Observing the Poetic Repetition for the Emphasis of Established Elements in the Text:
 
3:24 “The LORD YHVH (MERCY)[a] is my portion” says my soul[e]; following this realisation I wait expectantly[f] for him.
3:25 The LORD YHVH (MERCY) a is good[g] to those whose hope[f] is in Him, to the soule who seeks Him;
3:26 It is good[g] to tremble[h] and wait[f] silently[i] for the salvation of The LORD YHVH (MERCY) [a].
3:27 It is good[g] for a man to bear the yoke[j] in his youth.
3:28 Let him sit silent[h/i] in isolation, for the LORD has lifted it onto him.
3:29 Let him put his mouth in the dust[h]—perhaps he will have hope[f].
3:30 Let him give his jaw to one who would strike him[j], and let him be satisfied with rebuke[h/j].
3:31 For Adonay (the Master)[b] does not cast off forever[k].
3:32 For there is grief[l], there is also compassion[k], so great is his unfailing kindness[k] (practiced love).
3:33 For he does not afflict[j] according to his heart[n] (core being) or grievel the children of a man.
3:34 To crush underfoot all the captives[m] of a land,
3:35 To pervert judgement[m] of a man before the face of Elyon the Most High[c],
3:36 To misrepresent[m] a human being in a dispute—does Adonay (the Master)[b] not see such a thing?
3:37 Who can speak something and have it come to pass if Adonay (the Master)[b] has not commanded it?
3:38 Is it not from the mouth of Elyon the Most High[c] that both the bad circumstances[j] (haraot pl.) and the good[g] (v’hatov sg.) come?
3:38 Alt. From the mouth of Elyon the Most High does not come both evils (haraot pl.) and the good (v’hatov sg.). [In the sense that God does not mix evil and good together or compromise the good, rather He makes a clear distinction between the two].
3:39 Why should a living person complain, a man upon whom sin resides[m]?
3:40 Let us search our ways[h] and test them[h], and let us turn perpetually to The LORD YHVH
(MERCY) [a].
3:41 Let us lift up our hearts[n] (inner person) and our hands to El God[d] in the heavens, saying:
3:42 “We have rebelled[m] and have been contentious[m] and you have not forgiven[p].
3:43 You have fenced[o] Yourself/us with anger and pursued us[j], slaying us without pity[j].
3:44 You have hedged[o] Yourself/us with a cloud[o] so that no prayer can pass through[p].  
 
חֶלְקִ֤י יְהוָה֙ אָמְרָ֣ה נַפְשִׁ֔י עַל־כֵּ֖ן אוֹחִ֥יל לֽוֹ׃
 
3:24 “The LORD YHVH (MERCY) is my portion” says my soul; following this realisation I wait expectantly for him.
 
The Holy Name denotes Mercy. The prophet/Judah/Israel/Messiah, acknowledge the everlasting fact that God is enough. When YHVH is my portion, allotment etc. I am secure, even in the midst of affliction. Therefore, when this realisation sets in I look to Him, waiting expectantly for Him to manifest His merciful grace. “Though He tarry, yet will I wait daily for His coming!” [the 12th of Maimonides’ 13 principles of faith]
 
This continues the repentant prayer of the preceding verses. To acknowledge that God is my portion is to accept my guilt and act in repentance. I therefore have my hope renewed in Him.
 
“The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: You maintain my lot.”
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 16:5 
 
This Psalm of David compares the LORD his portion with the sorrowful portion of false gods. David, speaking by the Holy Spirit, explains that when a person accepts YHVH as his portion, that person is the recipient and heir to a godly heritage, pleasant paths, counsel day and night and ultimately, resurrection unto life everlasting.
 
“My flesh and my heart (core being) fail: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 73:26 
 
This Psalm of Asaph expresses repentance concerning the foolishness of being jealous of the prosperity of the wicked who, despite their temporary successes nonetheless end in destruction. The psalmist observes that in all circumstances God is with him and that even though his body and inner person may fail, God remains and strengthens his inner person; God Himself being his portion forever.
 
God being the portion of those made righteous through blood atonement received in repentance is also reminiscent of the Levitical priests who were not assigned a tribal region of land but instead received God as their inheritance (Num. 18:20; Deut. 18:1-2).
 
 ט֤וֹב יְהוָה֙ לְקוָֹ֔ו לְנֶ֖פֶשׁ תִּדְרְשֶֽׁנּוּ׃
 
3:25 The LORD YHVH (MERCY) is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the soul who seeks Him;
 
This reflects the themes of Psalms 16 and 73. According to His nature God is Good (Mark 10:18). His goodness is made manifest to those who place their hope in Him. Only the humble can receive God’s goodness, which is the true strength of the inner person (heart).
 
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
 
-Hebrews 11:6
 
ט֤וֹב וְיָחִיל֙ וְדוּמָ֔ם לִתְשׁוּעַ֖ת יְהוָֽה׃
 
3:26 It is good to tremble and wait silently for the salvation of the LORD YHVH (MERCY).
 
God is holy and defines goodness. Therefore, to tremble before Him in silent humility, waiting on His redemptive work, is part of the greater meaning of goodness. Those who fear God will see an end to fear. Both the goal of the fear of the LORD and the destruction of all ungodly fear which is bound up in condemnation.
 
“But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait with patience for it.”
 
-Romans 8:25
 
While in the context of Lamentations 3 the salvation waited on in the immediate historical sense is ultimately deliverance from Babylonian captivity, it’s nonetheless also written in anticipation of the entry of Messiah into the chronology of time and space through the womb of Miriam (Mary).
 
ט֣וֹב לַגֶּ֔בֶר כִּֽי־יִשָּׂ֥א עֹ֖ל בִּנְעוּרָֽיו׃
 
3:27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.
 
“It is good for a man to train his soul to bear the yoke of the commandments in his youth.”
 
-Aramaic Targum on Lamentations 3:27
 
The yoke is both the yoke of correction/firm physical discipline and the yoke of Biblical Instruction, Torah.
 
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you all shall find rest for your souls.”
 
-Mattisiyahu (Matthew) 11:29
 
To bear the discipline of God in youth is to receive godly, established outcomes. To receive the Instruction (Torah) of God as a measure of holiness when we’re young means being kept from falling off a cliff’s edge by a well-placed fence.
  
 יֵשֵׁ֤ב בָּדָד֙ וְיִדֹּ֔ם כִּ֥י נָטַ֖ל עָלָֽיו׃
 
3:28 Let him sit silent in isolation, for the LORD has lifted it onto him.
 
The yoke of the previous verse has been placed by God upon the one He loves (Heb. 12:6). Receiving this yoke in sober, silent, self-reflection is a precursor to active repentance and true contrition. 
 
“Let him sit alone and be silent, bearing the corrections which have come upon him, for the sake of the unity of the Name of the Lord, which have been sent to punish him for the minor sins which he has committed in this world, until He have mercy upon him and lift them from him so that He may receive him perfected in the world to come.”
 
-Aramaic Targum on Lamentations 3:28
 
“But each of you, when you pray, enter into your inner secret room, and when each of you has shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward each of you openly.”
 
-Mattisiyahu (Matthew) 6:6
 
יִתֵּ֤ן בֶּֽעָפָר֙ פִּ֔יהוּ אוּלַ֖י יֵ֥שׁ תִּקְוָֽה׃
 
3:29 Let him put his mouth in the dust—perhaps he will have hope.
 
This is an admonishment to act in humility and true repentance. Putting the mouth to the dust is symbolic of silencing one’s own rebellious speech, putting sinful speech to death (dust to dust).
 
The words “perhaps he will have hope” are not said to invoke doubt concerning the certain hope of the truly repentant, rather they express contrition; a heart posture that acknowledges that one who has sinned is not deserving of forgiveness. Forgiveness is not a right but a gift purchased at the highest of prices. One does not demand an undeserved gift but instead awaits the Giver with absolute humility. Prepared with a heart posture of gratefulness.
 
“Let him put his mouth to the dust and prostrate himself before his Master perhaps there is hope.”
 
-Aramaic Targum on Lamentations 3:29
 
 יִתֵּ֧ן לְמַכֵּ֛הוּ לֶ֖חִי יִשְׂבַּ֥ע בְּחֶרְפָּֽה
 
3:30 Let him give his jaw to one who would strike him, and let him be satisfied with rebuke.
 
Some translate “cheek” in the sense that the penitent person willing receives the blow of discipline as a slap on the cheek. I’ve translated more literally using “jaw” because the jaw symbolizes the words of the mouth spoken in error. The text is conveying something stronger than a simple stiff slap to the face. It’s denoting a broken jaw that will need resetting so as to establish the renewal of a pure pattern of speech learned from severe discipline. A lesson that will not be unlearned in a hurry.
 
Harsh rebuke is hard to swallow. Thus, only the truly humble can be satisfied by it.
 
 כִּ֣י ל֥אֹ יִזְנַ֛ח לְעבֿלָ֖ם אֲדֹנָֽי׃
 
3:31 For Adonay (the Master) does not cast off forever.
 
It’s wrong to translate this as some do “For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.” First because that is not what the Hebrew text says, and second because it contradicts Scripture (Psalm 37:9-11; Malachi 4:1-3; Daniel 12:2; 1 Cor. 6:9:20; Rev. 20:11-15; 22:15).
 
Adonay does not cast off forever those who receive His atoning sacrificial love in repentance.
 
Specifically in the context of the present text, Israel/Judah is the subject of the casting off, making the casting off through discipline temporary.
 
“For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.”
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 94:14
 
The Targum rightly interprets:
 
“For the Lord will not neglect his servants forever…”
 
-Aramaic Targum on Lamentations 3:31a
 
 כִּ֣י אִם־הוֹגָ֔ה וְרִחַ֖ם כְּרֹ֥ב ׳חַסְדּוֹ׳ ״חֲסָדָֽיו׃״
 
3:32 For there is grief, there is also compassion, so great is his unfailing kindness (practiced love).
 
There is grief in affliction and there is also compassion of God poured out in the midst of affliction as He suffers with His people, on behalf of His people, so great is His faithful, practical love. It’s unfailing because He is eternal.

“1 At the same time,” saith the LORD, “will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.” 2 Thus saith the LORD, “The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.” 3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. 4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.”

-Y’rmiyahu (Jeremiah) 31:1-4

“But first he breaks and afterwards he turns toward them and has mercy on the righteous in the abundance of his goodness.”
 
-Aramaic Targum on Lamentations 3:32

 כִּ֣י ל֤אֹ עִסָּה֙ מִלִּבּ֔בֿ וַיַּגֶּ֖ה בְּנֵי־אִֽישׁ׃  
 
3:33 For he does not afflict according to his heart (core being) or grieve the children of a man.
 
The grief that results from sin is not the result of a vindictive God but rather the fruit of humanity’s wilful rebellion.
 
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
 
-2 Peter 3:9
 
God’s heart desire is to reconcile human beings to Himself in right loving relationship. In keeping with His own nature and the love defined by His holiness, He will not force love on humanity. Thus, while His desire for us is reconciliation to His loving care, those who wilfully and perpetually refuse His offer will receive the grief they have sown for themselves.
 
“For He does not torment wilfully nor cause men grief. From His heart and from His will; rather the sin causes [the grief].”
 
 Rashi on Lamentations 3:33-
 
לְדַכֵּא֙ תַּ֣חַת רַגְלָ֔יו כֹּ֖ל אֲסִ֥ירֵי אָֽרֶץ׃
 
3:34 To crush underfoot all the captives of a land,
 
The next 3 verses indict the wicked actions of those who pervert justice and exposes those evil acts before the all-seeing Creator.
 
This verse specifically reflects the actions of the Babylonians against Judah. But is equally applicable as an observation of the general practice of the empires of men.
 
“And I am very sore displeased with the goyim (heathens; nations other than Israel) who are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.”
 
-Zechariah 1:15
  
לְהַטּוֹת֙ מִשְׁפַּט־גָּ֔בֶר נֶ֖גֶד פְּנֵ֥י עֶלְיֽוֹן׃
 
3:35 To pervert judgement of a man before the face of Elyon the Most High,
 
This can be read as an indictment against the injustices committed by Judah. These acts of sin were performed before God’s face. Wilful rebellion.
 
“And perverting the justice of a poor man in the presence of the Most High,”
 
-Aramaic Targum on Lamentations 3:35
 
We note that God is Named Elyon, Most High God in His position as God over all things, and thus over the actions of both the Babylonians and Judah/Israel.

 לְעַוֵּ֤ת אָדָם֙ בְּרִיב֔בֿ אֲדֹנָ֖י ל֥אֹ רָאָֽה׃  
 
3:36 To misrepresent a human being in a dispute—does Adonay (the Master) not see such a thing?
 
“You shall not bear false witness!”
 
-Shemot (Exodus) 20:16
 
Here God is Named Adonay (Master), Lord over all the earth and specifically over His people Israel/Judah. He is all seeing and thus sees every act of injustice performed by human beings.
 
 מִ֣י זֶ֤ה אָמַר֙ וַוֶֹ֔הִי אֲדֹנָ֖י ל֥אֹ צִוָּֽה׃
 
3:37 Who can speak something and have it come to pass if Adonay (the Master) has not commanded it?
 
No one can will their way out of a situation by deluding themselves into believing they can manifest their own destiny with their words. Nothing is established unless God allows it. In fact, only what He commands comes to pass.

 מִצִּ֤י עֶלְיבֿן֙ ל֣אֹ תֵצֵ֔א הָרָע֖בֿת וְהַטּֽבֿב׃
  
3:38 Is it not from the mouth of Elyon the Most High that both the bad circumstances (haraot pl.) and the good (v’hatov sg.) come?
 
3:38 Alt. From the mouth of Elyon the Most High does not come both evils (haraot pl.) and the good (v’hatov sg.). [In the sense that God does not mix evil and good together or compromise the good, rather He makes a clear distinction between the two].
 
