drink more, my cup is always filled to the brim
Sand and rocks are constantly crushed under my teeth
Because in anguish, you make me lie on the ground
I am always covered in ashes in my mourning
I am always laying in the dust
All who look upon me despise and shame me

What is “peace”?
What is “happiness”?
What is “prosperity”?
I don’t know what these things are anymore…

So, I said to myself:
My strength and endurance are gone
I can’t do it anymore
I have lost hope
Where are you, God?

Remember me in all my afflictions:
I have been like a wandering vagabond
Bitterness and poison have been my food
As I recall my own suffering, I am depressed

But as I think upon the Lord, I have hope
Because…

Yahweh’s faithful lovingkindness never ends
His compassions never fail
His mercies never cease
They are new every morning
Great is your faithfulness, Yahweh!

I will put my hope in You
Because You are my portion
You are my inheritance
Therefore, in You I wait expectantly

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him
To those who seek Him

It is good to patiently and calmly wait for the deliverance of the Lord
It is good to submit to the yoke of the Lord’s discipline at an early age
Let him learn how to be quiet and how to listen
Let him learn when not to speak
Let him humble himself before the Lord’s discipline and instruction
And embrace His discipline when it is heavy
And maybe there will be hope for his future

Let him turn the other cheek to those who strike him
And endure the insults of those who speak evil of him
Let him endure the shame and reproach

For the Lord will not push us away or reject us forever
He has not forgotten us or left us indefinitely
For if He brings us grief, He will also show compassion
According to the abundance of His faithful love
For He does not enjoy people’s suffering or causing them pain and sorrow
This is not what comes from His heart

He does not enjoy seeing people crush prisoners under their feet
Or depriving each other of justice
Or twisting the law and defrauding one another in the courts
God sees all these things and He does not approve

Who can speak a word or utter a command
Without the Lord first commanding it to come to pass?
Will anything get past the approval of the One who sees all things?
Does not both good and adversity come from the spoken approval of the Most High?
If any person still has life within them, should they complain considering that they have sinned? Should anyone complain in light of their sins?

Let us search out and examine our ways
So that we may turn back to the Lord
Let us lift up our heart and hands
To God in heaven and say:

“We have sinned and rebelled;
You have not forgiven us
The shadow of your anger covers us
You have pursued us and hunted us down
We begged for mercy but our prayers were not heard
You slaughtered us and did not spare a soul”

“A particular cloud of glory covers you
So that our prayers cannot reach you
You have made us the most unpleasant
Sight and smell among the nations
We are as refuse in their sight
You just threw us away!”

“All our enemies open their mouths against us
Their words tremble our bones
Panic has set in
Our ruin is near
Devastation and destruction are at our door!”

Lamentations 3:48-63 (NLT)

48 Tears stream from my eyes
because of the destruction of my people!

49 My tears flow endlessly;
they will not stop
50 until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.
51 My heart is breaking
over the fate of all the women of Jerusalem.

52 My enemies, whom I have never harmed,
hunted me down like a bird.
53 They threw me into a pit
and dropped stones on me.
54 The water rose over my head,
and I cried out, “This is the end!”

55 But I called on your name, Lord,
from deep within the pit.
56 You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading!
Hear my cry for help!”
57 Yes, you came when I called;
you told me, “Do not fear.”

58 Lord, you have come to my defense;
you have redeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong they have done to me, Lord.
Be my judge, and prove me right.
60 You have seen the vengeful plots
my enemies have laid against me.

61 Lord, you have heard the vile names they call me.
You know all about the plans they have made.
62 My enemies whisper and mutter
as they plot against me all day long.
63 Look at them! Whether they sit or stand,
I am the object of their mocking songs.

Paraphrase resumed:

You will repay them, Oh Lord,
According to the works they have done
Their deeds will return to them
You will deliver them over to their depravity
Their hearts will become covered in blindness
Their hearts will grow dull
A curse will be upon them
You will pursue them in your anger
And utterly destroy them
From under the heavens of Yahweh!

Chapter 4: (loose paraphrase + revision)

Your beautiful temple that was once our delight
Has now been removed from our sight
It was the sun of our hope and salvation that shone on a hill
Now a pile of rubble and smoldering fire to our ill

The walls that were once our protection and fortress have been torn down
The gates and walls of Jerusalem lay in the dust
The armies entered into our city, laid waste to us, and slew us to the ground
They hunted us like animals and returned us to the dust

The brightness and glimmer of gold has become dull
Pieces of the temple lie scattered across the streets
The beautiful children that once brought radiant joy to our hearts
Are now disregarded and treated as worthless
Even wolves are more compassionate to their young
But my dear people no longer nurse their babies

The infants beg and cry for food
But their tongues are dry from thirst
The children cry out, “Mommy! mommy! I’m hungry!”
But their cries go unanswered
They are left starving and shriveled

The punishment of my dear people is worse than Sodom!
Who was overthrown in an instant with no human intervention!

Those who once ate the richest of foods
Now beg for anything they can get
Those who once wore the finest of clothes
Now rummage and search the garbage for a meal

Everyone’s skin has shriveled to their bones
They all walk around like sticks
The once radiant glow of their skin has perished
Even the nobles are not recognizable anymore
The most fit young men have become like the elderly
The once bright and clean appearance of dignitaries
Has now become darker than soot
And no one recognizes each other anymore

Even being pierced through with a sword
Would be better than living this atrocity!

The sounds of joy and laughter have left us
They have been replaced with cries and groanings
Yet we looked out and squinted from the watchtowers
Maybe our allies would come and save us!
Our eyes grew weary
Our hope faded
No one was coming…

As our end drew near
We realized
We were done for
Our days were finished
This is the end

But how could this happen?
Even the kings of the earth were in disbelief
And all the inhabitants of the world
How could an enemy or adversary enter her gates?
How could the great city of Zion crumble?

It was because of our sins
Even the “holy” people of God became defiled
No one looked upon them with favor anymore
They were treated like leppers
No one dared to even draw near them
After all, even if their false gods were real,
Who would even think about sacrificing children?
And by fire, nonetheless…

So, they hopelessly wandered for a home
But found none
Not even the other nations wanted them
They lived like vagabonds
Because God cut them off from His presence
His favor left them and they were scattered
They were viewed as a curse and a plight on society

The Lord has fulfilled His wrath
Because He ignited the fire
He has poured out His fierce anger
Until the foundations of Zion were consumed

Daughter Zion,
Your punishment is complete
Your days of exile will not be lengthened

Chapter 5: (loose paraphrase + revision)

Oh Lord, see all the things that have happened to us
We are disgraced and dishonored among men
Our wealth and futures have been taken from us
They have been given to strangers
All our possessions
And everything we’ve worked so hard for
Slaves rule over us

We are all tired
But there is no rest
There is no reprieve
Even from our own people
We must keep a watchful eye

Our young daughters were raped and ravaged
Our young men were beaten and forced into labor
We have to pay for water and firewood
Even the nobles had to fight for survival
There are cries in the street for help but no one to rescue
We have to hunt and gather food like prey among lions

But even still we are starving
Our hunger burns our bodies
Even the sweetest women I once knew
Have resorted to eating their own children
Because they could not endure the gnawing pain
To survive, they did what they had to
But can their hearts ever be cleansed from this evil?

An eerie silence comes across the streets
Words of wisdom from the elders were no longer heard at the gate
The young men no longer played their music
Joy has left our hearts and our dancing has turned to mourning
Our pride and glory has been ripped from us
Our anointed king and holy temple are gone
Oh the shock and horror and silence of disbelief!
…the crown of Zion has fallen to the ground…

Oh, what have we done!? Our sins must be so great!
Our hearts are crushed with grief and sink down within us
We cry a fountain of tears until our eyes grow dim
Because Mount Zion lays desolate
Wolves prowl around in her
Scavengers now run the streets
But you, oh Lord, are never defeated
Your throne remains forever

Have you forgotten us, God?
Why is our suffering so long?
Restore us, oh God
Heal our unfaithfulness
Bring us back to the days of old
Or is your anger still burning?
Have you rejected us forever?
Return us to you, oh God

Lamentations Commentary

Throughout this book, the author goes back and forth between when certain events took place. They are not in chronological order. Sometimes he describes what their lives were like during the siege and sometimes he describes what their lives were like after the siege when the destruction of Jerusalem was complete.

Chapter 1

1:1 Jerusalem was once a thriving city but after the siege, invasion, and deportation of her people to Babylon to exile, there wasn’t much left.

1:2 Speaking of Jerusalem: None of her allies came to help her when the Babylonians (Chaldeans) attacked her. None of her false gods helped her either.

1:5 The city’s masters were now the Babylonians. Also, the sins of the parents have consequential effects for their children.

1:6 Those who once comfortably ruled the land are now running for their lives just to survive.