We note that the evils or calamities are multiple. Thus we read bad circumstances plural and not evil singular. As a counterpoint the good is singular. Therefore, the singular and ultimate good (defined by God’s nature) subjugates and defeats the plural evils. (ref. Amos 3:6)
 
Elsewhere in Scripture we read that God forms Light (all existing in Him) and creates darkness (not all existing but created and subject to light), and that He forms Peace (all existing in Him as part of His nature) and creates from nothing, evil (created and not all existing) [Isaiah 45:6-7].
 
1 John 1:5 says that “God is Light and in Him there is no darkness.” In John’s letter Light is used as a metaphor for God’s pure character and darkness as a metaphor for evil actions. Yaakov (James) 1:13 reminds us that “God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.”
 
Therefore, God is not complicit in evil but is the Creator of it. This makes evil, a created thing like darkness, subject to the Creator Who manifests in all existing (not created) Light, manifesting  all existing Peace (not created). 
 
All things exist and have their being in God. The present text along with Isaiah 45:6-7 refute outright the eastern esoteric and Dharmic religious lie that good and evil are equitable forces within the universe. The universe itself also being a created thing and not a deity or person.
 
Within the context of the present lament, the writer is indicating that evil circumstances are allowed to happen only by God’s Word and that they are temporary, while the good remains eternally present because goodness is an attribute of God’s character whereas evil is a subordinate creation.
 
The prophet Iyov (Job) also acknowledges God’s sovereignty over both good and evil circumstances:
 
“But he said unto her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”
 
- Iyov (Job) 2:10
 
Ultimately, God orders all things and nothing is permitted outside of His authority because nothing exists outside of God.
 
The alternative reading, which is supported by the Targum, understands the text to be clarifying that God does not muddy the waters between evil and good but makes a clear distinction.
 
“From the mouth of God Most High there does not issue evil, rather by the hint of a whisper, because of the violence with which the land is filled. But when he desires to decree good in the world it issues from the holy mouth.”
 
-Aramaic Targum on Lamentations 3:38

 מַה־יִּתְאבֿנֵן֙ אָדָ֣ם חָ֔י גֶּ֖בֶר ׳עַל־חֶטְאבֿ׳ ״עַל־חֲטָאָֽיו׃״
  
3:39 Why should a living person complain, a man upon whom sin resides?
 
A person guilty of wilful sin has no right to complain about the affliction caused by his sin. Nor does he have the right to complain concerning the just punishment he receives.
 
 נַחְצְָּ֤שָׂ֤ה דְרָכֵ֙ינ֙וּ֙ וְֽנַחְקָֹ֔רָה וְנָשׁ֖וָּבָה עַד־יְהָֽוָֽה׃
 
3:40 Let us search our ways and test them, and let us turn perpetually to the LORD YHVH (MERCY).
 
This is a call to individual and national repentance. Because God is Holy, Merciful, Gracious, Faithful, Kind and pursues us in right relationship, let us soberly examine our rebellious and sinful ways and turn toward Him from our wicked position of having turned our backs to Him (a delusion). The text says “turn perpetually to the LORD.” Our turning toward Him begins and is ongoing in Messiah our Righteousness.
 
“Search me, El, and know my core being: Try me, and know my conflicting thoughts: And see if there be any wicked, idolatrous way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 139:23-24 [Author’s translation]

 נִשָּׂ֤א לְבָבֵ֙נוּ֙ אֶל־כַּפָּ֔יִם אֶל־אֵ֖ל בַּשָּׁמָֽיִם׃
 
3:41 Let us lift up our hearts (inner person) and our hands to El God in the heavens, saying:
 
Let us willingly expose our filthy hearts that He might cleanse us, and our filthy hands that He might clean them.
 
“Let us lift our cleansed hearts and cast away theft and robbery from our hands. And let us repent before God the dwelling of whose Shekinah is in heaven above.”
 
-Aramaic Targum on Lamentations

“3 Who may ascend into the mountain of the LORD? or who shall stand in His holy place? 4 He that has clean hands, and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek Thy face, O Jacob. Selah.”

-Tehillim (Psalms) 24:3-6
 
“After this manner therefore you all should pray: Our Father which art in the heavens, May Your Name by observed and practiced as being Holy.”
 
-Mattisiyahu (Matthew) 6:9
 
 נְַ֤חְנוּ פָשַׁ֙עְנ֙וּ֙ וּמִָ֔רִ֔ינוּ אַוָֹ֖ה ל֥אֹ סָלָֽחְוָֹ׃  
 
3:42 “We have rebelled and have been contentious and you have not forgiven.
 
A sober admission unto repentance. There is no forgiveness in rebellion. Forgiveness is offered to all but only the repentant receive it.
 
 סַכֹּ֤תָה בָאַף֙ וַֽוִֹרְדְּפֵ֔נוּ הָרַ֖גְוָֹ ל֥אֹ חָמָֽלְוָֹ׃
 
3:43 You have fenced Yourself/us with anger and pursued us, slaying us without pity.
 
“You have covered us in anger and pursued us in exile. You have killed and have not pitied.”
 
-Aramaic Targum on Lamentations 3:43
 
The fence, be it designed to make a distinction between God and sinful Judah or be it to act as a wall of imprisonment for Judah, nonetheless conveys the fierce anger of God’s discipline and wrath against wilful and ongoing sin.
 
The writer is simply making an observation of fact. There is a God established distinction between good and evil, the righteous and the wicked.
 
 סַכּ֤וֹתָה בֶֽעָנָן֙ לָ֔ךְ מֵעֲב֖וֹר תְּפִלָּֽה׃
 
3:44 You have hedged Yourself/us with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
 
The cloud is once more reminiscent of the cloud of the presence that both led and dwelt in the midst of Israel as she wandered from Egypt to the land of promise. (ref. Lam. 2:1)
 
Here, as in the previous verse the cloud/hedge acts as a barrier of distinction that refuses the unrepentant pleas of Judah until such a time as her prayers come from a truly humble and utterly contrite heart posture.
 
The Targum pictures this distinction as a barrier to the heavens:
 
“You have covered the heavens with your clouds of glory so that our prayers cannot cross to you.”
 
-Aramaic Targum on Lamentations 3:44
 
When prayers are prayed from the yetzer hara (evil inclination), no matter how pious the sound, they will be refused by God.
 
“I will not hear your prayers!”
 
-Isaiah 1:15, 59:2; Jeremiah 7:16
 
There are a number of clear reasons that God refuses prayers, each of them rooted in ingenuine heart posture:
 
•       Refusing to hear the genuine cry of others
 
“One who shuts his ear to the outcry of the poor will also call out himself, and not be answered.”
 
-Mishlei (Proverbs) 21:13
 
•       Ungodly doubt
 
“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that person ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,”
 
-Yaakov (James) 1:5-7
 
•       Pride
 
“But he gives more grace. Wherefore he says, ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble.’”
 
-Yaakov (James) 4:6
 
•       Unjust violence
 
“So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you offer many prayers, I will not be listening. Your hands are covered with blood.”
 
-Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 1:15
 
•       Unkindness toward a wife
 
“You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honour as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.”
 
-1 Peter 3:7
 
•       Selfish motives
 
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.”
 
-Yaakov (James) 4:3
 
•       A dedicated love of sin
 
“If I regard wickedness in my inner person, The Lord will not hear…”
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 66:18
 
•       Leaders who mistreat God’s people Israel
 
“Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yes, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.”
 
-Micah 3:7 (ref. Micah 3)
 
Copyright 2025 Yaakov (Brown) Ben Yehoshua

Observing the Poetic Repetition for the Emphasis of Established Elements in the Text:
 
Both the Hebrew poetic and prophetic works include the use of repetition to emphasise elements, strengthen meanings and establish firm outcomes. The laments of Lamentations are thoughtful, passionate, carefully constructed and intentional in their Holy Spirit inspired message. The following annotated text shows the repeated themes and cross connections in the text that when observed carefully, illuminate the subject matter further.
 
It's significant that the abecedarian (each line beginning with a letter of the alphabet) form of this portion of Lamentations is threefold. Meaning, each letter of the Aleph Beit is used three times. This conveys an emphatic and immutable meaning.

3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction[a] in the rod[b] (tribe - shevet) of His wrath[c] (offense);
3:2 Me He drove[a] and walked into darkness and not light[d];
3:3 Indeed me He turned[a], even overturned with His hand[b], all the day[e].
3:4 He has worn out[a] my flesh and my skin[f]; He has broken[a] my bones[g].
3:5 All around me[h] He has established bitterness[a] and distress[a];
3:6 He has made me dwell in darkness, like the long dead[d].
3:7 He has walled me in[h] and I can’t get out[i]; He has weighed me down[h] with chains[i].
3:8 Also when I cry for help[j] and shout[j], He shuts out my prayer[k];
3:9 He has walled[h] in my ways[l] with hewn stone[h], He has made the paths[l] I tread crooked[m].
3:10 To me He is a bear waiting[n], a lion hiding[n] in a secret place;
3:11 My ways He has turned aside[m] and pulled to pieces[n], He has appointed for me desolation[d].
3:12 He has stood on His bow[b] and set me as the target[o] of His arrows[c]:
3:13 The arrows of His quiver[b] enter my kidneys[o] (Seat of emotion).
3:14 I have become a laughingstock[p] to all my tribe (amiy), their taunting song[p] lasts all day long[e].
3:15 He has filled me with bitterness[a], saturated me with wormwood[a] (curse).
3:16 And He has crushed my teeth[f] in gravel, ground me into the dust[g].
3:17 He has cast my soul far from peace[d], I forgot goodness[d].
3:18 I said, “My strength and hope have perished[f] from before the LORD[q] (YHVH).”
3:19 Remembering[r] my affliction and my misery[a] was wormwood[a] (curse) and poison[c];
3:20 Constantly remembering[r] them, I was bowed lows in my soul[t].
3:21 But this returned[s] to my heart[t] (inner person), upon this recollection[r] I wait expectantly[u]:
3:22 The faithful kindness[v] of the LORD[q] (YHVH) indeed never ends[w], the out workings of His[q] compassionate womb[v] (mercies) can never cease[w].
3:23 They are new to all the mornings[e] — great is Your[q] faithfulness[v], fidelity, trusted firmness!
 
It’s worth noting the couplets, triplets, quadruplets and phrases of refrain throughout this prophetic, poetic work. For example the “rod” of verse 1 is reflected in the “hand” of verse 3 and the “bow and quiver” of verses 12 & 13. Likewise the phrase “all day” in verse 3, which concerns the discipline of God’s wrath is repeated in verse 14 and finds its fullness in verse 23 as “all the mornings”, a counterpoint to the limited wrath (day) in the expression of mercy (days). “Bowed low in my soul” (humility) in verse 20 is countered by “returned to my heart [inner person] (receipt of remembrance)” in verse 21 and so on.
 
Ultimately the wrath of God is always preceded by Mercy and the outcome of judgement for the repentant is a return to Peace. “The Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.” (1 Peter 1:20; Rev. 13:8)

אֲנִ֤י הַגֶּ֙בֶר֙ רָאָ֣ה עֳנִ֔י בְּשֵׁ֖בֶט עֶבְרָתֽוֹ׃
 
3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction in the rod (tribe - shevet) of His wrath (offense);
 
Y’rmiyahu (Jeremiah) is the man who has seen the affliction brought by the rod of HaShem’s wrath. The man is also Judah/Israel, afflicted by Babylon according to God’s wrath against Israel’s wilful sin.
 
It’s significant that the Hebrew text reads הַגֶּבֶר Ha’gever (the man). Why not simply אֲנִי גֶּבֶר Aniy gever “I’m a man…”? The reason is that the writer/prophet (via his scribe – Barukh) is conveying something transcendent. “The Man” figuratively represented by the prophet, is in fact the Mashiyach Yeshua HaMelekh, Who is witness to all the sufferings of Israel and present in the midst of her, resurrected, trans-locational, slain before the foundation of the worlds.
 
Jeremiah is witness to the destruction of Jerusalem and Beit HaMikdash (the Temple). He is deeply impacted, having suffered the abusive taunts of his own people and the desolation levelled against his tribe as a result of their refusal to repent at the warning of his Holy Spirit breathed prophecies.
 
The שֵׁבֶט sheivet rod is that of God’s rule (Gen. 49:10) and discipline (2 Sam. 7:14). The Hebrew שבט shevet is more often translated “tribe.” The present verse makes sense when read both ways. Judah is the tribe of His wrath, and the affliction against Judah is the rod of God’s discipline. There is precedence for seeing the rod as representing the Babylonians who are acting as the physical manifestation of God’s discipline. The Assyrians have previously been described this way (Isa. 10:5).
 
Ibn Ezra understands the man afflicted to be a man of Judah other than Jeremiah, who is soberly reflecting on the affliction he has experienced as a result of his tribe’s offense, or the offense that he and his tribe have committed.
 
“And this one who laments said that the tribulation would torment him with the tribe of his transgression:”
 
-Ibn Ezra on Lamentations 3:1
 
However, this seems unlikely given that the remainder of the text infers God’s disciplinary love established against Judah/Israel. The “He” Who is the owner of the wrath, offense taken, is likely God Himself, Who is offended, and acts in His wrath in order to discipline the offenders.
 
Affliction and discipline fill the rhythm of the language that follows. The Hebrew poetic mechanism of repetition is amplified in these verses where we see the doubling of synonyms soon become a tripling and quadrupling, so that what is firmly established is made so clear as to be irrefutable. Bitterness and brokenness, light and dark, weariness and distress, weightiness and chains and so on.
 
 אוֹתִ֥י נָהַ֛ג וַיֹּלַ֖ךְ חֹ֥שֶׁךְ וְלֹא־אֽוֹר׃
 
3:2 Me He drove and walked into darkness and not light;
 
This poetic couplet finds its affirmation in the next verse. “He drove and walked” is reflected in “He turned, even over turned”, and “Into darkness and not light” is echoed in “Over turned by His hand all the day”.
 
The prophet speaks as sinful Judah/Israel who has been driven to exhaustion as she has been taken into the darkness of exile.
 
Jeremiah was unjustly imprisoned in the darkness of the dungeon. (Jer. 38) The prophet, as is so often the case, lives a life that prophetically reflects the plight of his people. Judah is without the Light of God, Whom she has spurned. The Temple of the LORD destroyed by the Babylonians and the appointed times silenced for a time.
 
“Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.”
 
-Tehilim (Psalms) 97:11
 
By her own sin Judah has been driven into darkness. Thus there is no light, joy, prosperity at this time, because light is sown for the righteous and no one is made righteous except through atoning blood and repentance.
 
“Darkness and not light” is significant as a turn of phrase related to Yom HaDin, the Judgement Day of the LORD and is used elsewhere in Scripture:
 
“Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light,”
 
-Amos 5:18 (ref. Job 12:25)
 
The prophet Jeremiah suffers the affliction of his people just as Messiah is afflicted in place of those deserving of condemnation. Like so many of the prophets Jeremiah is a type reflecting the all existing King Messiah Yeshua.
 
אַ֣ךְ בִּ֥י יָשֻׁ֛ב יַהֲפֹ֥ךְ יָד֖וֹ כָּל־הַיּֽוֹם׃
 
3:3 Indeed me He turned, even over turned by His hand, all the day.
 
This is a description of repeated blows and more literally a sifting of sorts that examines in the hand the quality of the subject. This examination continues throughout the metaphorical day of Judah’s journey into exile. Ultimately the subject (Judah) is overturned, face down in darkness, without light, just as the previous verse says.
 
We note that the prophet is suffering with the people, not because he is guilty but because he reflects the suffering Messiah Who is at this point in Israel’s history, yet to enter time and space. God is afflicted with His people even as He disciplines them, because in Him all things exist and have their being.
 
בִּלָּ֤ה בְשָׂרִי֙ וְעוֹרִ֔י שִׁבַּ֖ר עַצְמוֹתָֽי׃
 
3:4 He has worn out my flesh and my skin; He has broken my bones.
 
Rashi writes:
 
“Both young and old lay outdoors on the ground with neither pillow nor cushion, and their flesh wore out, when they were going into exile.”
 
The flesh and skin worn down like an old garment and the broken bones, express the physical affliction suffered by Judah as a result of God’s discipline. However, there is also a metaphorical distinction being made between the outer person (flesh and skin) and the inner person (bones). Just as the prophet Jeremiah alludes to the fire of God in his bones which must be spoken, so too the fire of God refines the bones of unrepentant Judah/Israel.
 
We are reminded again that the same Fire of God that warms the repentant consumes the unrepentant.
 
The Hebrew root בלה balah which is applied to the wearing out of clothing, is used here to describe the rubbing of skin to the point of exposed flesh.
 
The book of Job uses it in a similar sense:
 
והוא כרקב יבלה כבגד אכלו עשׁ׃”
 
He decays as a rotten thing, warn out like a moth eaten garment.”
 
-Iyov (Job) 13:28
 
Isaiah uses similar language in his anguished prophecy:
 
“I settled myself until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones; from day to night you bring me to a completion.”
 
-Y’shayahu (Isaiah) 38:13
 
בָּנָ֥ה עָלַ֛י וַיַּקַּ֖ף רֹ֥אשׁ וּתְלָאָֽה׃
 
3:5 All around me He has established bitterness and distress;
 
The Hebrew רֹאשׁ rosh used here in the sense of poison, bitterness etc. is also the Hebrew root meaning head, leader etc. Thus, the Midrash Aggadah says that it represents Nebuchadnezzar the head of Babylon’s during the exile of Yehoyachin. The Midrash likewise assigns meaning to תְלָאָה tela’ah saying that it is a figurative weariness reflecting the completion of the task of exiling Judah/Israel by Nebuzaradan during the time of Tzidkiyahu.
 
The Targum on Lamentations 3:5 conveys an entirely different meaning:
 
“He has built siege works and surrounded the city. He has uprooted the heads of the people and wearied them.”
 
The ”bitterness and distress” amplify the “worn out flesh and broken bones” and continue the lament of “affliction”. Thus the emphasis on the suffering that results from wilful sin and its consequences.
 
בְּמַחֲשַׁכִּ֥ים הוֹשִׁיבַ֖נִי כְּמֵתֵ֥י עוֹלָֽם׃
 
3:6 He has made me dwell in darkness, like the long dead.
 
“He has caused me to dwell in a dark prison like the dead who have gone to the other world.”
 
-Targum on Lamentations 3:6
 
This is the couplet to the phrase “darkness and not light” from verse 2, and is pretext, along with verses 3 & 14, to the redemptive phrase “new every morning” in verse 23.
 
Keil and Delitzsch observe that this verse reflects verbatim the phrasing at the latter part of Psalms 143:3:
 
“For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.”
 
Ibn Ezra calls this darkness מחשך בתוך מחשך “darkness within darkness.”
 
The Hebrew כְּמֵתֵי עוֹלָם reads more literally as, “like those dead perpetually” or “like those in the world of the dead.” Therefore, it’s referring both to those “long dead (past)” and to all who await the judgement. Olam meaning forever, perpetually, indefinitely and world/worlds.
 
 גָּדַ֧ר בַּעֲדִ֛י וְלֹ֥א אֵצֵ֖א הִכְבִּ֥יד נְחָשְׁתִּֽי׃
 
3:7 He has walled me in and I can’t get out; He has weighed me down with chains.
 
This emphasises the captivity which Judah has been exiled into and the inability of Judah to overcome her imprisonment. Judah is suffering the consequences of her sin and the walls of bondage that result. Within the walls of her cell are the chains that bind her and weigh her down further so that she is imprisoned and bound. This reflects Ibn Ezra’s wise observation that the darkness of Judah’s affliction is “darkness within darkness.”
 
Likewise the prophet Jeremiah experienced darkness within darkness in the mire of the pit within the dungeon in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 38). Ibn Ezra reads נחשתי  (chains) as כבלים (cables), and thus by inference makes a correlation between Jeremiah being lowered down into the muddy pit within the dungeon, and the present text.
 
Rashi sees a progression in the phrasing of this verse. Judah was “walled in” by the Babylonians, “Could not get out” because the armies of Nebuchadnezzar encompassed her, and was “weighed down with chains” because the Babylonians had literally fettered the feet, necks and noses of those being taken into exile.
 
גַּ֣ם כִּ֤י אֶזְעַק֙ וַאֲשַׁוֵּ֔עַ שָׂתַ֖ם תְּפִלָּתִֽי׃
 
3:8 Also when I cry for help and shout, He shuts out my prayer;
 
"Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you."
 
-Jeremiah 7:16
 
“He shuts out my prayer” In Jewish tradition there is a metaphorical idea of the windows of the heavens being shut to the prayers of the unrepentant. (ref. Rashi on Lamentations 3:8)
 
There is a point in time where the wilfully unrepentant cross a line from which there is no going back. Not even a righteous prophet can stand in the gap for his people once they have determined to be perpetually wicked. We see this same principle at work in Pharaoh’s wilful resistance to the many opportunities given him to repent. It’s not that God is unable to hear the prayers of the prophet, rather He refuses to accept them on behalf of the wilfully unrepentant.
 
The Targum further illuminates the text by alluding to the destruction of the Temple, “House of my prayer”
 
“Even when I cry out and pray the house of my prayer is blocked.”
 
-Targum on Lamentations 3:8
 
“Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:”
 
-Mishlei (Proverbs) 1:26
 
גָּדַ֤ר דְּרָכַי֙ בְּגָזִ֔ית נְתִיבֹתַ֖י עִוָּֽה׃
 
3:9 He has walled in my ways with hewn stone, He has made the paths I tread crooked.
 
In the physical the armies of Babylon had captured and walled in the residents of Jerusalem and forced the exiles to walk chained by the neck and nose in distress toward Babylon. Thus, “walled in” and “crooked paths”.
 
In the spiritual the walls of God’s discipline keep contained those who wilfully continue to sin and the bending of their paths forces them to walk where they don’t want to go. That is, toward discipline and repentance. Had God not acted in wrathful discipline against disobedient Judah/Israel, she would simply have continued in her sin unto utter annihilation. As it stands she is instead suffering temporary desolation unto restoration as a result of God’s grace.
 
“If I wish to go out, I do not go out in the roads paved in a straight way, because of the enemies, but I go out on the crooked road.”
 
-Rashi on Lamentations 3:9
 
“Hewn stones” are massive quarry stones that have been carved to stand as large foundations to form tall unsurpassable walls. Therefore, the meaning is that the obstacles God has put in place against Judah are beyond her power to overcome. The realisation then must be, that only God can help her in her state of affliction born of disobedience.
 
דֹּ֣ב אֹרֵ֥ב הוּא֙ לִ֔י ׳אַרְיֵה׳ ״אֲרִ֖י״ בְּמִסְתָּרִֽים׃
 
3:10 To me He is a bear waiting, a lion hiding in a secret place;
 
God Himself is personified as a Bear and a Lion. “Hiding in a secret place” is an idiom that conveys the idea that there is nowhere where God isn’t. All things exist in Him. To the time trapped it’s as if He were hiding unseen ready to pounce at any moment and destroy the remnant of suffering and unsuspecting Judah.
 
“I will meet them as a bear bereaved and will rend the membrane of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.”
 
-Hosea 13:8
 
“As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.”
 
-Amos 5:19
 
דְּרָכַ֥י סוֹרֵ֛ר וַֽיְפַשְּׁחֵ֖נִי שָׂמַ֥נִי שֹׁמֵֽם׃
 
3:11 My ways He has turned aside and pulled to pieces, He has appointed for me desolation.
 
“Pulled to pieces” can also be read “torn to pieces” and continues the figurative role of the Lion and Bear.
 
“Appointed” can be read “established”, and this for Judah’s (Israel’s) good.
 
Rashi understands this verse to be a description of the results of a thorn strewn path. The JPS translation speaks of being “mangled” and “left numb”.
 
The appointed desolation is the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile.
 
דָּרַ֤ךְ קַשְׁתּוֹ֙ וַיַּצִּיבֵ֔נִי כַּמַּטָּרָ֖א לַחֵֽץ׃
 
3:12 He has stood on His bow and set me as the target of His arrows:
 
The bow is, like the rod (v.1) and hand (v.3) of God, an instrument of wrath, and is one of the weapons the Babylonians employed against Judah. The bow in question is a massive long bow that requires the archer to stand on its base in order to gain the leverage needed to fire it at great distances. Thus, the discipline established for Judah was established by God long before she reached the height of her abominations. This is yet another expression of God’s grace and mercy, His limitless patience.
 
God has surgically selected Judah/Israel as His target, picking her out from all the other nations. Why? Because He would see her repentant and made whole. Blessed is the nation (Israel) surgically targeted by God for discipline unto repentance. Cursed is the nation (Babylon) allowed to continue in sin unto self-destruction.
 
הֵבִיא֙ בְּכִלְיוֹתָ֔י בְּנֵ֖י אַשְׁפָּתֽוֹ׃
 
3:13 The arrows of His quiver enter my kidneys.
 
This speaks of deeply felt emotional torment. The kidneys are the Hebrew set of emotion. God has cut Judah/Israel/Jeremiah to the core. So great is her grief in affliction that it feels as if an arrow has struck deep into her abdomen where the stomach, kidneys, intestines and other vital organs subsequently explode to produce insurmountable pain. Of course this figurative meaning is established in the fact that many were wounded in this way when Babylon invaded the land of Israel and destroyed Jerusalem.
 
הָיִ֤יתִי שְּׂחֹק֙ לְכָל־עַמִּ֔י נְגִינָתָ֖ם כָּל־הַיּֽוֹם׃
 
3:14 I have become a laughingstock to all my tribe (amiy), their taunting song lasts all day long.
 
Jeremiah, the prophet Israel ignored at her peril had become a laughing stock even to his own. Likewise Judah had become a laughing stock to the already exiled tribes of the north.
 
“YHVH, You have persuaded me, and I was persuaded: You are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I am in derision daily, everyone mocks me.”
 
-Y’rmiyahu (Jeremiah) 20:7
 
This speaks of mocking and derision among the tribes of Israel. Specifically Jeremiah was mocked by Benjamin, his native tribe (Jer. 1:1).
 
“They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 69:12
 
The Targum specifies which of his own tribe mocked the prophet.
 
“I have become a laughing stock to all the degenerate of my people; they mock me in song all day.”
 
-Targum on Lamentations 3:14
 
הִשְׂבִּיעַ֥נִי בַמְּרוֹרִ֖ים הִרְוַ֥נִי לַעֲנָֽה׃
 
3:15 He has filled me with bitterness, saturated me with wormwood (curse).
 
The Hebrew בַמְּרוֹרִים bam’roriym is from the root מרור maror, eaten at Pesach (Passover) in remembrance of the tears of Israel’s bondage.
 
Wormwood is likewise bitter, thus there is an established bitterness. Wormwood is figuratively associated with curse. Those who resist God bring curse upon themselves. Curse being the fruit of sin unto death.
 
וַיַּגְרֵ֤ס בֶּֽחָצָץ֙ שִׁנָּ֔י הִכְפִּישַׁ֖נִי בָּאֵֽפֶר׃
 
3:16 And He has crushed my teeth in gravel, ground me into the dust.
 
This graphic imagery of an open mouthed person being rammed into the gravel, breaking teeth into crushed particles, is horrific.
 
The shattering of foul speech is implied and the dust infers the returning of a human being to the earth from which he was created. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust”.
 
Dust is also associated with the ritual of mourning throughout Biblical literature.
 