1:7 When all their precious belonging had been taken from them, they sure had plenty of time to think about how good life used to be and where they were now.

1:8 Because of Jerusalem’s sins and all the destruction that came upon her as a result, she was an ugly sight to behold. She had to bear the humiliation of her ugly nakedness. All the prosperous and pleasant things that once clothed her were now gone and no one saw any value in her anymore. The nations despised her and she despised herself.

1:9 Her “immorality” (NLT) or the uncleanliness in her “skirts” is referring to her harlotry/prostitution business where the women would constantly have abortions (Jer. 2:34). She gave no thought as to how her sins might affect her future and so when her punishment came, it caught her completely off guard.

1:10 The Lord’s temple and even the holy of holies area in the temple was not holy anymore because God had removed His presence from the temple and all of Jerusalem’s enemies could just casually walk around in there to taunt and mock and desecrate.

1:11 In times of desperate hunger, people will sell their most treasured possessions for a fraction of a cost just so that they can get a loaf of bread to satisfy their hungry stomachs.

1:12 Most translations say “fierce anger,” or “burning anger,” but NLT says, “when he erupted in fierce anger.” I do not like how NLT translated this because it sounds like God is a boiling volcano waiting to erupt because He can’t hold it in anymore. But God has perfect self-control so His anger does not work that way. When God is angry, He chooses to be angry. It’s not an emotion that just comes over Him to where he just “loses it.” When people pass by Jerusalem, they are unsympathetic to her suffering even though she wants people to look upon her with pity and compassion. But no one cares for her, even though she points out the magnitude of her suffering.

1:13-22 Is this speaking of God’s judgement coming down on the city or is Jeremiah speaking for himself? Or is Jeremiah personifying Jerusalem? I think this latter option is the case.

1:14 NLT makes this verse more understandable. The idea is that their sins were symbolically ropes that God then tied onto a yoke of captivity and exile on toward Babylon. Their strength had left them because they are slave laborers now.

1:15 Trampling down grapes in a winepress is visual imagery of God’s judgement. To get the juice out of the grapes, people would step on them and squish everything out. But for God’s judgement, instead of red juice coming out of grapes/wine, it’s blood.

1:16 It’s a very sad situation when the sins of the parents affect and ruin the lives of the children.

1:17 God issued a decree against Jerusalem that all the cities and nations around them should be their enemies. Because of this, any plea for help would be a waste of breath. God’s decree was in line with who the nations were in their sins and character, so God didn’t need to force anyone’s hand (Jer. 18:1-12). God is a skillful orchestrator in the events of life. Jerusalem would have to bear her punishment for breaking God’s covenant and rules for them.

1:18-22 Verse 18 acknowledges God to be just in all His actions in punishing Jerusalem and it confesses the sin of Jerusalem. Then in verse 20, it acknowledges sin again but also asks God to look on all her distress with sympathy. Verses 21-22 then speaks of Jerusalem’s enemies who rejoice over her destruction and suffering. The author prays on behalf of the city that Jerusalem’s enemies would also be brought to justice. The prayer brought some sense of relief in hoping and believing that whatever evil had been done against Jerusalem would one day be paid back. Though God orchestrated the use of Babylon to punish Israel, the sins of the invaders were their own because they did it all in their own free-will. For this reason, they will not escape God’s punishment.

Chapter 2

2:1 Like a dark cloud, Zion (Jerusalem), has been overshadowed in the Lord’s anger. Darkness covers her. Previously, Zion’s glory had risen to the heights of heaven but now it has been cast down to the earth. Not even God’s temple (which is associated with his footrest) was spared.

2:2 God has “swallowed up” or “destroyed” every home in Israel. Some translations say “without compassion” (CSB) or “without mercy” (NLT), but the Hebrew simply indicates that God did not spare. So it would not be accurate to say that God lacked compassion but it would be accurate to say that He did not show compassion. A modern illustration would be kind of like a bulldozer running over all the houses on the street and destroying everything in its path. Not even the strongest and most well-built structures stood when the demolition was finished.

2:3 The thing that God has cut off from Israel is their “horn,” which most translations render as “strength.” But the visual imagery here is of a ram’s horn used as a trumpet to strengthen the soldiers for battle and to terrify the enemy. So the author is saying here that in God’s fierce anger, that trumpet has been taken away from them, God’s protection has been removed, and the armies come at them and attack them like a raging fire. Everything it touches is consumed. God’s wrath consumes them through the use of these armies. Both physically and psychologically, their strength has been cut off from them and their knees are weak in their despondency.

2:4 With His bow, God shot down everyone in His sights that seemed good to Him. The enemy was not God—it was Israel, because they had rebelled against the Lord. The imagery also seems to allude to fire arrows that consumed tents and small homes.

2:5 Like Pac-Man?

2:6 The kings and priests were not living for God. They did not listen to God’s warnings. So in the demonstration of God’s wrath against them, they were despised. The word here is “spurn,” which means that God looked down upon them in distain or contempt. Additionally, the word “indignation” or “fierce anger” is used which conveys the idea that because their actions were unjust, God was angry at them. God had given them and blessed them with so many things, yet they turned their backs on Him. If the people’s hearts were far from Him, what delight would God take in sacrifices and offerings at His temple? What purpose did the Sabbath days have or all the holy festivals? These things would not be pleasing to God if their hearts were not right. God was done with all their hypocrisy and so He destroyed all their outward forms of worship. May we be careful to not become busy doing so much for God that our hearts veer off course from what is really important.

2:7 God abandons His temple and all that was “sacred” or “holy.” He now despises these things because they had become defiled by the hearts and sins of the people. So God handed them over to their enemies and allowed them to shout victory chants in His temple.

2:8 The destruction of the walls of Jerusalem were planned by God and because God had determined it to happen, it came to pass. God’s plan for them was to be in exile and to submit to the Babylonians rulership for seventy years. If the walls were still intact, that part of the plan and prophecy might not come to pass. At the end of the verse, most translations personify the walls as lamenting and languishing together.

2:9 The kings have been exiled to other nations and without anyone to enforce the laws, there is a lawless society. The prophets no longer receive visions from the Lord. Jeremiah is most likely speaking of himself when he said this along with the prophets: Uriah, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk. It’s possible he could have been speaking of all the other prophets. However, the other prophets kept giving false prophecies of peace and safety and prosperity to come. So the Lord never sent those guys and they were just speaking lies or whatever their lofty imaginations could conjure up. They were never useful to begin with except to provide false hope and a false sense of security. Regardless, the main point here is that the people were without any direction or vision. All the people who once led them were either gone or of no use. No one knew what to do.

2:10 The young women of Jerusalem continually walk with their heads down. This means that they always have a troubled heart, their purpose in life is gone, and they are without hope. They were depressed. They just didn’t care anymore, even with how unsafe it was out on the streets. They chose to put their heads down rather than to fight for their lives to remain vigilant. This is how horrifying life can be during war and siege. Oftentimes, it’s just not worth living anymore or fighting to stay alive. The elders as well feel the same way. It’s a mourning ritual to wear sackcloth, to be on the ground, and then cover yourself with dirt or ashes. But in this description, they aren’t mourning—they’re silent. They have fallen victim to depression and trauma as well.

2:11 Jeremiah is speaking here of himself witnessing all these horrors. Somehow, he has not fallen victim to clinical depression. He still feels things. He still grieves. Yet, he cries so much that tears no longer come out. His spirit is in agony. So why does Jeremiah still cry but the others don’t? Maybe it’s simply a choice. But maybe it’s also because of his strong faith in God and the hope he sees for the future that God has not utterly forgotten or forsaken His people. God would come back for His people to heal their unfaithfulness one day.

2:13 Jeremiah acknowledges that there probably isn’t anything he can do to help his own people. Is there anything he can say to even comfort them? Both their inward and outward destructions are as deep and wide as the sea. Can they be healed from this?

2:14 At the time, the false prophets didn’t seem so bad when they were just saying a bunch of nice things promising safety and prosperity. But since none of those things came true and now we’re here at this point where life is crumbling around us, we can see more clearly now that those prophets were really bad; because they didn’t give the people what they needed. The way for their fortunes to be restored was not just by listening and believing in full faith for the prophetic word to come to pass. Rather, it was by turning from sin and turning their hearts toward God. False prophets never talk about sin, they just feed you a gummy bear type Christianity that will only destroy you in the end.

2:16 Many translations say “hiss and gnash their teeth.” The word “hiss” could also be translated “whistle,” so they were cheering, hollering, whistling, and hooting their victory. Gnashing their teeth would be better understood in our language as grinding their teeth in anger. Since it is used in the context of victory shouts, the grinding of teeth was probably more like a happy evil laugh or a gloating smile which took pleasure in the destruction of their enemies.

2:17 God accomplished His “word” or “promises” of destruction that He had spoken a long time ago to Israel in Deuteronomy 28 and all the curses He said would come upon them if they turn away from the Lord. Also see Jeremiah 6; 18:11.