 וַתִּזְנַ֧ח מִשָּׁל֛וֹם נַפְשִׁ֖י נָשִׁ֥יתִי טוֹבָֽה׃

3:17 He has cast my soul far from peace, I forgot goodness.
 
A soul that feels cast far from peace is of the opinion that God (Who defines peace as Sar Shalom, the Prince of Peace) is far from him. This is impossible, however, the soul in affliction as a result of wilful sin has already self-deluded for such a long period of time that delusion becomes a way of life. Thank God that He is present in the affliction even of the deluded and seeks to restore the unrepentant to Himself through atonement and repentance.
 
“I forgot goodness” is of course an allusion to the inability to perceive anything good. When a person is at their lowest only darkness can be seen.
 
וָאֹמַר֙ אָבַ֣ד נִצְחִ֔י וְתוֹחַלְתִּ֖י מֵיְהוָֽה׃
 
3:18 I said, “My strength and hope have perished from before the LORD (YHVH).”
 
Put concisely, “I feel abandoned by God”.
 
Strength and hope reflect the present life and the hope of the world to come. This verse infers that the writer has lost both.
 
What follows is evidence of the fact that the writer has, in the face of insurmountable loss, nonetheless chosen to remember HaShem’s mercy.
 
 זְכָר־עָנְיִ֥י וּמְרוּדִ֖י לַעֲנָ֥ה וָרֹֽאשׁ׃
 
3:19 Remembering my affliction and my misery was wormwood (curse) and poison;
 
This is a reflection unto repentance. Soberly acknowledging that affliction, misery, curse and poison have resulted from sin choices and hatred toward the God of Love.
 
Ibn Ezra rightly observes that this is the beginning of a unique prayer to God. In fact, it is a prayer of repentance and acknowledgement of the merciful character of God in relationship to His people Israel.
 
זָכ֣וֹר תִּזְכּ֔וֹר ׳וְתָשִׁיחַ׳ ״וְתָשׁ֥וֹחַ״ עָלַ֖י נַפְשִֽׁי׃
 
3:20 Constantly remembering them, I was bowed low in my soul.
 
In other words, “The recollection of my sins and the resulting affliction has caused me to bow low in humility and repentance.”
 
זֹ֛את אָשִׁ֥יב אֶל־לִבִּ֖י עַל־כֵּ֥ן אוֹחִֽיל׃
 
3:21 But this returned to my heart (inner person), upon this recollection I wait expectantly:
 
The writer points to what follows as that which returned to his heart. The character of God, Who in mercy turns away His wrath from the humble. Thus, remembering Who God is, the writer waits on God’s mercy expectantly. Judah waits, Israel waits, the prophet waits, the Messiah waits and establishes atonement unto redemption and eternal life.
 
חַֽסְדֵ֤י יְהוָה֙ כִּ֣י לֹא־תָ֔מְנוּ כִּ֥י לֹא־כָל֖וּ רַחֲמָֽיו׃
 
3:22 The faithful kindness of the LORD (YHVH) indeed never ends, the out workings of His compassionate womb (mercies) can never cease.
 
“The faithful kindness of Mercy Himself most certainly cannot end, the actions of His compassionate mercy filled womb are perpetually manifest.”
 
The writer describes the Person of God. He is all existing without beginning or end, He is faithful, kind, compassionate, gracious, merciful, like a devoted mother, and so, because He is all these things and more, and because He is eternal, it is impossible for His acts of mercy to end.
 
Therefore…
 
חֲדָשִׁים֙ לַבְּקָרִ֔ים רַבָּ֖ה אֱמוּנָתֶֽךָ׃
 
3:23 They are new to all the mornings — great is Your faithfulness, fidelity, trusted firmness!
 
Rashi puts it beautifully, “Your faithfulness is immense!”
 
The sufferings of affliction that resulted from sin, had seemed to be without end (3:3, 14), they lasted “all day long”, however, “all day” is singular and temporary whereas “to all the mornings” is everlasting. The merciful actions of God consume the day of affliction and in Mercy through atonement, multiply it (singular) into never ending days of fidelity, faithfulness and the transcendent joy of restored relationship.
 
 
Copyright 2025 Yaakov (Brown) Ben Yehoshua

אֵיכָה֩ יָעִ֨יב בְּאַפּ֤וֹ׀ אֲדֹנָי֙ אֶת־בַּת־צִיּ֔וֹן הִשְׁלִ֤יךְ מִשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ אֶ֔רֶץ תִּפְאֶ֖רֶת יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְלֹא־זָכַ֥ר הֲדֹם־רַגְלָ֖יו בְּי֥וֹם אַפּֽוֹ׃
 
2:1 Alas, how?! A cloud of the nostril flaring anger of Adonay upon the daughter Zion, the splendor of Israel is cast down from the heavens to the land, and not remembered is His footstool in the day of His nostril flaring anger.
 
The Master אֲדֹנָי (Adonay), present in the cloud of His glory had elevated Zion, the people of Judah and Israel, leading them out of Egypt, through the red sea, and resting on the מִשׁכָּן Mishkan (Tent of meeting). The cloud of His presence had gone before them and resided in their midst. (Ex. 13:21; 14:19)
 
The splendor of Israel being His manifest presence and intimate relationship with the people. This right relationship was made possible through the practice of atonement and appointed times of meeting, as a sign of the blood atonement which was to come in Messiah Yeshua HaMelekh. In His loving arms HaShem had lifted Israel up as if into the heavens and now, as a result of her unrepentant heart, and in those same loving arms, He casts Zion down in a dark cloud of nostril flaring anger for the purpose of discipline.
 
The cloud acts as a veil that makes a distinction between Judah’s unclean state and the holiness of God, symbolized here by the heavenly throne. Both literally (given the loss of the Temple) and metaphorically (given the cloud of judgement from the heavens), Judah and her now defrocked Levite priests are unable to enter the Holy of Holies, neither earthly nor heavenly: not through the atoning work of sacrifice, because they are devoid of an altar, and not through the mitigating role of the High Priest, because they have no High Priest or a Temple, or a Holy of Holies into which he might have entered to atone for the nation by sprinkling the blood of the לַיהוָה עֵז goat for HaShem on the mercy seat. (Lev. 16)
 
The “footstool” is a figurative reference to Beit HaMikdash (the Temple/Sanctuary) in Jerusalem which sat atop Mt Zion (Mt Moriah). And more specifically an allusion to the Ark of the Covenant. (1 Chronicles 28:2) This metaphor emphasizes the immense and all existing Creator in relationship to the tiny human being who approaches the Ark in order to receive atonement through blood upon the mercy seat.
 
Therefore, HaShem’s footstool is Mt Zion, the Temple, the Ark, the Mercy Seat.
 
בִּלַּ֨ע אֲדֹנָ֜י ׳לֹא׳ ״וְלֹ֣א״ חָמַ֗ל אֵ֚ת כָּל־נְא֣וֹת יַעֲקֹ֔ב הָרַ֧ס בְּעֶבְרָת֛וֹ מִבְצְרֵ֥י בַת־יְהוּדָ֖ה הִגִּ֣יעַ לָאָ֑רֶץ חִלֵּ֥ל מַמְלָכָ֖ה וְשָׂרֶֽיהָ׃
 
2:2 Swallowed up by Adonay and not pitied are all the habitations of Jacob: destroyed in the overflow of His wrath are the fortifications of daughter Judah, the kingdom and the princes He has brought down to the land in dishonor.
 
“Swallowed up by Adonay and not pitied are all the pastures of Jacob:” The LORD had forsaken His earthly habitation (footstool) and by extension He had swallowed up the habitations of Israel. “Swallowed up” is a metaphor for destruction, however it has a redemptive quality. Something swallowed is refined and digested by the body, the valuable parts become part of the body while the harmful and unusable parts are excreted as unclean mater. In terms of God and Israel this means a refining of Israel and a redeemable component through the digestive process of God’s redemptive purposes.
 
“Destroyed in the overflow of His wrath are the fortifications of daughter Judah” HaShem is the ultimate protection/fortification of daughter Judah. In withdrawing His hand of protection, her man-made structures of defense are proved worthless. “Not by might, nor by power, for it is with and in My Spirit says the LORD Who goes warring!” (Zech. 4:6)
 
“Kingdom and princes” correlates to verse 6 which matches this poetic couplet in reverse order as “King and priest”. Israel as a kingdom is a “nation of priests” set apart unto YHVH (Ex. 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9).
 
גָּדַ֣ע בָּֽחֳרִי־אַ֗ף כֹּ֚ל קֶ֣רֶן יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הֵשִׁ֥יב אָח֛וֹר יְמִינ֖וֹ מִפְּנֵ֣י אוֹיֵ֑ב וַיִּבְעַ֤ר בְּיַעֲקֹב֙ כְּאֵ֣שׁ לֶֽהָבָ֔ה אָכְלָ֖ה סָבִֽיב׃
 
2:3 In His fierce, nostril flaring anger, He has cut down every horn (all the strength) of Israel: He has turned back (withdrawn) His right hand from the face of the enemy and has set Jacob alight with the point of a fiery spear that devours round about him.
 
“He has cut down every horn (all the strength) of Israel” This is a powerful image that first alludes to the horns of the altar which, along with the Temple, have been cut down. The horns of the altar are a symbol of Israel’s God given spiritual strength that emanates out to the for points of the compass and sends light into the nations. The rulers of Israel along with her priests are also horns that have been cut down. (Dan. 7:24) Therefore, every part of her strength has been removed.
 
“He has turned back (withdrawn) His right hand from the face of the enemy” It’s never been Israel’s military might that has saved her but the right hand of God that has kept her enemies at bay. The right hand is a symbol of strength, justice, authority and power. The poetic meaning is clear, God has stepped back from the enemies of Israel and allowed them access to His treasured people for a time, in order to discipline and reconcile Israel to Himself.
 
The cutting off of the horns (strength) and removal of the right hand (strength) are a classic example of the repetition employed by Hebrew poetry. In Hebrew poetry repetition for emphasis is more common than word play through rhyming.
 
“Has set Jacob alight with the point of a fiery spear”
 
“Now the people complained, it displeased YHVH; for YHVH heard, and His nostril flaring anger was aroused. So the fire of YHVH burned among them, and consumed in the outskirts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to YHVH, the fire was quenched. 3 So he called the name of the place Taveirah (Burning), because the fire of YHVH had burned among them.”
 
-Bamidbar (Numbers) 11:1-3
 
Ref. Job 1:16; Psalms 106:18
 
דָּרַ֨ךְ קַשְׁתּ֜וֹ כְּאוֹיֵ֗ב נִצָּ֤ב יְמִינוֹ֙ כְּצָ֔ר וַֽיַּהֲרֹ֔ג כֹּ֖ל מַחֲמַדֵּי־עָ֑יִן בְּאֹ֙הֶל֙ בַּת־צִיּ֔וֹן שָׁפַ֥ךְ כָּאֵ֖שׁ חֲמָתֽוֹ׃
 
2:4 He bent His bow like an enemy, He stood with His right hand as an adversary and destroyed all that was pleasing to the eye: upon the Tent (Ohel - Beit HaMikdash) of the daughter Zion He poured out His rage like fire.
 
“He bent His bow like an enemy, He stood with His right hand as an adversary” This is a picture of a well trained and experienced archer who puts his right hand on the bow and his foot on the base in order to leverage greater flex in the arc of the bow which will propel the arrow across vast distances piercing the target with devastating speed. The Hebrew דרך darakh “bend, tread” is the root for the Hebrew דריכה deriykhah “treading”.
 
Numerous times in Scripture God is pictured as an adversary. He is an adversary of evil, His arrows targeting that which seeks to defile the righteous, thus purging Israel of wicked and perverse rebellion.
 
“He tears in His wrath, this One Who hates me: He gnashes upon me with His teeth; my Enemy sharpens His eyes upon me.”
 
-Iyov (Job) 16:9
 
“destroyed all that was pleasing to the eye” This is of course a reference to all that is beautiful to look upon and at the same time is the pretext and couplet to the following: “Upon the Tent (Ohel - Beit HaMikdash) of the daughter Zion” which is both pleasing to the eye and was once a place of redemption, reconciliation and solace for daughter Zion.
 
“He poured out His rage like fire”
 
“Who can stand before His indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his nostril flaring anger? His rage is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him.”
 
-Nachum 1:6
 
הָיָ֨ה אֲדֹנָ֤י׀ כְּאוֹיֵב֙ בִּלַּ֣ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בִּלַּע֙ כָּל־אַרְמְנוֹתֶ֔יהָ שִׁחֵ֖ת מִבְצָרָ֑יו וַיֶּ֙רֶב֙ בְּבַת־יְהוּדָ֔ה תַּאֲנִיָּ֖ה וַאֲנִיָּֽה׃
 
2:5 Adonay has become like an enemy in swallowing up Israel, in swallowing up all her palaces, He has destroyed his strongholds and has made great the mourning and lamentation of daughter Judah.
 
“Adonay has become like an enemy” Not an enemy but “like” an enemy. Adonay is no more an enemy to Israel than a father who disciplines his son is his son’s enemy.
 
“In swallowing up all her palaces, He has destroyed his strongholds” Her rulers, fortified walls, and her military defense system.
 
“And has made great the mourning and lamentation of daughter Judah” Again the Hebrew poetry emphasizes the weightiness of an aspect of the subject by doubling ideas and using multiple synonymous terms. Here “mourning (pain)” and “lamentation (wailing)” convey an established and overwhelming sense of abject suffering.
 