It may have been that some of the people thought that they were right with God because all of those curses had not come upon them yet and so they mistook God’s gracious patience for living in the blessings of God’s good favor. When the truth was, God’s favor wasn’t upon them and the curses were slowly coming in. They just didn’t have the eyes to see it. But once the siege and the destruction of Jerusalem came, how would they not be able to see it? Let this be a lesson to us: just because the church doesn’t “experience” or see any signs of God’s discipline, that doesn’t mean she is in God’s good favor and doing everything that is pleasing to God. There is a future judgement coming for the churches spoken about in Revelation 2-3 that if you don’t do what God wants, He will remove the church, and “throw her on a bed of sickness,” put her into the great tribulation, and “kill her children with pestilence” (Rev. 2:22-23). Additionally, if you do not remove yourself from mystery Babylon, God will allow you to partake of all of her plagues that He will send upon the world (Rev. 18:4). God is serious about discipline (Heb. 12:4-17). Don’t mistake His patience for good favor.

2:18-19 Through Jeremiah, he expresses the anguish of the people over their suffering and a pleading and asking God to be merciful to them.

2:20-21 A case for consideration is brought to the Lord’s attention. Essentially, the author is saying, “God, look at all this suffering. Look how great and terrible it is! Won’t you be merciful to us? Won’t you ease up on the intensity of your wrath?” But at the end of verse 21 it switches to a historical narrative account of what happened and says that God showed no mercy. All these people have been killed under God’s anger (see the next verse).

2:22 The NLT is very vivid in their translation, “You have invited terrors from all around, as though you were calling them to a day of feasting. In the day of the Lord’s anger, no one has escaped or survived. The enemy has killed all the children whom I carried and raised.” The result of all the prayers and pleadings from verses 18-22 had no effect. God did not spare anyone. The people wanted to be released from their suffering but they still didn’t want to turn from their sins. Even when they had a long opportunity to change their ways when life was much better, they refused. And so, God’s patience with them ran out. God chose to finally enact His judgement upon them that He had spoken in the covenant and promised would happen through all the prophetic warnings of Jeremiah and the other prophets. The people shouldn’t have expected to received free passes all their lives and then when things got bad to beg for mercy and expect everything will just go back to normal. Sooner or later, the consequences of our actions will catch up to us and when they do, it may be too late. And our actions don’t just affect us, they affect those around us as well.

Chapter 3

3:1 Jeremiah is speaking as an eye-witness of all the things that have been taking place and how God’s wrath was being poured out upon Jerusalem.

3:2 Jeremiah was imprisoned in Jerusalem at the guard’s courtyard during the siege (Jer. 32:2; 37:21). He had tried to leave Jerusalem when there was a short reprieve of the siege but was not permitted to because the guard thought he was defecting to the enemy (Jer. 37:13). It is for these reasons that he says God forced him to walk in the darkness of all the afflictions that came.

3:3 From Jeremiah’s perspective, God wasn’t helping him because He left him in Jerusalem when God’s wrath was poured out. He suffered hunger, pain, and all sorts of evil sights. He felt like God was against him. He expresses this sentiment throughout the rest of the chapter. If you read the book of Jeremiah, you will see all the afflictions he went through even before the siege occurred.

3:4 This is a description of starvation where the body eats and burns away its own fat and muscle to keep itself alive. I am not of the opinion that Jeremiah’s bones were literally broken, though that is possible. It seems to me that his bones felt “crushed,” which is descriptive of a deep internal pain in the body as a result of starvation. The body is so hungry that it even metabolizes its own bone marrow to stay alive. Lack of adequate nutrition could cause everything to hurt.

3:5 In the physical siege that Jeremiah was in, he also felt spiritually sieged from God. But instead of battering rams and siege towers around him, it was a personal experience of hardship and bitterness. That is, not a bitter attitude but receiving the bitter poison of life and affliction. Most of his suffering in this instance was watching the suffering of his own people.

3:6 This is imagery of a grave, casket, or tomb.

3:7 He is stuck and trapped and can’t get out. Like heavy chains confining him or dirt piled on top of him, the weight of it is too heavy for him to move and there are walls all around him confining him. This could be speaking of him not being able to exit Jerusalem. Or it is more likely speaking of his spiritual and mental anguish.

3:8 Imagine being buried alive stuck in a casket under the dirt. You bang on the door and yell and yell for help but no one hears you. No doubt, this is how Jeremiah feels. His prayers fall on deaf ears and there is no way out of his anguish and affliction.

3:9 Jeremiah tries to find a way out of his predicament but there are large stones everywhere that block his path and exit so that he doesn’t know which path to take (he is still speaking in metaphors). Imagine if there were a landside on the road. The GPS doesn’t know that this route is closed so you can’t rely on it to help you because it keeps leading you back to the cut off road. But if that was the only road you knew of to get out, what are you going to do? And what if there is a raging wildfire and your GPS isn’t working and there’s so much smoke that you can’t see anything? How are you going to escape?

3:10-11 Predators are good at hunting. They’re good at being quiet and sneaking up on you. If a bear is hunting you, most likely you won’t see it coming. And the lion will hide in tall grass to stay hidden and wait to jump on its prey or dash up to them and tear them to pieces. Jeremiah has felt that his whole life has been torn to pieces. He was a lonesome guy. No one wanted to listen to any of his messages. God even told him not to get married. He was called as a prophet when he was just a young guy and has been doing ministry his whole life but he has hardly anything to show for it. The results of all his life’s work have only brought him suffering. But if that weren’t enough, his suffering had been greatly intensified by the present siege and invasion of Jerusalem. Does he even have a future? And if so, could it possibly be anything good? Because of all these things, Jeremiah describes his situation in this analogy that God is like a predator who has attacked him and torn his life to pieces. And there his life lays—ripped up and shredded apart lying on the dirt—desolate.

3:12-13 These verses build up the tension for the verses after.

3:14 This is probably in reference to Jeremiah 20:7. The prophetic words that God gave Jeremiah to speak caused everyone to make fun of him. His persecution was so bad that at the end of Jeremiah 20 he says, “Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame” (v. 18; NLT).

3:15 The bitter hardships of his life would not end, they only got worse. Every time that he would drink from the cup of bitterness, the server waiting his table would come over time and time again to fill up his glass so that his cup was always filled to the brim.

3:16 The word here is “gravel,” but I inserted “sand and rocks” into my paraphrase because that’s basically what gravel is. I think the idea being conveyed here is that during Jeremiah’s Jewish mourning ritual, his face is often on the ground. Because of this, the sand and rocks get into his mouth which then gives him that unpleasant feeling of crunching on grit. I don’t know if you’ve ever gotten sand in your mouth before but it can be hard to get out, especially if you don’t have any water. Which, may have been a more likely scenario for Jeremiah since even water was scarce during the siege. Also, the word for “broken” can be translated: “to be crushed.” I believe my paraphrase conveys the whole meaning of what’s going on here:

Sand and rocks are constantly crushed under my teeth
Because in anguish, you make me lie on the ground
I am always covered in ashes in my mourning
I am always laying in the dust
All who look upon me despise and shame me

3:17 Jeremiah has not been allowed to experience peace and his soul cannot experience peace because there is suffering and chaos all around. He has suffered so much and for so long that he has forgotten what it’s like to be happy. What is peace? What is happiness? What is pleasure? What is prosperity? He doesn’t know what these things are anymore. He cannot think of a category to put these things in to fit them into the experiences of his life.

3:18-21 Read my paraphrase. Jeremiah’s strength failed him. He was depressed and lost hope.

3:22-25 However, Jeremiah had not lost all hope. He chose to think about the Lord and all His promises. He chose to pursue faith in God and believe. God never fails to be compassionate. He doesn’t run out of compassion because He gave too much or bore His heart out too much. He is abundant and overflowing with His love.

However, it would take a great deal of faith to say that God’s mercies are new every morning when waking up every morning all Jeremiah saw around him was more suffering. For the average person, they would wake up in the morning and wish it were evening and then when it became evening, they would say, “If only it were morning!” They would say these things “because of the dread you will have in your heart and because of what you will see” (Dt. 28:67; CSB).

So what did Jeremiah mean when he said God’s mercies are new every morning? Perhaps he is speaking of his personal relationship with God and how the Lord has kept his soul going and enduring even through this difficult time. Perhaps he recalls to mind an experience of the Lord always providing for his needs to keep him alive because without the Lord, he might be dead by now. One Bible passage that may bring some contention to Jeremiah’s situation is a psalm of David in Psalm 37 which speaks of the righteous and says, “They will not be ashamed in the time of evil, and in the days of famine they will have abundance” (v. 19), and “I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread” (v. 25). Also, “For the Lord loves justice and does not forsake His godly ones; they are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off” (v. 28; NASB).

It’s possible that Jeremiah had to wrestle with these verses. So, let’s wrestle with him. How did he end up here? Just earlier, he had said of the Lord that “He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones” (Lam. 3:4; NASB). Jeremiah went through starvation and said that the Lord brought this upon him. So how can one go through starvation and still believe Psalm 37? One possibility would be that Jeremiah wasn’t righteous and so God had forsaken him. But how could that be if he was one of the only ones who believed in God that judgement was coming for Jerusalem? How could this be if he was faithful in proclaiming the truth for all his life and preached that people should turn away from their sins? Jeremiah had faith and that faith is what made him righteous before God. This interpretation also would not make sense because of all the great things Jeremiah says about God in Lamentations 3:22-25. Yet if these things happened to a Jeremiah in our day and age, we would be all too quick to just throw Jeremiah under the bus and say, “yes, God has forsaken you because that’s what the Bible says.” However, I will not be too quick to abandon my brother in the Lord. I will fight for him and find out how to resolve this. Even as I’m writing this, I do not know the answer but I will find a better one. I am determined and resolved to not be so narrow-minded.

We could look at Psalm 37:16 and verse 25 and say that David is speaking from his own wisdom and experience and so in light of that, he’s offering to us wisdom. If that’s the case, then we know wisdom literature is interpreted differently. Like in the book of Proverbs, what is spoken of there are not promises but general rules of life. When we read it, we understand that the author is speaking about how life tends to normally operate but his intention in speaking is not to say you will have such a guaranteed outcome. But rather, you should live well so that things will work out well for you. That is, generally speaking. That’s what wisdom is. We might also look at verse 19 when it says “abundance” and see what the original Hebrew says. The Hebrew word is literally the word for satisfaction. When it comes to food, there is a world of difference between having an abundance of food versus just having your stomach satisfied with food. On one end, you can gorge yourself and on the other end you may have just enough food to not go hungry. But even if we take the meaning of “abundance” to be “satisfied,” this doesn’t help us for Jeremiah’s particular situation because we know that he suffered starvation and because of that his stomach was not satisfied. Now, there certainly was a time earlier on where Jeremiah was blessed by God because the Lord orchestrated circumstances so that during this famine, Jeremiah would receive a loaf of bread every day until all the bread was gone from the city (Jer. 37:21). But in the very next chapter, there were some people who didn’t like Jeremiah because his prophetic words were not good for the army’s morale and so they decided to throw him into an empty cistern. But someone who cared about him begged the king to get him out or else he would die from starvation (Jer. 38:9). By this time, all the bread in the city had run out which means food was more scarce. However, Jeremiah still had hope for survival after they got him out of the cistern.

I don’t think that the reason for Jeremiah’s suffering was because of his sin. I think that God had a special calling on his life and part of this calling was to later write the book of Lamentations for the whole world to read and so in order to do that, Jeremiah would need to have been among the people to do that. He would have to share in their sufferings to write the book in the way God wanted him to. For this reason, Jeremiah was a special case where he was the exception rather than the rule. At the beginning of his calling, Jeremiah agreed to obey God and do whatever the Lord instructed him to do. For anyone that wants to serve God wholeheartedly, they’re going to suffer. This suffering isn’t because God is evil against you or has forsaken you but is because you chose this way of life to deny yourself and follow Him. You chose to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, to drink the cup of His suffering, to fulfill what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. You chose to pour your life out as a drink offering to Him and as a living sacrifice. So don’t blame God if this is what you chose. You wanted to be close to Him. You wanted to know Him more. Remember all those prayers you prayed to God saying, “God! I will do anything for you!”? Well, He has taken you up on that offer and has done according to whatever His good design and grand purpose has set out to do. Remember that the Apostle Paul himself was beaten so many times he couldn’t remember. He was imprisoned, stoned, whipped, shipwrecked, and often hungry, thirsty, and without adequate clothing (2 Cor. 11:23-28). God hasn’t failed these men of God. They chose this way of life out of love and service to the Lord. And that’s why they’re suffering the way they are.

However, I also think that there’s more to this. Remember how God let the Israelites go hungry to humble them and test them so that they would know what is in their own hearts? He did this because He was disciplining them as a father disciplines his own son so that in the end, they would learn to rely on Him in all things (Dt. 8:1-4, 16-17).

I believe that Jeremiah may have doubted God and because he doubted—he suffered starvation. There’s a pastor named Vlad Savchuk who works in the ministry of deliverance. In his earlier years, when the ministry team would cast out demons, the team would experience all sorts of attacks from the enemy. They would constantly be oppressed, they would have fender benders, their cars would break down, and all sorts of things in their life would go wrong and their families would face problems. Later, he discovered that all these things were happening because they were doing ministry wrong. They thought that the devil had authority over them, that the devil could touch them. But they were wrong and they believed wrong and that’s why the devil was allowed to harm them because they didn’t believe what the Bible said. Luke 10:19 says, “Look, I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; nothing at all will harm you” (CSB). So because they believed that the devil could harm them, the devil harmed them. But once they started believing in faith that the devil couldn’t harm them, the devil stopped messing with them. Here is the sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWb-VvYSAag

I believe that Jeremiah’s suffering had been so intense that He began doubting God. This doubt is what may have led to his depression, hopelessness, and starvation. Remember that for the prophet Elijah, God supernaturally provided food for him on many occasions. In 1 Kings 17:1-16 it says that Elijah was given supernatural provision during a time of drought and famine. God told him to set up camp at a brook where he was to drink water there. Then God sent ravens to him every day and they brought him bread and meat. When the brook dried up, God told him to head out to another place where he would meet a widow and God would make sure that her bowl of flour and jar of oil would never run out.

Is there any reason that God could not do something like this for the prophet Jeremiah? I don’t see a reason. Jeremiah needed to rise up out of his despondency and choose to believe God even though he didn’t feel like it, even though every bone in his body was aching, even though there were horrific sights all around him. He needed to live by faith rather than by sight. By faith rather than by feeling. Most every single Christian will probably struggle through this fight. So Jeremiah is no less godly when he has to face this.

As another encouragement, I would recommend reading a biography of George Muller. He was a man of God who owned an orphanage. On many occasions, they would run out of food but George Muller’s faith was unshakable. He would trust God anyway that provision was on the way. So one day there was no food in the orphanage. He had all the kids sit down at the table and prayed God’s blessing over their food even though all the plates were empty. Next thing you know, a delivery truck pulls up and drops a bunch of food off to them because their power had gone out for their refrigerators at their store. So if they didn’t do something with the food, it was just all going to spoil. So the kids ate that day because God provided for their needs. When Geoge prayed to God, he didn’t beg God, he prayed in faith. There’s a difference. Many of our prayers today sounds like us begging. But what does the Bible say, “I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread” (Ps. 37:25; NASB). I believe that if we have enough faith, this can be the same reality in our lives as well. We don’t need to beg God for bread. We need to believe. We have a Father in heaven who loves us that He gave His one and only Son. He has told us that His compassions for animals do not fail and he feeds the sparrows. He has said that we are of far greater worth than many sparrows. The storehouses of heaven are abundant and overflowing. There is no lack in the riches of heaven. But God wants to see our faith so that He can honor it.

I believe that Jeremiah came to a point in his life where he realized what was going on. He realized that he was doubting God’s goodness and that was the cause of extra suffering that he didn’t need to deal with. He didn’t have to starve. His body didn’t have to waste away. And so I think that when he said, “His mercies are new every morning,” he was speaking about supernatural provision from God so that he didn’t have to go hungry anymore. God was faithful this whole time but Jeremiah just didn’t have the courage to believe it but now he did and God was good to him. God had been good this whole time. Jeremiah just didn’t have enough faith to access the storehouses of heaven and so that’s why his afflictions were previously so miserable. Faith is the answer. Hope is the answer. God is the answer.

I believe it’s also possible that life may have come to a point for Jeremiah where he no longer had any physical food but his body may have stopped wasting away because God supernaturally brought satisfaction and nutrition to His stomach without any physical intervention. Jesus may have alluded to something like this (Mt. 4:4; Jn. 4:34). Also, when Moses was up on the mountain, he supernaturally survived because he neither ate bread nor drank water for forty days (Dt. 9:9). This may also be part of what Jeremiah meant when he said “The Lord is my portion” (Lam. 3:24). I believe that Jeremiah came to a point in faith where he said that the Lord sustained him both physically and spiritually. He was brought out of his depression and hopelessness because he remembered the Lord’s promises. If we take a deeper look into Psalm 37, we will see similarities between Lamentations 3 and this psalm. Here they are for further study: Ps. 37:4-5, 7, 9, 17, 34, 39-40; Lam. 3:24-25.