וַיַּחְמֹ֤ס כַּגַּן֙ שֻׂכּ֔וֹ שִׁחֵ֖ת מוֹעֲד֑וֹ שִׁכַּ֨ח יְהוָ֤ה׀ בְּצִיּוֹן֙ מוֹעֵ֣ד וְשַׁבָּ֔ת וַיִּנְאַ֥ץ בְּזַֽעַם־אַפּ֖וֹ מֶ֥לֶךְ וְכֹהֵֽן׃
 
2:6 He has violently stripped the garden of His sukkah (booth, dwelling, Ohel - Beit HaMikdash), He has destroyed His appointed assembly, YHVH has caused to wither the appointed time/feast and the Sabbath (day), and has despised in indignation and His nostril flaring anger, king and priest.
 
“He has violently stripped the garden of His sukkah (booth, dwelling, Ohel - Beit HaMikdash)” That is, the Temple, its precincts and surrounding area. We note that HaShem has used the army of Nebuchadnezzar to do this. The use of the Hebrew שֻׂכּ֔וֹ sukko is interesting because it makes a correlation between HaShem’s dwelling and the individual dwellings (sukkot( of Israel in reference to the festival of Sukkot. This is noteworthy because the Temple and or Tent of meeting are more commonly referred to as אהל מועד Ohel Moeid, המשכן HaMishkan, or בית המקדש Beit HaMikdash rather than שֻׂכּ֔וֹ sukko His (YHVH) shelter/dwelling. YHVH comes down and dwells among us in the sukkah of human form as the King Messiah Yeshua. The Messiah will be stripped and striped and murdered outside the garden of HaShem’s sukkah in Jerusalem. “The Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29)
 
“He has destroyed His appointed assembly” This is another reference to the Temple in its original form as a tent in the desert, its ancient title being אהל מועד Ohel Moeid, “Tent of Meeting.” Rashi notes that this is more specifically a reference to the Holy of Holies which is the appointed place of meeting between the High Priest and HaShem through the blood atonement that receives mercy for Israel. (Lev. 16:15-16)
 
“And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.”
 
-Shemot (Exodus) 25:22 NKJV
 
Ref. Ex. 25:22; 29:42-43; Psalms 74:4
 
“YHVH has caused to wither the appointed time/feast and the Sabbath (day)” The Hebrew refers to a singular appointed time and the weekly Sabbath, which means that a particular festival is being referred to along with the weekly Sabbath which finds its observance origin in creation. The festival, or מוֹעֵד moeid in question is most likely Sukkot, the festival that illuminates God’s constant presence among Israel while she journeyed in the desert and points to His eternal presence manifest over the descent of the New Jerusalem at the end of days. (Rev. 21:2)
 
“Has despised in indignation and His nostril flaring anger, king and priest.” Both King and priest have defiled HaShem’s Sanctuary/footstool and His appointed times through vile syncretism of heathen practices and false deities. Thus, He has despised them and purged that which is unclean from Israel through the discipline of destruction and captivity.
 
Rashi names the king and kohen (Priest) as “King Tzidkiyahu (Zedekiah) and Serayahu (Seraiah) the Kohein HaGadol (High Priest).
 
זָנַ֨ח אֲדֹנָ֤י׀ מִזְבְּחוֹ֙ נִאֵ֣ר מִקְדָּשׁ֔וֹ הִסְגִּיר֙ בְּיַד־אוֹיֵ֔ב חוֹמֹ֖ת אַרְמְנוֹתֶ֑יהָ ק֛וֹל נָתְנ֥וּ בְּבֵית־יְהוָ֖ה כְּי֥וֹם מוֹעֵֽד׃
 
2:7 Adonay has cast off (considers it an odious stench) His altar, He has abhorred His sanctuary (Beit HaMikdash – Temple), He has handed over to the enemy the walls of her palaces: a shout they have given in the house of YHVH because the day is an appointed time (moeid).
 
“Adonay has cast off (considers it an odious stench) His altar, He has abhorred His sanctuary (Beit HaMikdash – Temple)” The Psalmist writes concerning the Davidic kingship:
 
“You have cast off and abhorred,
You have been furious with Your anointed.
You have renounced the covenant of Your servant;
You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.”
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 89:38-39 NKJV
 
“A shout they have given in the house of YHVH because the day is an appointed time (moed).” This speaks of the irony that it is the enemies of God and Israel who give a shout of joy over the destruction of her Sanctuary while standing on the holy ground where Israel once came to her appointed meetings with HaShem.
 
Therefore, the Hebrew מוֹעֵֽד moeid “appointment” is used in reference to an appointment with the destruction that will take place on a specific day, most likely the day of a specific festival/Sabbath observance. Jewish tradition connects the enemy’s shout of victory with the once joyous shout of Israel in the Temple precinct during Pesach (Passover).
 
“They raised a shout in the Temple of the LORD like the shout of the people of the House of Israel praying in it on the day of Passover.”
 
-2nd Century C.E. Aramaic Targum to Lamentations 2:7
 
חָשַׁ֨ב יְהוָ֤ה׀ לְהַשְׁחִית֙ חוֹמַ֣ת בַּת־צִיּ֔וֹן נָ֣טָה קָ֔ו לֹא־הֵשִׁ֥יב יָד֖וֹ מִבַּלֵּ֑עַ וַיַּֽאֲבֶל־חֵ֥ל וְחוֹמָ֖ה יַחְדָּ֥ו אֻמְלָֽלוּ׃
 
2:8 Thoughtfully YHVH purposed to destroy the wall of daughter Zion; He stretched out a measuring line and has not turned back His hand from swallowing up: and both fortress and wall lament together in weakness.
 
“Thoughtfully YHVH purposed to destroy the wall of daughter Zion” All of Zion’s discipline is established by God thoughtfully and for her ultimate good.
 
“He stretched out a measuring line and has not turned back His hand from swallowing up” The holiness of God establishes the Torah as a measure against which wrong action is tested and indicted unto judgement and destruction.
 
“Both fortress and wall lament together in weakness” Both the outer fortifications and the inner walls of Jerusalem including the wall of the outer court of the Temple precinct, and the other fortified towns of Judea and their inner walls are torn down leaving every habitation weak and vulnerable to attack.
 
“But the shags and the bittern will possess it; the owl also and the raven will dwell in it: and he will stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.”
 
-Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 34:11
 
טָבְע֤וּ בָאָ֙רֶץ֙ שְׁעָרֶ֔יהָ אִבַּ֥ד וְשִׁבַּ֖ר בְּרִיחֶ֑יהָ מַלְכָּ֨הּ וְשָׂרֶ֤יהָ בַגּוֹיִם֙ אֵ֣ין תּוֹרָ֔ה גַּם־נְבִיאֶ֕יהָ לֹא־מָצְא֥וּ חָז֖וֹן מֵיְהוָֽה׃
  
2:9 Her gates are sunk into the land, vanished, and broken are her bars; her king and her princes are among the nations (goyim – heathens: in exile), there is no Torah (Instruction); also, her prophets are unable to attain a vision from YHVH.
 
“Her gates are sunk into the land, vanished, and broken are her bars” This is a poetic way of saying that the gates (entry ways) and bars of protection over lower windows in the outer walls were utterly destroyed. They may well have also been covered in dirt and literally sunk into the land. This emphasizes the vulnerability of the city of Jerusalem in that the gates and bars are protected entry ways that are now left wide open to every enemy seeking entry.
 
“Her king and her princes are among the nations (goyim – heathens: in exile)” This refers to their literal captivity and to their heathen practice and rejection of a pure observance of the Torah and its regulations, and therefore, they have proven time and again to be in a state of rebellion against God. They are like goyim (pagans) and thus, are now given over to live among them.
 
“There is no Torah (Instruction)” There is no Torah because Judah had rejected the proper application of the Torah and had lost her way. Also, the invading army had very likely literally burned Torah scrolls in their zeal for destroying the city of Jerusalem.
 
“Also, her prophets are unable to attain a vision from YHVH.” This refers to apostate prophets. They are “her prophets” and not “prophets of God”. Yeshua would later allude to this principal of withholding guidance from those who appear to be prophets of God but are not: “Many are called but few are chosen”. (Matt. 22:14) We note that at this time God had appointed three true prophets as beacons of light and indictment: Daniel, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
 
Other godly prophets give similar warnings to Israel:
 
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God,
“That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of the Lord.”
 
-Amos 8:11 NKJV
 
“So the seers shall be ashamed,
And the diviners abashed;
Indeed they shall all cover their lips;
For there is no answer from God.”
 
-Micah 3:7 NKJV
 
“And the child Samuel ministered unto YHVH before Eli. And the Word of YHVH was scarce in those days; there were no open visions.”
 
-1 Samuel 3:1
 
יֵשְׁב֨וּ לָאָ֤רֶץ יִדְּמוּ֙ זִקְנֵ֣י בַת־צִיּ֔וֹן הֶֽעֱל֤וּ עָפָר֙ עַל־רֹאשָׁ֔ם חָגְר֖וּ שַׂקִּ֑ים הוֹרִ֤ידוּ לָאָ֙רֶץ֙ רֹאשָׁ֔ן בְּתוּלֹ֖ת יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃
 
2:10 Siting on the land, still, silent, waiting, the elders of daughter Zion throw dust upon their heads girded in sackcloth: the heads of the virgins of Jerusalem bowed down to the land.
 
“Siting on the land, still, silent, waiting, the elders of daughter Zion throw dust upon their heads girded in sackcloth” This is an act of mourning. (Job 2:12-13; Psalms 35:13-14)
 
The Midrash Aggadah says, “Nebuchadnezzar sat them on the ground when Tzidkiyahu rebelled against him and transgressed his oath. He came and stationed himself in Dophnei of Ontochya, and sent for the Sanhedrin. They came toward him and he saw that they were men of imposing appearance. He sat them down in golden chairs and said to them, ‘recite your Torah for me chapter by chapter and translate it for me.’ When they reached the chapter dealing with vows, he said to them, ‘[What] if he wishes to retract [from his vow], can he retract?’ They said to him, ‘Let him go to a sage and he will absolve him [of his vow].’ He said to them, ‘If so, you [must have] absolved Tzidkiyahu of his oath.’ He [Nebuchadnezzar] commanded, and they pushed them down and sat them on the ground. They then tied the hair of their heads to the horses’ tails and dragged them.”
 
“The heads of the virgins of Jerusalem bowed down to the land.” Once joyous in their youth the virgins of Jerusalem, her innocence as it were, are bowed in mourning, even bowed in defilement by the invading army, their faces shoved into the dirt.
 
כָּל֨וּ בַדְּמָע֤וֹת עֵינַי֙ חֳמַרְמְר֣וּ מֵעַ֔י נִשְׁפַּ֤ךְ לָאָ֙רֶץ֙ כְּבֵדִ֔י עַל־שֶׁ֖בֶר בַּת־עַמִּ֑י בֵּֽעָטֵ֤ף עוֹלֵל֙ וְיוֹנֵ֔ק בִּרְחֹב֖וֹת קִרְיָֽה׃
 
2:11 My eyes are consumed with tears, my intestines fermenting, my liver poured out onto the land because of the destruction of the daughter of my people (tribe): young children and nursing infants languish in the city streets.
 
These are the words of the prophet Jeremiah, the elders, the sum of the people of Jerusalem and Judea. There is no need for false choices regarding who is speaking this gut-wrenching lament. In fact, the Author is the Holy Spirit, the Word of God Himself Yeshua HaMelekh.
 
“My eyes are consumed with tears” The ceaseless weeping of an inconsolable person.
 
“My intestines fermenting, my liver poured out onto the land” The intestines מעה meieih & liver כבד kaved are the seat of emotion in Biblical Hebrew thought. Because the Hebrew חמר chamar essentially means “foam up” or “to be reddened” some interpret the imagery to refer to the intestines being thrown on a hot plate where they sizzle and spit as they cook. (ref. Job 16:13)
 
“because of the destruction of the daughter of my people (tribe)” The use of the phrase “daughter of my tribe” conveys a sense of the defiling of innocence. A father looks upon his youngest daughter in her suffering state and experiences the agony of intense grief and awareness of a position of utter vulnerability. This is one of the many literary turns of phrase in Lamentations that points to Jeremiah’s authorship.
“Therefore, you shall say this word to them:
‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
For the virgin daughter of my people (tribe)
Has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow.’”
 
-Yermiyahu (Jeremiah) 14:17
 
לְאִמֹּתָם֙ יֹֽאמְר֔וּ אַיֵּ֖ה דָּגָ֣ן וָיָ֑יִן בְּהִֽתְעַטְּפָ֤ם כֶּֽחָלָל֙ בִּרְחֹב֣וֹת עִ֔יר בְּהִשְׁתַּפֵּ֣ךְ נַפְשָׁ֔ם אֶל־חֵ֖יק אִמֹּתָֽם׃
 
2:12 They constantly ask their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” The wounded languish in the streets of the city as their souls are poured out into the breasts of their mothers.
 
The subjects are the “young children and infants” from the previous verse. Grain is the staple food resource and wine reflects the abundance and blessing associated with the fruit of the vine. Therefore, the people are devoid of both basic nutrition and the joy of abundant wine. The fact that both grain and wine are missing means that neither harvest nor storage could provide them. All had either been depleted or plundered.
 
“The wounded languish in the streets of the city as their souls are poured out into the breasts of their mothers.” Simply put the dying wounded are held in the arms of their mothers who weep uncontrollably while they watch their precious children suffer in their death throws.
 
מָֽה־אֲעִידֵ֞ךְ מָ֣ה אֲדַמֶּה־לָּ֗ךְ הַבַּת֙ יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם מָ֤ה אַשְׁוֶה־לָּךְ֙ וַאֲנַֽחֲמֵ֔ךְ בְּתוּלַ֖ת בַּת־צִיּ֑וֹן כִּֽי־גָד֥וֹל כַּיָּ֛ם שִׁבְרֵ֖ךְ מִ֥י יִרְפָּא־לָֽךְ׃ 
 
2:13 What can I take witness from or liken you to daughter Jerusalem? What can I match you to that I might comfort you, virgin daughter Zion? For great like the ocean is your affliction; who will heal you?
 