Notice the theme of portion/inheritance, hope and trust, and waiting upon the Lord. I believe Psalm 37 may have been what Jeremiah had in mind at the very beginning of his struggle which was a cause for his unbelief with the difficult passages I mentioned earlier but then as he looked at the broader context of this Psalm and all that is written, he grabbed a hold of those promises and overcame his doubt. We would be wise to do the same—to not look at the Scriptures with myopic vision—but to understand the context so that we don’t misunderstand and doubt God.

What I have said above is my understanding and interpretation of Lamentations 3:22-25. Additionally, I believe Jeremiah put hope in God that He would not utterly wipe out Israel and Judah. God was cleansing them. But He would once again restore them. God wasn’t finished with them yet. He had not utterly forsaken His people. God would remain faithful to His promise to restore their land and fortunes after the seventy years of exile were complete.

However, there are some interpretations that would not make sense. It would not be congruent with the book of Lamentations to say that God was presently showing compassion or mercy to Jerusalem since throughout the book, it specifically said otherwise. However, a key to understanding all these verses lies in the first line where it says Yahweh’s lovingkindness never ends. Other translations might say faithful love, steadfast love, or mercies.

The Hebrew word for lovingkindness/mercy is ḥeseḏ, which is God’s covenant love (Isa. 54:8, 10). It is a mercy that God bestows upon us—a love that we don’t deserve—a promise that doesn’t break. And it all comes from the tender heart of our God who looks upon us with compassion and affection. It is an enduring love that doesn’t just come and go like the wind. God doesn’t forget that He loves us. He doesn’t forget the promises that He has made. He also has all the power and means to bring about His love and promises for our lives. It is a covenant of love and God will never break His covenant. For more on this subject, you can read The Power of the Blood Covenant by Malcom Smith.

The next word that is used is compassions/mercies. This kind of compassion/mercy is more than just being nice. It is a heartfelt love and affection as a father or a mother for their children (Ps. 103:13; Isa. 49:15).

Those who were within the covenant through faith like Jeremiah was, God’s promises would stand the test of time. However, for those outside the covenant like all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were because they broke God’s covenant, they would have to face God’s wrath. However, there was still a remnant of believers who left Jerusalem like Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abendego. These men and a few others stood with God in faith and were in covenant with God. Other Israelites would also rise up later to have faith in God so that they would enter covenant with Him. So, God has not utterly forgotten or forsaken His chosen people. He still had good plans for them to give them both a hope and a future.

However, in light of all of this, I do not see God’s covenant love for Israel to be the main reason why Jeremiah has renewed hope again. Remember, his sufferings were enormously great at this time so just having compassionate thoughts about someone else’s well-being may not do too much for you. It may take away some of the spiritual agony and grief but Jeremiah would still have his own struggles to deal with. So I believe Jeremiah had to have more than just Israel’s future on his mind. I believe he had a renewed sense of God’s covenant love for him and how God would never abandon him as his servant. And so the things he says afterwards about God’s compassions, mercy, faithfulness, and God being his portion, I think he is specifically referring to himself. This makes sense when you look at verse 25 which says the Lord is good to who? To those who wait for Him, for those who depend upon Him, to the person who seeks Him. So who was seeking God here and who wasn’t seeking God? Jeremiah was seeking God but Israel wasn’t. Therefore, the promises of God’s love, mercy, and compassion are for the faithful ones, not the unfaithful ones who were being destroyed in Jerusalem under God’s wrath (Ex. 20:6; Dt. 7:12; 2 Sa. 7:15).

Just now that old hymn comes to my mind, Great is Thy Faithfulness:
“All I have needed Thy hand hast provided…”

A quick summary of verses 22-25:

God’s faithful love is His covenant love that will not be broken because God who has promised it will not fail. His loving compassion towards us never stops or runs dry. Just as every morning is a new day, so also God’s loving compassion towards us is alive and refreshed continually. In all of His love for us, He will always remain faithful and He will provide. He is immutable which means He never changes. So as sure as the unchangeableness of God is, so also is His faithful love towards us. When everything else crumbles around us, we can say, “Yahweh is my portion. Therefore, I will put my hope in Him.” If we have no possessions, no future, or nothing else left in this life, we will still and always have Yahweh. He will never abandon us but will take care of us as His own children. We can always count on Him. God will honor those who patiently wait, seek, trust, and hope in Him. But if we don’t do those things, then we should not expect God’s blessings to be poured out for us. Therefore, we must continually live by faith in who God is and all that He has promised so that we can live in the fullness of His salvation.

3:26 To wait quietly or silently is to wait patiently and calmly because silent waiting is calm and patient. The salvation of the Lord encompasses many things. Oftentimes in our modern Christian culture we just equate salvation with being born again or going to heaven. But salvation is much broader than that. I prefer the term “deliverance,” since this word doesn’t have as much Christian lingo surrounding it. The salvation of the Lord can be deliverance from evil, from the devil, from plague or famine. It could mean to be saved from man or beast. It could involve being provided for or some spiritual breakthrough or deliverance from sin or bondage. From Jeremiah’s perspective, he probably had in mind the end of the siege. There wasn’t anything he could do about it except wait it out. But he knew that when it was all over, God would take care of him.

3:27 A “yoke” was like a wooden stick/board that went over the shoulders to then hang something from it like food or water buckets. So it would have been a heavy burden to carry a yoke around. For this reason, we could say that a yoke would be equivalent to the burden of hard work. This particular verse seems to be indicating the discipline of learning through trial and tribulation. It’s good to learn wisdom and understanding through the difficulties of life sooner rather than later. And it is good to learn God’s instructions while you are still young because you are the most moldable and impressionable at that age. When Jeremiah wrote this, he probably thought of himself when God called him while he was just a youth (Jer. 1:6).

3:28 The instruction is that when God disciplines this youth, he should receive that instruction with entire submissiveness and humility. Breaking silence by arguing with God would not do any good. Accusing God of wrongdoing, also, would not be good.

3:29 If the youth were to lay down on the ground in submission to God, covering his mouth with the ground so that he will not be able to speak and say worthless words, even better. Perhaps this young lad will have a bright future. If all Israelites were to act this way in their youngest years, maybe their future would be a much better one than the one they’re living now. Train your kids while they are young so that when they grow up, they will not depart from the Lord (Prov. 22:6). Read Jeremiah 15:17-19 and see the connection with Lamentations 3:26-29. Jeremiah probably had himself in mind when he wrote this and how when he was younger, he spoke worthless words to God and was rebuked for it. So here in Lamentations he’s basically saying, don’t do what I did.

3:30 The young lad is encouraged to not retaliate when people insult him, to turn the other cheek (Mt. 5:39). He is encouraged to endure the mocking, insults, shame, and humiliation. Jeremiah was often made fun of for all of his “doom and gloom” prophetic words. But he chose to press on and continue to be faithful to God anyway.

3:31 An encouragement to endure all the hardships and persecutions of life is that even though people won’t come through for you, God will. He always will. However, one must be patient. This verse now makes a transition from Jeremiah’s life to the corporate setting he finds himself in with Jerusalem. God would come through for Jeremiah as well as His chosen people, Judah and Israel, even though it doesn’t look like it right now with all the famine and attacks of the enemy. To say that God’s rejection is “forever” is not literal but hyperbole because it feels like forever. The basic thought is, God has not forgotten or abandoned us.

3:32-33 If God brings about grief in people’s lives because of the things that He has either caused or allowed to happen, then He will also have compassion because His compassion flows from the absolute abundance of His lovingkindness towards us. God does not enjoy watching us suffer. He is not cruel or sadistic. He’s not up there in heaven just waiting for us to mess up so that He can smite us. He doesn’t hate your guts. God’s heart is always loving and caring towards mankind. He is always compassionate in His heart towards them. But sometimes He has to do some hard things and make some difficult decisions because if people are left without any governance, our sufferings would be even greater and our sins would be so much worse than in the days preceding the flood. God is for the good of all humanity and in His perfect wisdom He makes judgement calls and enacts those judgements for the ultimate good and end for everyone. Even if we go back to the beginning of when God called Jeremiah to preach and prophecy to these people, God speaks tender words, bearing out his heart and soul to them about how they turned from the Lord (Jer. 2-3). God had abundantly blessed them and gave everything to them yet they turned away from Him in all their depravities, vanities, empty lovers, and false gods. At the beginning though, even after they did all these things, God told them, “I will not look upon you in anger” (Jer. 3:12; NASB). Like, wow! Just think about that for a minute. Is this the same God you were taught in church? Well, just think about Jesus. He is the exact representation of God the Father’s nature and He has explained to us who God is (Heb. 1:3; Jn. 1:18; 14:9). Even in the Old Testament when God revealed to Moses the radiance of His glory, we see the heart of Jesus. The first thing the Lord spoke about Himself as He passed by Moses while he was in the cleft of the rock was not, “God is wrathful, wrathful, wrathful, and super holy, holy, holy.” Rather, the first words out of God’s mouth in describing Himself was that He is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Ex. 34:6). Do you preach this same God? Do you represent His character correctly the way He wants to be represented? (Lk. 9:51-56). Does your heart resound with this message?

3:34-36 These are three examples in which God does not enjoy seeing people suffer. It is possible for God to allow these things to happen while also at the same time not approving the actions of the people doing them. Also, even if you can do something lawfully in the courtroom, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is right. God sees the motive of the heart and knows what true justice is so if someone twists the law to get their way in something that is not fair, then God sees it and does not approve. Even for prisoners God shows compassion and pity on. Even though most of them are probably in prison because they did evil, God still cares about their life and well-being.

3:37-38 Right after saying that God is abundant in His love and compassion and does not delight in our sufferings or in these three specific afflictions that people endure, the author points to God’s sovereignty over all these things. Whenever someone changes the future through their actions, even if it was a word that was spoken, that future cannot come to pass unless God first approved of it. Either God directly caused that event to occur or He allowed whatever event to take place naturally without His intervention. Theologians would call this God’s permissive will. So the idea is that God is up in heaven looking at the events about to take place and either says “allowed,” or “denied.” Or, He may say, “go forth.” These things are what His command are. This word for command means to give orders or to give charge to, that is, to give instructions to follow like when God told Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge (Gen. 2:16). So God is in heaven orchestrating all the events in the world yet without violating human free-will. But He doesn’t need to violate human free-will because He is like a master chess player. He is many more moves ahead of everyone else and sees every potential outcome and scenario.

Some translations use the word “evil” or “woe” in verse 38. Other translations render this as “ill,” “bad,” “calamities,” or “adversity.” The basic idea is that since God is ultimately the one in charge (the Most High) in heaven over the earth, whatever good or bad that happens is all under His watchful eye and spoken approval. Nothing that happens on this earth gets past God’s approval. However, just because God allows something to happen, that doesn’t mean He approves of that thing happening. So why does He allow it in the first place? Well, man wants to have their own free-will, don’t they? And God wants them to be free, doesn’t He? So if they’re going to have a will that is actually free, then bad things are going to happen because people choose bad things. God allows evil because He allows free-will. To force everyone to be robots and then force those robots to love Him could not be called love. So in order to have a love that is real, contra-causal free-will must be real. God could take out all the evil right now causing a world-wide catastrophe like the flood in Noah’s day but then people would accuse Him of being evil for killing so many people. So which is it? What do people want? Do they want all evil and suffering to be gone? Okay, then choose to either remove the people by destroying them all or take away their free will by making them robots. You see, it’s not that easy to play God. We just need to let God do what He does in His perfect wisdom and trust that He has everyone’s best interest at heart. After all, He is a good, compassionate, and loving God. It should be a comforting thing for us that nothing gets past His approval.

3:39 There are two Hebrew words used for “man” in this verse. The first word is 'āḏām, which is a general word used for mankind, for human beings. The second word is geḇer, which is a more specific word used for man which distinguishes him from women and children. And so with that it carries the idea of strength and dignity. It is a word also used for warriors. Verse 39 comes after verses 37-38 for a reason. So the basic thought process is: God is sovereign over all things but don’t be complaining when bad things happen. Because, you’re sinful. And because you’re sinful, you don’t deserve everything that is good. However, verse 39 is stated as a rhetorical question because it has a more profound effect rather than just telling you that you don’t deserve good. It’s trying to make you think about it. Like, really think about your sins: how you’ve mistreated people, how you have neglected God, how you’ve been so selfish and unloving when God has given you everything. Should you really be complaining in light of this? If you’re still complaining, maybe think harder about how you are not as good as you think you are. We need to understand that God is holy and we are not.

There was one day when I was a young man and I was being paid to do some yard work at someone’s house to pull weeds out of their garden. I was wearing leather gloves when I was doing this but even with that, a thorn pierced through that glove and into my finger. It really stung. So I took off the glove and looked at my finger with the thorn in it and in that moment, I had an encounter with the holiness of God. I remembered how God had told Adam after he had sinned, “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you…” (Gen. 3:18; NASB). This was the curse. This was the result of our sin. We don’t deserve a perfect world because we’re not perfect. Only God is—only God is holy.

If any person still has life within them, should they complain considering that they have sinned? Should anyone complain in light of their sins?

3:40-47 Jeremiah leads his people in a prayer to God.

3:40 This verse builds upon the previous one and urges everyone to examine their own lives and how they have turned away from the Lord and sinned against Him. It is only when our sin is acknowledged and we are sorry for offending God that we can turn back to Him. God knows our hearts and we can’t fool Him. We can’t pretend that everything is alright when it’s not. We can’t just go to church and pretend that everything is okay and so we worship Him and talk all good things about Him but meanwhile there is sin hiding in our closet. If we’re holding onto sin, God will not be pleased with our worship, with all the niceties that we do in His name, and He may even refuse to listen to our prayers. God primarily wants our obedient and devoted hearts, not mere external religion. To obey is better than to sacrifice.

3:41 Lifting up our hearts to heaven means that we’re not just lifting up our hands in prayer. God doesn’t want us to just go through the physical motions of prayer without our hearts being in it. One translation renders this, “lift up our heart to our hands” (LSB). Meaning, that as high as our hands are, our hearts should be at the same level or higher.

3:42 Here the corporate prayer on behalf of Jerusalem begins. Confession to God for their sins is the first thing spoken. Keep in mind, the people who would be praying this are those who say they believe in God but they have no relationship with Him. This is why they are under God’s wrath. But if God were to show mercy on them, it would begin by them examining their ways to acknowledge their sin so that they could turn back to the Lord with a sincere heart. Notice that the confession is for both sin and rebellion. Sin is when you miss the mark, when you slip up. Rebellion is when you purposefully decide to keep going down that path. How often do people confess rebellion to God? We often want to make our sins as small as they can be to diminish what they really are. But the Bible says that the sin of rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Sam. 15:23). That’s how offensive rebellion is to God. If you ever believed that all sins are the same to God then that’s a lie. There are some sins that God hates and despises more. Rebellion is one of them. We need to stop treating sin so lightly and nonchalantly by saying things like, “Oh, I fell again. I stumbled.” Wait, did you actually fall? Or did you rebel? Because if you didn’t actually stumble into temptation but purposefully chose it, then you have now lied and rebelled. We need to be honest with ourselves because when we are, it will be for our own good.

Here in this verse, when it says, “sinned,” it isn’t the word for “missing the mark.” It’s actually the word for rebellion. The second word for “rebelled” is also another word for rebellion. So what the confession is really saying is “God, we have committed double rebellion against you. We have been treacherous and betrayed you!”

However, those were just words. Their hearts were still far from God. Someone praying a prayer on your behalf isn’t going to save you if it’s your responsibility to turn to God yourself. These people were still hardened in their rebellion and so that’s why God did not forgive them. These people had apostatized. Beware, brethren, lest there be anyone among you with an evil and unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God but encourage and exhort one another daily so that none of you are hardened by sin (Heb. 3:12-13). Through many years of practicing rebellion, they had gotten really good at it to the point that their hearts were past the point of no return. Not even the words of fire that came out of Jeremiah’s mouth from the mouth of the Lord which were words as strong as a hammer to pulverize rock could break their stoney hearts. And the words of fire had no effect to burn away their sinful hearts to give them true conviction and godly sorrow. There was no longer any refining, purging, or cauterizing from the words of fire. That time had been long gone. They missed the bus. They missed all the busses that came their way. No more buses were coming. The rescue mission was over. Now it was time for them to face the consequences. God would not forgive because they would not genuinely repent.

3:43 From the perspective of the people being judged by God, this is what God looked like to them. The imagery is of dark thunderous storm clouds coming in which represent God’s anger. God is behind those storm clouds which overshadows them in His wrath. He pursued them and chased them down and killed them. He had hunted down every single one and did not show any mercy. No one escaped the judgement of death or exile. But God warned them that this would happen, for He would by no means leave the guilty to go unpunished (Ex. 34:7).

3:44 God being covered by a cloud means that they could not spiritually see Him. They could not spiritually reach Him. All their prayers failed to make it past the barrier. So even though Jeremiah offered prayers on behalf of his people, it was of no use. The prayers didn’t do anything. God had actually told Jeremiah on multiple occasions to not pray for this people and that if he did, God would not hear him. And if they prayed, God would not hear them (Jer. 7:16; 11:14; 14:11). God specifically said that in the day of His wrath He would hide His face from them because of their wickedness (Jer. 18:17; 33:5).

3:45 From the perspective of the people, they were like scraps of trash and refuse before the world. Trash conveys awful sights and smells but also, worthlessness. So, in the sight of the whole world, God just threw them away and scrapped them. He took them to the dump. It was a very humiliating time for them.