The LORD indicts Zion by asking, “Which righteous nation can I compare you to so as to comfort you in righteousness? In fact, you are comparable only to wicked nations and as a result of your wickedness, your affliction is like the unquenchable tide of a vast ocean. So, who will heal you of your self-abuse?” Only one who wants and asks for help can receive it.
 
“What can I match you to that I might comfort you, virgin daughter Zion?” This is like the phrasing used by some when a friend is suffering e.g. “This also happened to so and so, and everything worked out okay for them…” However, in the case of Israel’s discipline, any nation God might compare her to also suffered His wrath. Therefore, there would be no comfort in the comparison.
 
 נְבִיאַ֗יִךְ חָ֤זוּ לָךְ֙ שָׁ֣וְא וְתָפֵ֔ל וְלֹֽא־גִלּ֥וּ עַל־עֲוֺנֵ֖ךְ לְהָשִׁ֣יב ׳שְׁבִיתֵךְ׳ ״שְׁבוּתֵ֑ךְ״ וַיֶּ֣חֱזוּ לָ֔ךְ מַשְׂא֥וֹת שָׁ֖וְא וּמַדּוּחִֽים׃
 
2:14 Your prophets have seen for you vain things and have not uncovered your perversity (avon) so as to turn away your captivity; they have seen for you visions of vanity and seduction.
 
The false prophets of Israel have shared their own delusions with the people pretending to speak the Word of God. This same practice is prolific in the modern pseudo-Christian church. The false prophets of Israel proved themselves to be apostate because they failed in their role, which is to call out the sin of the people and call them to return to God in repentance. Again, the misuse of the so-called prophetic gifting in the modern pseudo-Christian church likewise emphasizes only uplifting predictions, as if mimicking the pretentious lies of mediums and fortune tellers.
 
The visions of Israel’s false prophets are vanity because they lead to destruction and are therefore worthless. They are seductive because they tell people what they want to hear and attach God’s Name to the delusions in order to give the prophetic words the appearance of authority. Like the false prophets of old the false prophets of today are many and their followers numerous. The Word of the LORD has no need of popularity; it is established to indict unto redemption or destruction.
 
"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. For narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
 
-Mark 7:13-14
 
“Have not uncovered your perversity (avon) so as to turn away your captivity” The Hebrew     עֲוֺנֵךְ  avoneikh refers to the sin of perversity, a sort of amplification of the root of sin, a compounding of sin action that seeks new ways to defile the created order. The false prophets have failed to expose this perversity. Had they done so Israel might have repented and her exile would not have been necessary.
 
Ref, Jeremiah 5:12-13; 6:13-15; 8:10-12; 14:13-15; 23:9-40; 27:9-28:17; Ezekiel 13:10-16; 22:28; 27:10-15
 
סָֽפְק֨וּ עָלַ֤יִךְ כַּפַּ֙יִם֙ כָּל־עֹ֣בְרֵי דֶ֔רֶךְ שָֽׁרְקוּ֙ וַיָּנִ֣עוּ רֹאשָׁ֔ם עַל־בַּ֖ת יְרוּשָׁלִָ֑ם הֲזֹ֣את הָעִ֗יר שֶׁיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ כְּלִ֣ילַת יֹ֔פִי מָשׂ֖וֹשׂ לְכָל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃
 
2:15 All who pass by you clap their hands in mockery, hiss and wag their heads at daughter Jerusalem, “This one, the city that’s called perfection, beautiful, from joyful exaltation to all the land.”
 
This mockery of all of Judah and her holy places which comes from the goyim (pagans, nations) who pass by, is not only an insult against Jerusalem and Judah, but also an insult against the LORD Who placed His Name in Zion.
 
“Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God will shine forth.”
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 50:2 NKJV
 
“Beautiful in elevation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King.”
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 48:2 NKJV
 
This mockery of Jerusalem’s destruction will come in full circle against Babylon, the city that sought the title of being “Praised in all the earth”.
 
“Oh, how Sheshach is taken!
Oh, how the praise of the whole earth is seized!
How Babylon has become desolate among the nations!”
 
-Yermiyahu (Jeremiah) 51:41 NKJV
 
““But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.”
 
-D’varim (Deuteronomy) 12:5 NKJV
 
פָּצ֨וּ עָלַ֤יִךְ פִּיהֶם֙ כָּל־א֣וֹיְבַ֔יִךְ שָֽׁרְקוּ֙ וַיַּֽחַרְקוּ־שֵׁ֔ן אָמְר֖וּ בִּלָּ֑עְנוּ אַ֣ךְ זֶ֥ה הַיּ֛וֹם שֶׁקִּוִּינֻ֖הוּ מָצָ֥אנוּ רָאִֽינוּ׃
 
2:16 With opened mouths all your enemies jeer at you; they hiss and gnash their teeth and say, “She’s swallowed up, this is the day we were waiting for, we’ve lived to see it!”
 
The plain meaning of the text shows simply that the enemies of Israel had hated her with such longevity that they had anticipated her destruction for generations and were delighted to see it come to pass.
 
This verse places the פ peh before the ע ayin in the acrostic order of the Hebrew aleph א beit ב. The following verse beginning with the ע ayin out of place. Rashi makes the following observation:
 
“Why did Scripture place the פ peh before the ע ayin? Because they [i.e., the prophets] were saying with their mouths what they did not see with their eyes.” Thus, they were false prophets, out of place, out of order.
 
“With regard to the verse: “They have opened their mouths against you” (Lamentations 2:16), Rava says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: For what reason did the prophet precede the verse beginning with the letter פ peh to the verse beginning with the letter ע ayin in several chapters of Lamentations? Since פ peh means mouth and ע ayin means eye, it is for the spies who said with their mouths [befihem] what they did not see with their eyes [be’eineihem].”
 
-Talmud Bavliy Sanhedrin 104b:11
 
In Hebrew gematria, the letter ayin ע has a numerical value of 70. Therefore, as the theologian Dr Lightfoot suggests, it may be that the reverse order of the two characters peh פ and ayin ע may be the prophet’s way of alluding to the 70 years Jerusalem would lay desolate following her destruction, which is being described in the present text.
 
עָשָׂ֨ה יְהוָ֜ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר זָמָ֗ם בִּצַּ֤ע אֶמְרָתוֹ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר צִוָּ֣ה מִֽימֵי־קֶ֔דֶם הָרַ֖ס וְלֹ֣א חָמָ֑ל וַיְשַׂמַּ֤ח עָלַ֙יִךְ֙ אוֹיֵ֔ב הֵרִ֖ים קֶ֥רֶן צָרָֽיִךְ׃
 
2:17 YHVH has fashioned what He purposed, fulfilled His word which He commanded in the days of old; He has torn down and without pity has allowed the enemy to rejoice over you, and has raised up the horn (strength) of your adversaries.
 
HaShem fashions justice. Knowing the end from the beginning He has spoken into time and space the outcomes for the unjust.
 
“The LORD will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.”
 
-D’varim (Deuteronomy) 28:20 ESV
 
“The Lord will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone. And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you.”
 
-D’varim (Deuteronomy) 28:36-37 NKJV
 
“The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.”
 
-D’varim (Deuteronomy) 28:43-44 NKJV
 
“I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you. And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.”
 
-Vayikra (Leviticus) 26:17-18
 
Ref. Deut. 28; Isa. 55:11
 
We note that HaShem has “allowed” the enemy to rejoice, and has raised up the horn, singular, of Israel’s adversaries. Whereas He had thrown down “every horn” (v.3) of Israel. The power HaShem allows the enemy to have, is never greater than the established strength He has and will yet future manifest in Israel.
 
The warning to the wicked empire of Babylon remains, just as it does for all who practice a lifestyle of wickedness:
 
“I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully,’
And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn.”
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 75:4 NKJV
 
“The Lord has done what he planned. He completed the Memra of his mouth that he commanded to Moses the prophet long ago: that if the children of Israel did not keep the commandments of the Lord he was going to punish them. He destroyed and had no mercy. He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you for he has exalted your oppressors.”
 
-2nd Century C.E. Aramaic Targum to Lamentations 2:17
 
A Midrash conveys the LORD’s mercy and intimate identification with the suffering of Israel as being part of what it means that He “has fashioned what He purposed, fulfilled His word which He commanded in the days of old; He has torn down”
 
“A human king who mourns, what does he do? They said to him, he rends his garments. He said to them, I too will do this: “The Lord has done as he intended; he has fulfilled his word” (batzah emrato) (Lamentations 2:17). What does “he has fulfilled his word” mean? Rabbi Ya’akov of Kefar Hanan said, he rends (mevazei’a) his garment. And he further asked them: A human king who mourns, what does he do? They said to him, he sits and wails. He said to them, I too will do this: “How does it sit desolate?!” (Lamentations 1:1).”
 
-Pesikta DeRav Kahana 15:3
 
HaShem later tears the פָּרוֹכֶת Parokhet (curtain) of the Temple in His grief over His Son Yeshua the King Messiah’s atoning sacrificial death. In tearing open the veil to the Holy of Holies He opens His heart to all who would receive the redemptive work of Yeshua, inviting them in to an intimate relationship that He has fashioned from before the creation of the world. (1 Peter 1:19-20; Rev. 13:8)
 
צָעַ֥ק לִבָּ֖ם אֶל־אֲדֹנָ֑י חוֹמַ֣ת בַּת־צִ֠יּוֹן הוֹרִ֨ידִי כַנַּ֤חַל דִּמְעָה֙ יוֹמָ֣ם וָלַ֔יְלָה אַֽל־תִּתְּנִ֤י פוּגַת֙ לָ֔ךְ אַל־תִּדֹּ֖ם בַּת־עֵינֵֽךְ׃
 
2:18 Their collective core being cried out to Adonay, wall of daughter Zion descend like a river of tears day and night, give yourself no rest, let not the daughter (apple) of your eye (spring) cease.
 
This is a description of the repentant who call on the Name of the LORD. Returning (Repentance) is established through atonement as a result of godly sorrow. (2 Cor. 7:10)
 
“Their collective core being cried out to Adonay,” Judah and Jerusalem cry out to God from the depths of their collective soul.
 
“Wall of daughter Zion descend like a river of tears day and night, give yourself no rest” The wall of the daughter of Zion is the same wall upon which HaShem has placed watchmen day and night. (Isa. 62:6-7) Her watchmen descend with her wall and just as they are assigned the task of keeping watch day and night, Jerusalem’s inhabitants are now tasked with weeping day and night at the loss of them.
 
However, there are watchmen unseen who remain, just as there are walls unseen which God has established for eternity. Although for a time her walls descended into disrepair, there will yet be a day when the glory of Jerusalem will be established in all the earth forever. (Isa. 62:6-7)
 
“Let not the daughter (apple) of your eye cease.” This is a poetic idiom indicating the most vulnerable part of the eye and its connection to the ceaseless tears of Jerusalem’s grief. The Hebrew “eye” also means “spring”, an eye in the earth from which fresh living water flows. The tears of the daughter of Jerusalem bring forth grief from the spring of her severely disciplined soul.
 
“I have set watchmen upon your walls, Jerusalem, they will never hold their peace, day or night: you that make mention of YHVH, keep not silent, and give Him no rest, until He establishes, and until He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”
 
-Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 62:6-7
 
ק֣וּמִי׀ רֹ֣נִּי ׳בַלַּיִל׳ ״בַלַּ֗יְלָה״ לְרֹאשׁ֙ אַשְׁמֻר֔וֹת שִׁפְכִ֤י כַמַּ֙יִם֙ לִבֵּ֔ךְ נֹ֖כַח פְּנֵ֣י אֲדֹנָ֑י שְׂאִ֧י אֵלָ֣יו כַּפַּ֗יִךְ עַל־נֶ֙פֶשׁ֙ עֽוֹלָלַ֔יִךְ הָעֲטוּפִ֥ים בְּרָעָ֖ב בְּרֹ֥אשׁ כָּל־חוּצֽוֹת׃
 
2:19 Arise, cry out in the night at the head of the watches, pour out your core being like water before the face of Adonay, lift up toward Him the palms of your hands for the souls of the young children who faint from hunger at the head of every street.

This references the first of the three ancient watches of the night, beginning at sundown. It’s a continuation of the repentant cries of the previous verse. It begins at the first of the watches, thus, inferring that it will continue throughout the night in genuine repentance.
 
“Arise, O Congregation of Israel dwelling in exile. Busy yourself with Mishnah in the night, for the Shekinah of the Lord is dwelling before you, and with the words of Torah at the beginning of the morning watch. Pour out like water the crookedness of your heart and turn in repentance. And pray in the synagogue before the face of the Lord. Raise your hands to him in prayer for the life of your children who thirst with hunger at the head of every open market.”
 
-2nd Century C.E. Aramaic Targum to Lamentations 2:19
 
Ref. Judges 7:19; Psalms 62:8; 63:6
 
רְאֵ֤ה יְהוָה֙ וְֽהַבִּ֔יטָה לְמִ֖י עוֹלַ֣לְתָּ כֹּ֑ה אִם־תֹּאכַ֨לְנָה נָשִׁ֤ים פִּרְיָם֙ עֹלֲלֵ֣י טִפֻּחִ֔ים אִם־יֵהָרֵ֛ג בְּמִקְדַּ֥שׁ אֲדֹנָ֖י כֹּהֵ֥ן וְנָבִֽיא׃

2:20 Look Adonay and consider to whom you have done this: should women eat their own fruit (progeny), tender babes? Should the priest and the prophet be slain in the Sanctuary (Beit HaMikdash: Temple) of Adonay?

The prophet and the city cry out together asking God to look upon the horror of Jerusalem’s suffering. Women are reduced to eating their new born babies due to starvation from the Babylonian army’s siege against the city.
 
“And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,
then I also will walk contrary to you in fury;
and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.”
 
-Vayikra (Leviticus) 26:27-29 NKJV
 
“To whom you have done this” is an invocation calling on God to “remember” Israel His chosen possession.
 
“Should the priest and the prophet be slain in the Sanctuary (Beit HaMikdash: Temple) of Adonay?” Rashi interprets this to be a question God poses in response:
 
“When in the Sanctuary of God, was murdered a kohein and a prophet. The Holy Spirit answers them, “Was it proper for you to have murdered Zecharyah the son of Yehoyada,” as it is written in Divrei Hayomim, (II Divrei Hayomim 24:20-21.) that he reproved them when they came to prostrate themselves to Yo’ash, and they deified him. “And the Spirit [of God] enveloped Zecharyah the son of Yehoyada,” who was a kohein and a prophet, and they killed him in the courtyard.”
 
-Rashi on Lamentations 2:20
 
The Targum adds support to Rashi’s interpretation:
 
“See, O Lord, and observe from heaven against whom you have turned. Thus is it right for the daughters of Israel to eat the fruit of their wombs due to starvation, the lovely boys wrapped in fine linen? The Attribute of Justice replied, and said, “Is it right to kill priest and prophet in the Temple of the LORD, as when you killed Zechariah son of Iddo, the High Priest and faithful prophet in the Temple of the Lord on the Day of Atonement because he admonished you not to do evil before the Lord?”
 
-2nd Century C.E. Aramaic Targum to Lamentations 2:20
 
Of course it should not happen that the priest and the prophet be slain in the Sanctuary. The question is, whose accountable for this? It’s Jerusalem herself, Judah, Israel who are collectively reaping what they’ve sown.
 
However, in her discipline she now seeks the only One who can alleviate her suffering through atonement and reconciliation.
 
שָׁכְב֨וּ לָאָ֤רֶץ חוּצוֹת֙ נַ֣עַר וְזָקֵ֔ן בְּתוּלֹתַ֥י וּבַחוּרַ֖י נָפְל֣וּ בֶחָ֑רֶב הָרַ֙גְתָּ֙ בְּי֣וֹם אַפֶּ֔ךָ טָבַ֖חְתָּ לֹ֥א חָמָֽלְתָּ׃

2:21 The young and the elderly lie down on the streets on the land, my virgins and young men have fallen by the sword, You have slain them in the day of Your nostril flaring anger, You have slaughtered without pity.

Though it was Nebuchadnezzar 2 whose army had wrought abhorrent bloodshed, violation and merciless wrath upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, God is ultimately in control, having allowed Israel’s enemies to attack her.
 
תִּקְרָא֩ כְי֨וֹם מוֹעֵ֤ד מְגוּרַי֙ מִסָּבִ֔יב וְלֹ֥א הָיָ֛ה בְּי֥וֹם אַף־יְהוָ֖ה פָּלִ֣יט וְשָׂרִ֑יד אֲשֶׁר־טִפַּ֥חְתִּי וְרִבִּ֖יתִי אֹיְבִ֥י כִלָּֽם׃

2:22 You have called for an appointed (moeid) day, my terrors surround me so that in the day of YHVH's nostril flaring anger none escaped nor remained: those I've swaddled and raised my enemy has consumed.
 
Just as Adonay has allowed the temporary cessation of the Temple, the sacrificial cult, the appointed festivals and Sabbaths, so too He has appointed (moeid) a day of reckoning in their place.
 
The discipline of Israel has been appointed for her good though the suffering that has resulted from her sin, which is unbearable. She watches her children as they’re consumed by the enemy, her precious sons and daughters whom she had swaddled as infants and loved dearly. The fruit of her sin has impacted her progeny in a way she refused to imagine possible while she chased after false gods and acted perversely with seeming impunity.
 
Copyright 2025 Yaakov (Brown) Ben Yehoshua

Introduction:
 
The Hebrew title אֵיכָה eiykhah meaning “How” and “Alas”, begins the first, second and fourth laments (chapters). This scroll is also known as קִינות Kiynot “Lamentations”. The traditional Hebrew title can be understood as both an emphatic “This is how!” and a sober communal reflection “How did we arrive at this?”
 
Author & Date:
 
The scroll is anonymous, however both Jewish and Christian tradition attributes it to Jeremiah the prophet, although the Jewish Sages explain that it was Barukh ben Neriya Jeremiah’s friend, the scribe who wrote the book, as dictated to him by Jeremiah (ref. Jer. 36).
 
“Jeremiah the Prophet and High Priest said, “How was it decreed that Jerusalem and her people should be punished with banishment and that they should be mourned with 'ekah (Aramaic form of Alas, how!?).”
 
-2nd Century C.E Aramaic Targum to Lamentations 1:1
 
One of the many reasons why Jeremiah is thought to be the writer of Lamentations is the 2 Chronicles 35:25 account of Jeremiah lamenting the death of Josiah following his battle against Pharaoh Necho.
 
Jeremiah is known as “The weeping prophet” based on his many lamentations. Scriptures such as Jer. 7:29, 8:21, 9:1 give credence to Jeremiah’s authorship and the vocabulary and literary correlations uniting the scrolls of Jeremiah and Lamentations are convincing evidence.
 
When we add to the existing literary evidence the fact that Jeremiah was an eyewitness to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, we have a reliable supposition regarding his authorship of Lamentations.
 
The scroll was likely penned in the aftermath of Jerusalem’s destruction at the hands of the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar 2. This makes an early dating of the scroll the most likely of the conjectured scholarship estimates. It was probably written between 586 and 575 BCE almost 600 years before the incarnation of the King Messiah Yeshua.
 
ירמיהו Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) “Raised up by YaH” (רום - יה)
 

• Birth: Around 645 BCE, in Anatot, Judah
• Called to prophecy: 626 BCE, in the 13th year of King Josiah's reign
• Ministry: 627 BC–582 BCE, based primarily in Jerusalem
• Death: Around 570 BCE, in Egypt

 
Literary Features:
 
Lamentations is one of the five Megillot (scrolls), it is read during Tisha B’Av (9th of Av) in remembrance of the destruction of the first and second temples and related tragedies which fell on the same date throughout Jewish history. It’s entirely poetic in composition and is found among the Ketuvim, poetry books of the TaNaKh (OT). With the exception of the third lament, which consists of 66 verses (3 x Hebrew Aleph Beit [22]), each lament/chapter is an acrostic containing 22 verses according to the 22 characters of the Hebrew alphabet. In chapters 2 and 4 the פ Pe precedes theע  Ayin. The careful adherence to the acrostic form is evidence that these passionate laments were nonetheless carefully considered prior to being penned.
 
Lamentations reflects a familiar rhythm of lament style poetry that is seen throughout the TaNaKh in the Tehillim (Psalms), the prophetic books and so on. In fact, Haggai is the only prophetic book that doesn’t include a lament. The use of repetition as a poetic form in Hebrew is obvious from the first stanza of the scroll. This places emphasis on key concepts and establishes a strength of established history, figurative principal, emotion and spiritual weight that rhyming can never achieve.
 
Contemporaries:
 
Daniel, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were contemporaries. Their ministries intersecting between 607 -570 BCE. Jeremiah prophesied in Jerusalem and Egypt, while Daniel and Ezekiel ministered as exiles in Babylon.
 
Lamentations אֵיכָה Chapter 1
 
אֵיכָ֣ה׀ יָשְׁבָ֣ה בָדָ֗ד הָעִיר֙ רַבָּ֣תִי עָ֔ם הָיְתָ֖ה כְּאַלְמָנָ֑ה רַבָּ֣תִי בַגּוֹיִ֗ם שָׂרָ֙תִי֙ בַּמְּדִינ֔וֹת הָיְתָ֖ה לָמַֽס׃
 
1:1 Alas, how? The city sits solitary, once great with people, now like a widow, though she was great among nations, having princes among provinces, she has become tribute, melting away.
 
The opening word אֵיכָה eiykhah, which also begins the second and fourth chapters, is an exclamation that is both a statement of anguished wonder at the events of Jerusalem’s destruction and a rhetorical question concerning how she came to this place of desolation.
 
Jerusalem sits solitary in the position of mourning/repentance whereas Jeremiah had sat alone refusing to engage in Judah’s sinful reveling. The prophet had sat alone because God had filled him with indignation at the rebellion of Judah (Jeremiah 15:17). Those who show disrespect for the prophetic voices of true believers today by hiding under the pseudo-Christian pretense of not wanting to offend, would do well to pay heed.
 
Rashi notes that Jerusalem is described as being “like a widow” but, due to the fact that the Eternal God is her husband, she is not a widow but rather “like a woman whose husband went abroad and he intends to return to her.”
 
During the reigns of David and Solomon many nations, including but not limited to the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, and Edomites, had paid tribute to Israel. Now, following her rebellion, Israel, and Judah had become tribute, the ultimate earthly kingdom example of subjugation.
 
בָּכ֨וֹ תִבְכֶּ֜ה בַּלַּ֗יְלָה וְדִמְעָתָהּ֙ עַ֣ל לֶֽחֱיָ֔הּ אֵֽין־לָ֥הּ מְנַחֵ֖ם מִכָּל־אֹהֲבֶ֑יהָ כָּל־רֵעֶ֙יהָ֙ בָּ֣גְדוּ בָ֔הּ הָ֥יוּ לָ֖הּ לְאֹיְבִֽים׃
 
1:2 Weeping, she weeps in the night, with tears upon her cheek how will she receive comfort from all her loved ones (lovers), all her friends have become her enemies.
 
The repetition of the Hebrew root בכה bakhah in addition to the establishing an expression of the unbroken tearfulness of deep sorrow, also prophetically denotes the twofold destruction of בית המקדש Beit HaMikdash (the temple).
 
“For the Beis Hamikdosh was burned at night, as the master said, ‘at the time of evening they set it on fire.’ *Maseches Ta’anis 29a.” - Rashi
 
There is a correlation here with the current circumstances in Israel where at times families have lost multiple members through murderous terrorist acts and kidnapping. Left without their loved ones to comfort them they are also abandoned by western allies who twist the narrative to impugn them. It is impossible for one who has never experienced this kind of abandonment to begin to comprehend the anguish of the souls of those who must endure it.
 
Alternatively, the text can be read “all her lovers” which would correlate to Ezekiel 23 and HaShem’s anger at Israel’s adulterous/idolatrous actions in cohabitation with the Assyrians and Egyptians.
 
Jeremiah the prophet had already wept at the potential for Judah to refuse the warning of the coming correction that would be meted out by HaShem (Jer. 13:15-17)
 
גָּֽלְתָ֨ה יְהוּדָ֤ה מֵעֹ֙נִי֙ וּמֵרֹ֣ב עֲבֹדָ֔ה הִ֚יא יָשְׁבָ֣ה בַגּוֹיִ֔ם לֹ֥א מָצְאָ֖ה מָנ֑וֹחַ כָּל־רֹדְפֶ֥יהָ הִשִּׂיג֖וּהָ בֵּ֥ין הַמְּצָרִֽים׃
 
1:3 Into captivity Judah has gone, from great affliction, poverty and servitude she dwells among the nations (pagans), she finds no rest, all her persecutors overtake her in her distress.
 
Judah follows the northern tribes into captivity. The fullness of her rebellion has come to fruition. HaShem cannot enable the sin of His chosen nation, thus He allows the consequences of her own sin to come upon her in full measure. The same is true of God’s disciplining of all His children. He disciplines the ones He loves.
 
“The House of Judah went into exile because they were oppressing the orphans and the widows and because of the great servitude to which they were subjecting their brothers, the sons of Israel, who had been sold to them. And they did not declare freedom to their servants and handmaids who were of the seed of Israel.”
 
- 2nd Century C.E Aramaic Targum to Lamentations 1:3
 
Alternatively the affliction and servitude can refer to that which was imposed upon Israel by the Babylonians.
 
The Hebrew גּוֹיִם goyim is synonymous with heathen, unbeliever, pagan. Israel, here specifically Judah, has acted like a pagan and is now cast among the pagans whom she has emulated.
 
Judah finds neither natural nor spiritual rest. Because God has allowed her persecutors to overtake her.
 
“And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there YHVH will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul.”
 
-D’varim (Deuteronomy) 28:65
 
 דַּרְכֵ֨י צִיּ֜וֹן אֲבֵל֗וֹת מִבְּלִי֙ בָּאֵ֣י מוֹעֵ֔ד כָּל־שְׁעָרֶ֙יהָ֙ שֽׁוֹמֵמִ֔ין כֹּהֲנֶ֖יהָ נֶאֱנָחִ֑ים בְּתוּלֹתֶ֥יהָ נּוּג֖וֹת וְהִ֥יא מַר־לָֽהּ׃ 
 
1:4 The ways of Zion are in mourning, devoid of festival (appointed times) pilgrims, all her gates are desolate, her priests groan, her virgins suffer and she is filled with bitterness.
 
The Hebrew דַּרְכֵי darkheiy is familiar, the way דרך derekh that Israel was to walk in is the way of YHVH. Judah has walked in numerous contrary ways and the fruit of those rebellious ways is mourning.
 
Jerusalem (Judah) has now become devoid of pilgrims going up to her appointed times to meet with YHVH because she has spent years syncretising those observances with the worship of foreign deities.
 
Her priests groan as a result of their sin and hypocrisy and the virgin daughters who sought foreign lovers groan for the same reason. However, there are also virgin daughters who groan as a result of the sin of others. The consequences of which they now suffer under.
 
The loss of the temple and the opportunity for Aliyah going up, is reminiscent of the words of the Psalmist:
 
“My soul thirsts for Elohim, for the living Elohim: when shall I come and appear before Elohim? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, Where is your Elohim? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of Elohim, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept the holy day.
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 42:2-4
 
הָי֨וּ צָרֶ֤יהָ לְרֹאשׁ֙ אֹיְבֶ֣יהָ שָׁל֔וּ כִּֽי־יְהוָ֥ה הוֹגָ֖הּ עַ֣ל רֹב־פְּשָׁעֶ֑יהָ עוֹלָלֶ֛יהָ הָלְכ֥וּ שְׁבִ֖י לִפְנֵי־צָֽר׃
 
1:5 Her enemies have become the head (master) of her, her foes prosper, for YHVH has placed affliction on the multitude of her rebellions, her children have gone into captivity before the face of her enemy.
 