3:46-47 The imagery I got looking at these verses was a flashback of the time that the armies were right outside Jerusalem’s gates and walls before they breached into the city. They opened their mouths in war cries and shouts of intimidation. Then we (Jerusalem) realized this was our end. Panic and racing gripped our hearts as we realized what would soon come upon us. Our breathing grew louder. We trembled at the sound of their drums and shouts. This is the end. We’re done for. And then it happened. They broke through. Everyone and everything was demolished and ravaged. They lit everything on fire.

Though these verses aren’t as detailed, that’s basically what happened. But even after the fact, Israel and Judah’s enemies still spoke many mean and cruel things to them.

3:48 Jeremiah was heartbroken over the destruction of his people. Most translations say, “the daughter of my people,” or simply “my people.” CSB renders it, “my dear people,” which is the basic sentiment expressed here of affectionate endearment. Though God had given Jeremiah many past words of judgement and impending doom upon them, Jeremiah’s heart was still soft and compassionate towards his people. Just because someone can speak with words of fire like Jeremiah or like a Father to a son when he is disciplined, that doesn’t mean that behind those words there isn’t a soft and loving heart.

3:49-50 Jeremiah wasn’t just sad—he was crushed. He would not stop crying until God changed their situation. God obviously sees and knows all things so this didn’t escape God’s notice (Jer. 16:17; 23:24). Jeremiah is simply asking that God do something about it.

3:51 “Daughters” is the same word and term of endearment that Jeremiah used in verse 48. Everything that he sees crushes his soul.

3:52-66 These verses could be describing Jeremiah’s situation when he was thrown into the cistern (Jer. 38:1-13). However, in Lamentations it says that waters flowed over his head (v. 54), while in Jeremiah it says that there was no water in the well (v. 6). It is possible that there was no water in the well in the sense that it wasn’t a usable well. But there could have been enough water on the bottom from mud or sand that Jeremiah could have sunk down into for it to cover his head. Or, maybe Jeremiah is speaking of a separate event where he was thrown into a pit and water flowed over his head. Jeremiah 18:18-20 could have been that event. Or, it is possible that Jeremiah added some dramatization to the story and that dramatization took on a spiritual meaning. He could have even combined the two stories together into one. That’s also possible. The Hebrew word for “pit” can also mean “cistern.” It says that they also dropped a stone or stones on him. This was to indicate the cruel treatment and pain he received.

Regardless of whether this situation describes Jeremiah’s earlier event or if it refers to the later event, it doesn’t make too much of a difference. Either way, when Jeremiah said that water was flowing over his head, that represented his life coming to a close. At least, that’s what was going through his mind. He really thought that he was going to die. With no food and probably no drinkable water down in a dark hole all by himself, it would have been really rough. Solitary confinement can actually be a form of torture. When is the last time you had nothing to occupy yourself with and just sat there doing nothing? What would Jeremiah be thinking about? His family? He didn’t have one. His future? He couldn’t see it. He was in a place of Deep Dark Despair.

3:52 In Jeremiah 18:18-20 it says that there were people who plotted against Jeremiah to throw him into a pit that they dug for him. However, we are not told whether or not Jeremiah was thrown into it. In 36:26 the king was angry at Jeremiah and Baruch because of the words of judgement that they wrote on a scroll and gave to the king and so the king sought after their lives but the Lord hid them. In 37:11-21 Jeremiah was just minding his own business walking outside the gates of Jerusalem to go to the land he had previously purchased but then he was falsely accused of defecting to the enemy. He was beaten, imprisoned, and placed in inhumane circumstances (Jer. 37:11-21). In 38:4 the officials wanted Jeremiah dead and so they cast him down into the cistern. Jeremiah was just seeking to be faithful to Yahweh but everywhere he looked and everywhere he went, people were out to get him.

3:53 This could be a stone or stones. Large or small. They threw them or dropped them on him or placed it on him. Most likely, they dropped heavy stones down into the pit and onto Jeremiah.

3:54 Jeremiah thought that his life was over.

3:55-58 At the very last second when Jeremiah thought all hope was lost and his life was done for, he cried out to God for help and He answered his plea and rescued him from death. God spoke to him and said “do not fear.” These words echoed the promises God had spoken to him earlier in his life (Jer. 1:8, 17-19). It is often at the lowest points of our lives that God meets us or is with us to teach us something through our difficulties so that we would be made stronger (James 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 1:6-7; Job 23:10).

3:59-60 As God is his witness in how he had been wrongly treated, He asks the Lord to right the wrongs that they had done to him.

3:61-63 See 3:14 & Jeremiah 20.

3:64-66 The word for “recompense” is “to turn back” or “return.” God will pay them back for their evil. Their own deeds will return to them. Whatever they have sown, they will reap (Gal. 6:7). Romans 6:23 says that the wages/penalty of sin is death and verse 66 of Lamentations says that God will destroy them, meaning, take their lives away so that they will cease to be. The culmination of their punishment will be capital punishment, not eternal conscious torment. That idea cannot be justified here nor elsewhere in the Old Testament. Think about it, how would a just “recompense” of their deeds equal eternal suffering?

Because of their rebellion and obstinacy, God would deliver them over to a hard and calloused heart. This is the abandonment of God’s wrath because they persisted in disobedience. God would give them over to a depraved mind (Ro. 1:18-32). They would be handed over to their own evil desires and carnal mind that they would follow the path they have chosen of self-destruction. They didn’t start out this way but because they continued to ignore God, He decided to abandon them. Their curse is the curse of God’s abandonment and the curse spoken of in Deuteronomy 28 since they abandoned the covenant. God’s pursuit of anger against them in this context is for those who are rebels, who have been abandoned in God’s wrath, and those who are apostates. He would destroy them from the face of the earth.

Let it be known that God had already revealed to Jeremiah that He had forsaken these people, that they were under His divine retribution. He told him not to even pray for them anymore. Because of this, Jeremiah could pray for God to curse them and this would be consistent with the revealed will of God. However, this is not an example for us Christians to follow because unless God has specifically showed us that certain people are absolute apostates, then we don’t know and cannot pray in that manner like Jeremiah. Rather, we are instructed to pray for all people (1 Tim. 2:1-8), and to love our enemies and pray from a heart of love for them (Mt. 5:43-48). Jeremiah displayed the heart of Jesus for his enemies consistently in both the book of Jeremiah and in the book of Lamentations by the things he said about them as well as the prayers he tried to pray for them. However, there were specific people that Jeremiah disregarded according to the will of God because they rejected and persecuted both God and him.

4:1 The gold of the temple that once glowed and gleamed in the sunlight had now become dark and dull because of the fire and smoke. The sacred stones of the temple were scattered all across the streets.

4:2 The children of Zion (Jerusalem/the holy city) were once extremely precious and valued and the delight of people’s hearts and eyes but now they were nothing special to be regarded.

4:3 The jackels (wild wolf-dogs) were considered ferocious but even they were kinder to their own children than these people living under siege. The parents would feed themselves before they gave anything to their kids. When the children cried for food, their parents wouldn’t say a word. They would just ignore them, kind of like how ostriches abandon their young in the desert (Job 39:13-18). Interestingly, the word for “jackels” can also be translated as “dragon” or “sea monster.” Apparently, this is how KJV translates it, “sea monster.”

4:4 The infants are so thirsty for milk that their tongue is dry and sticks to the roof of their mouths, while the children beg for food but no one gives them any.

4:5 Those who once lived on top of the world eating the finest of foods and having all the finest luxuries were now living in the slums, begging for anything they could get.

4:6 Half of the translations say “iniquity” while the other half say “punishment.” Considering the surrounding context, iniquity in itself does not make any sense but punishment does. Therefore, it is the punishment of iniquity for these people that is greater than Sodom because Sodom was overthrown in an instant with fire and brimstone with no human intervention. Meanwhile, the suffering of these dear people seems to never end and only grow deeper.

4:7 The royals were cleaner than snow. Their skin glowed like milk. Their cheeks were rosy red. And their bodies were like chiseled jewels and polished gems.

4:8 Now their appearance is dirtier than charcoal and are no longer recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled up to their bones and the excess skin just sags there. Everything is just all withered away so that when they walk about, they look like sticks.

4:9 Those who are slain through from the sword are better off than those who are slain by hunger because without the fruits of the field, they are pierced from within and fade away.
Even being pierced through with a sword would be better than living this atrocity!

4:10 Even the sweetest of women cooked up their own children to eat because of the grave afflictions of my dear people and the degradation of society.

4:11 God’s wrath has completely burned Jerusalem all the way down to the ground. The pouring out of His fierce anger has accomplished this as He was the one who lit the flame. (in His divine sovereignty)

4:13 It says that that the reason for Jerusalem’s fall was because of (1) the sins of the prophets and (2) because of the sins of the priests. The sins of the prophets, I do not believe are mentioned in this verse. However, they are mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. They were liars, deceivers, spoke from the false god Baal, led God’s people astray, and partook of all the same sins like everyone else in Israel and Judah. The sins of the priests are mentioned here as shedding the blood of the righteous. Which, is ironic, because they were the ones that were supposed to be offering unblemished animal sacrifices to God at the temple. Instead, what were they doing? They were involved in child sacrifices by fire to the false god Baal (Jer. 19:4-5).

4:14-15 I don’t think that the priests were literally blind but rather, they aimlessly wandered around like vagabonds for someone to give them a place to stay or offer them a meal but everyone shunned them. They didn’t know where to go because there was no where to go. Even other nations refused to have anything to do with them. So, they were basically as good as blind.

4:16 God no longer looks upon or regards the priests. They have been removed from His presence and His presence has departed from them. It is for this reason that the priests do not receive honor and the elders are not respected or shown favor.

4:17 They were growing tired and weary in the little hope and expectation that they had for someone to come to their aid but as they kept squinting into the distance to see if anyone was coming, they were let down because no one was.

4:18 Were they becoming paranoid or was someone actually following them? Could they really know for sure? Are they describing how it was like when they were under siege or was this when the army broke through the gates? I think it is the latter. When the army invaded, they probably hid in their homes and hunkered down but then they probably heard shouts outside their door banging, “Open up! Open up!” Until they knocked down the door and either killed them or took them captive. Others who stayed in their homes were likely consumed by the fires.

4:19 Those who chose to flee the city ran as fast as they could but the enemy could run faster and caught them. Even if they managed to outrun them and find a good hiding spot in the mountains, their enemy found them. It didn’t matter if they knew the mountains like their own backyard, the army tracked them down. And if they had a getaway spot prepared for them in the wilderness, their enemies had already located it so that by the time they got there, they were ambushed.

4:20 Even their anointed king, the one who sat on David’s throne, did not escape. He was captured by the enemy, blinded, and imprisoned for the rest of his life under the Babylonians. They thought that as long as he was king, they would be safe and protected. They trusted in a man instead of in Yahweh. They said, “We had thought that his shadow would protect us against any nation on earth!” (NLT).

4:21 The Edomites were rejoicing and partying over Jerusalem’s destruction but how about this for a party: Drink the cup of God’s wrath. Soon you will. He came for us but He’ll come for you too! Just wait… It will come upon you suddenly while you’re partying and you will be laid bare before the nations. The Lord has previously prophesied judgement to Edom (Jer. 49:7-22).

4:22 Throughout this chapter, the author spoke about the destruction of the temple, the destitution of the siege, the fires that consumed the city, the punishment of the prophets and priests, the invasion of the army, and the capturing and killing of the people of Jerusalem. And now finally the worst of it is over. All that remains is the 70 years of exile and then they can be restored. But the exile will not be longer than 70 years.

5:1 Jeremiah is praying corporately on Jerusalem and Judah’s behalf. He pleads with God that He would be moved to pity and show mercy on them because of their suffering. In this whole chapter, Jeremiah speaks on behalf of his people.

5:2 Nebuzaradan, who was captain of the guard from Nebuchadnezzar, exiled everyone away from Jerusalem except for a few poor people who owned nothing (Jer. 52:16). To these people, he gave the land so that they could farm on it. Also, some of the Babylonians may have begun to live in Jerusalem afterwards.

5:3 Many people died in the siege and invasion of Jerusalem.

5:4 When commodities are scarce, everything comes at a high price. Water is usually free but now they had to even pay for water. The wood could be in reference to firewood to keep themselves warm and to cook food. But in their pagan worship, they also used wood (Jer. 7:18; 10:1-10).

5:5 As an expression of speech, their pursuers were so close they were breathing down their necks. Or, they were right on their heels. Or, they were right on top of them or right behind them. Alternatively: Their pursuers/enemies had worn them out because they were breathing down their necks. That is oppressing them and subjugating them. This interpretation would make more sense considering verse 6. This is more of the idea in KJV and RSV translations.

5:6 They gave themselves over to the Egyptians and Assyrians to get enough food to satisfy their stomachs by either working for them or becoming their slaves. But God warned them not to turn to Egypt and that if they did, they would be cursed (Jer. 42). God’s instructions were clear: Don’t enter any other land except the land of Babylon; there, you shall submit to his authority.

5:7 Anyone who died prior to Jerusalem’s siege and destruction were lucky. It was the accumulation of sins from these past generations that brought Jerusalem to the point it was at now. They should have suffered through all these punishments but all the ones living now were the ones to draw the short-straw. However, the present generation were also guilty of the same sins as their forefathers and so because of that, they did not escape their punishment. Even so, Jeremiah had warned them to get out of Jerusalem before the siege and to submit to servitude under Babylonian rule (Jer. 38:2, 17). But they chose to stay anyway and bear the full brunt of their punishment.

5:8 See notes on verse 2.

5:9 If they tried to forage for food outside the walls of Jerusalem, they would be captured or killed by the army that was besieging them. Therefore, it may have been in the best interest for many people to not attempt this daring feat. However, desperate times calls for desperate measures.

5:10 When the body is in starvation mode, it eats itself away. First the fat, then the muscle, and then the bone-marrow. The feeling of this eating away is a burning/tingling kind of pain. Just think of fire ants biting you all over. That’s about what it feels like when it gets real bad.

5:11 Women were raped and sexually abused.

5:12 The officials and leaders of Jerusalem and Judah were hung up from their hands while the elders were dishonored in some way.

5:13 Both boys and young men have been forced into hard labor under Babylonian captivity.

5:14 The elders would be at the city gates giving people wisdom or having intellectual conversations. The young men would be singing and dancing. But all that is gone now.

5:15 All the joy and fun they once had has now left them.

5:16 The crown symbolizes Israel’s glory and honor among the nations. Everything they once had was taken from them. The word, “woe” communicates passion in grief or despair. So the text might be able to read: “Oh, how deep and gravely we have sinned!” Or “Oh, what have we done!? Our sins must be so great!”

5:17 Considering that the last verse has “woe” in it, it would make sense to say that their faintness of heart here is equivalent to “our hearts sink down within us.” Their eyes being dark or dim describes their despondency. They don’t have their eyes fully open because they are very sad. It could also mean that if you were to look into there eyes, they just have a blank stare. Or, the dimness could also be speaking about their sad lack of ability to put their hope into the future.

5:18 A great reason for their despondency is because Mount Zion (The temple and Jerusalem) lies desolate/destroyed/devastated. The heights of Mount Zion have now reached their lowest so that wild animals are roaming around the streets and feasting off of carcasses. The Hebrew word is “fox,” but could also in some instances be “jackel.” To many of us, the equivalent might be wolves or coyotes. Either way, the point is these scavenger animals now rule the great city of Zion.

5:19 Though the Great City of Zion has fallen, God never falls—He never fails—He can never be defeated. His Kingly reign is eternal. Later on through the ages the Messiah came and His name is Jesus who was born of the virgin Mary and “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end” (Lk. 1:32-33; cf. Heb. 1:8; 5:6; 6:20; 7:17; 13:8; Rev. 11:15; NASB).

5:20
Why do you continue to ignore (our suffering)?
Why don’t you come and help us?
How long will you leave us?

5:21
Oh Lord, turn us back to you so that we may be restored (turned)
Bring us back to how it was before

5:22
Or have you completely cut us off forever?
Are you still mad at us?
Are you still very angry and upset with us?

Here are the prepositions that various translations use for the first line:

NASB, ESV, CSB, NKJV, NIV: “Unless you have”
LSB: “Even if you have”
NLT: “Or have you”
RSV: “Or hast thou”
KJV, GNV: “But thou hast”

When the phrase begins with:

But you have…, it is a declaration that God has rejected them.
Or have you…, it is a question of if God has rejected them.
Even if you have…, it is a pleading with God to restore them if God has rejected them.
Unless you have…, it is being not completely sure if God has rejected them.

All of these options except for the first, displays uncertainty about if God has rejected them or not. However, “Even if you have,” basically infers that God has rejected them. So which one is it? Well, I’m not a scholar, so I’ll just pick one. Considering the grief that has been displayed up until this point, it would make more sense for this to be phrased as a question because doubt and uncertainty express feelings of grief more profoundly. Also, since this is the end of the chapter and end of the book and poetic literature, it would make more sense for the author to end in a question. Therefore, I will go with: Or have you utterly rejected us? Are you still angry with us?

But what is the answer to this question? Is God still angry with them? He poured out His wrath on this city and the author said “The punishment of your iniquity has been completed, O daughter of Zion” (4:22; NASB). The answer to the question is, it depends who you are and what you decide to do. If you remain in rebellion to God, then yes, God is angry about that. But if you soften your heart and turn from your sins and believe God, then He will not have to be angry anymore. So, it’s your decision. Will you be an enemy to God? Or will you finally decide to be grateful for everything that He has done for you and believe in Jesus?