Adonay’s ultimate control over all that happens within His creation is made clear. The Babylonians were His vessels, a tool in His hand. The just Creator afflicts those who rebel against Him. Discipline is an act of love.
 
The enemies of Israel and Judah have become the head as a result of Israel’s refusal to observe God’s commandments (Deut. 28:15-58).
 
“The stranger who is among you shall get up above you very high; and you will come down very low. He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him: he shall be the head, and you will be the tail.”
-D’varim (Deuteronomy) 28:43-44
 
The present text specifically concerns the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the remainder of the tribe of Judah.
 
וַיֵּצֵ֥א ׳מִן־בַּת־מִבַּת־צִיּ֖וֹן׳ כָּל־הֲדָרָ֑הּ הָי֣וּ שָׂרֶ֗יהָ כְּאַיָּלִים֙ לֹא־מָצְא֣וּ מִרְעֶ֔ה וַיֵּלְכ֥וּ בְלֹא־כֹ֖חַ לִפְנֵ֥י רוֹדֵֽף׃
 
1:6 Departed from daughter Zion are all who were her beauty, her princes were like stags that found nowhere to graze, and have fled without strength before the face of the pursuer.
 
Zion, the holy hill, the center of worship, has lost her true beauty, the temple where God placed His Name and where her priests conducted godly ritual and her kings sought council from God.
 
Her princes/rulers have lost all authority. The richest among her residents have been starving and flee hungry searching for morsels while being utterly overcome by their pursuers.
 
Rashi notes that “Every רֹדֵף (pursuer) in Scripture is incomplete (lacking the וֹ vav), but this one רוֹדֵף is full, for they were totally pursued.”
 
זָֽכְרָ֣ה יְרוּשָׁלִַ֗ם יְמֵ֤י עָנְיָהּ֙ וּמְרוּדֶ֔יהָ כֹּ֚ל מַחֲמֻדֶ֔יהָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר הָי֖וּ מִ֣ימֵי קֶ֑דֶם בִּנְפֹ֧ל עַמָּ֣הּ בְּיַד־צָ֗ר וְאֵ֤ין עוֹזֵר֙ לָ֔הּ רָא֣וּהָ צָרִ֔ים שָׂחֲק֖וּ עַ֥ל מִשְׁבַּתֶּֽהָ׃
 
1:7 Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and restlessness, all the precious things which were from the days of old, when her people fell into the hands of the enemy with none to help her; her enemies saw and mocked her over the cessation of her sabbaths.
 
Affliction resulting from sin has caused the once inhabitants of Jerusalem to remember how precious the provision and worship of God are. The divine presence, the temple, the altar for atonement, the ark of the covenant and the Scriptures.
 
None helped her. The Egyptians with whom she had allied herself were powerless to stop Nebuchadnezzar, nor did they attempt to do so.
 
Having fallen captive to her pagan enemies she now watches them mock her over the loss of her holy shabbatot festivals (resting times with God) and the rest that Shabbat offers as a reflection of creation and right relationship in God.
 
Judah’s enemies were not just mocking her, they were mocking YHVH. This will result in their ultimate demise. The nations would do well to observe the history of God’s chosen people Israel and be respectful of her in these dark days. His anger lasts but a moment and His mercy toward Israel will see her stand in right relationship in Him at the last day. Meanwhile those who have mocked Israel’s religious observances established by YHVH will come under judgement, and if they remain devoid of repentance will suffer everlasting torment.
 
חֵ֤טְא חָֽטְאָה֙ יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם עַל־כֵּ֖ן לְנִידָ֣ה הָיָ֑תָה כָּֽל־מְכַבְּדֶ֤יהָ הִזִּיל֙וּהָ֙ כִּי־רָא֣וּ עֶרְוָתָ֔הּ גַּם־הִ֥יא נֶאֶנְחָ֖ה וַתָּ֥שָׁב אָחֽוֹר׃
 
1:8 Jerusalem has missed the mark established by God’s holiness and has sinned greatly, therefore menstrual impurity has befallen her, all who once honored her despise her because they have seen her naked shame, also she groans in pain and turns backward (shows her naked backside).
 
This verse opens חֵטְא חָֽטְאָה cheit chatah “rebelled rebelling,” or “sinned sinning.” Jerusalem (a city is the sum of its inhabitants) had doubled down on the specific act of missing the mark of God’s holiness that is rebellion and idolatry, the root of all sin. The multiplication of her willful rebellion shows a firmly established position of unrepentance that only severe discipline could shift.
 
As followers of the Messiah, we too will invoke such discipline if we refuse to allow the Holy Spirit to refine us and sanctify those sin areas in our lives that we have doubled down on.
 
The Hebrew נִידָה niydah, menstrual impurity, is employed to express the depths of uncleanness and therefore a time of fruitlessness. The fruit that might have been is bleeding out of her. It is that loss of life potential that makes niydah a period of impurity (pun intended).
 
The Egyptians who had courted her friendship, figuratively desiring her loins, now see her defiled and despise her. This is how evil men treat women. A man who loves truly doesn’t desire a beautiful woman in her prime and then reject and despise her in her uncleanness. While those that once courted Jerusalem now despised her, HaShem continues to watch over her, even in the midst of the consequences of her rebellion.
 
The poetry is graphic and evokes a sickness in the pit of the stomach of the reader. Jerusalem is naked, bleeding from her sexual organs and turns away from those looking on her with disgust, showing her naked backside to them in order to garner some modicum of dignity.
 
טֻמְאָתָ֣הּ בְּשׁוּלֶ֗יהָ לֹ֤א זָֽכְרָה֙ אַחֲרִיתָ֔הּ וַתֵּ֣רֶד פְּלָאִ֔ים אֵ֥ין מְנַחֵ֖ם לָ֑הּ רְאֵ֤ה יְהוָה֙ אֶת־עָנְיִ֔י כִּ֥י הִגְדִּ֖יל אוֹיֵֽב׃
 
1:9 Filthiness clings to her skirts, she does not remember her future, she has sunk in wonder with no comforter; look YHVH at my affliction, for made great is the enemy.
 
When Jerusalem does find some form of clothing (skirts) the menstrual blood still seeps through her skirts because there are no additional rags to use to stem the flow.
 
Such are the depths of her despairing that she is unable to recall what God has promised to establish in Israel’s future. The righteous remember the future and are established in hope, while the wicked forget and become captive to hopelessness.
 
The statement “she is sunk in wonder with no comforter” could also be read, “She is overcome by shock and awe and cannot see the Messiah”. מְנַחֵם Menachim, Comforter, is a Name for the Messiah.
 
The writer identifies with his people and speaks as Jerusalem saying, “Look Merciful YHVH at my great suffering, forgive, have mercy, for the enemy is made great”.
 
The enemy has been allowed to become great for a time but will be made subject to HaShem in time.
 
 יָדוֹ֙ פָּ֣רַשׂ צָ֔ר עַ֖ל כָּל־מַחֲמַדֶּ֑יהָ כִּֽי־רָאֲתָ֤ה גוֹיִם֙ בָּ֣אוּ מִקְדָּשָׁ֔הּ אֲשֶׁ֣ר צִוִּ֔יתָה לֹא־יָבֹ֥אוּ בַקָּהָ֖ל לָֽךְ׃
 
1:10 The hand of the adversary stretches out upon all that is dear to her, for she has seen the nations (pagans) enter the Sanctuary (Temple), those commanded not to enter Your congregation.
 
“The wicked Nebuchadnezzar stretched out his hand and drew forth his sword and cut off all her lovely things. Indeed, the Congregation of Israel began to howl for she saw foreign nations go into her Temple; those about whom you commanded by Moses the prophet concerning Ammon and Moab, that they were not worthy to enter your assembly.”
 
-2nd Century C.E Aramaic Targum to Lamentations 1:10
 
“6 “Now say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says Adonay YHVH: “O house of Israel, let Us have no more of all your abominations. 7 When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it—My house—and when you offered My food, the fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations. 8 And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.” 9 Thus says the Adonay YHVH: “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.”
 
-Ezekiel 44:6-9
 
The Hebrew text uses גוֹיִם goyim, nations, in juxtaposition to the holy city Jerusalem throughout the scroll of Lamentations. This is intentional and, in this context, makes the word goyim synonymous with the word pagan or the word heathen, because the nations in question are all worshippers of false gods.
 
Those things dear to her were the sacred texts, Torah scrolls, utensils used in service of the sacrificial rites and temple worship ceremonies etc.
 
כָּל־עַמָּ֤הּ נֶאֱנָחִים֙ מְבַקְּשִׁ֣ים לֶ֔חֶם נָתְנ֧וּ ׳מַחֲמוֹדֵּיהֶם׳ ״מַחֲמַדֵּיהֶ֛ם״ בְּאֹ֖כֶל לְהָשִׁ֣יב נָ֑פֶשׁ רְאֵ֤ה יְהוָה֙ וְֽהַבִּ֔יטָה כִּ֥י הָיִ֖יתִי זוֹלֵלָֽה׃
 
1:11 All her people are groaning, as they search for bread, they have given away desirable things for food to relieve the soul; look YHVH see how worthless, how vile I’ve become!
 
What little of value those being exiled have left they seek to trade for any morsel of food. This shows the abject desperation of the Judeans. To relieve the soul means in order to save their lives or revive the faint.
 
The writer (Jeremiah) once again identifies with his city and his people saying, “Look at us Adonay, though we have turned our face away from You don’t turn Your face from us. See how vile Your chosen possession has become!”
 
Like so many of Israel’s prophets, Jeremiah is not guilty of the sin of the people and yet he takes upon himself the error and repents on their behalf. He acts as a figure for the Messiah.
 
 ל֣וֹא אֲלֵיכֶם֮ כָּל־עֹ֣בְרֵי דֶרֶךְ֒ הַבִּ֣יטוּ וּרְא֗וּ אִם־יֵ֤שׁ מַכְאוֹב֙ כְּמַכְאֹבִ֔י אֲשֶׁ֥ר עוֹלַ֖ל לִ֑י אֲשֶׁר֙ הוֹגָ֣ה יְהוָ֔ה בְּי֖וֹם חֲר֥וֹן אַפּֽוֹ׃
 
1:12 It’s nothing to you (pl) all who pass by on the way, consider and see, if there exists sorrow for sorrow which is severely done to me, which YHVH afflicted, in the day of His furious nostril flaring anger.
 
Those who pass by are unphased by Jerusalem’s suffering. Judah screams “look at me, have mercy, see how God has afflicted me,” but her enemies and the surrounding nations are immune to her pleas.
 
מִמָּר֛וֹם שָֽׁלַח־אֵ֥שׁ בְּעַצְמֹתַ֖י וַיִּרְדֶּ֑נָּה פָּרַ֨שׂ רֶ֤שֶׁת לְרַגְלַי֙ הֱשִׁיבַ֣נִי אָח֔וֹר נְתָנַ֙נִי֙ שֹֽׁמֵמָ֔ה כָּל־הַיּ֖וֹם דָּוָֽה׃
 
1:13 From the height He sent fire into my bones, and it dominated and spread a net for my feet turning me back, He has given me desolation, all the day I faint.
 
The fire sent by God consumes the bones of the city of Jerusalem and the land of Judea while also spreading through the bones of the individual in whatever form it may take as a physiological illness.
 
The allusion to the fire spreading to the feet is intended to convey the idea that those who sought to flee found their feet entangled and as a result fell prey to the invader.
 
The correlation made here between the fire of God’s word in the bones of the prophet Jeremiah and the outworking of that fire in bringing judgement and desolation to Jerusalem is significant.
 
“Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name.”
But His word was in my core being like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not.”
 
-Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 20:9
 
נִשְׂקַד֩ עֹ֨ל פְּשָׁעַ֜י בְּיָד֗וֹ יִשְׂתָּ֥רְג֛וּ עָל֥וּ עַל־צַוָּארִ֖י הִכְשִׁ֣יל כֹּחִ֑י נְתָנַ֣נִי אֲדֹנָ֔י בִּידֵ֖י לֹא־אוּכַ֥ל קֽוּם׃
 
1:14 The yoke of my rebellion is bound by His hand, intertwined it goes up upon my neck, it makes my strength feeble, Adonay has given me into the hands of those I cannot rise against.
 
HaShem attaches the teaching and foundational sin of Judah’s rebellion to her neck so that it clings to her, making her weak from the fruit of her sin. He has allowed Israel’s enemies to overcome her in her weakness.
 
Alternatively, and I think prophetically, we can read more literally “The yoke of my rebellion is bound up בְּיָדוֹ in His hand,” meaning God Himself takes on the punishment for Judah’s rebellion. “See I have engraved you in the palms of My hands, your walls are ever before Me!” (Isa. 49:16).
 
“It makes my strength feeble” can be understood to say, “It shows my strength to be weakness”, and “I realize I’m unable to save myself”.
 
סִלָּ֨ה כָל־אַבִּירַ֤י׀ אֲדֹנָי֙ בְּקִרְבִּ֔י קָרָ֥א עָלַ֛י מוֹעֵ֖ד לִשְׁבֹּ֣ר בַּחוּרָ֑י גַּ֚ת דָּרַ֣ךְ אֲדֹנָ֔י לִבְתוּלַ֖ת בַּת־יְהוּדָֽה׃ 
 
1:15 Adonay in my midst has tossed aside all my mighty ones, He called upon me at an appointed time to break into pieces my young men, as in a press Adonay has stomped on the virgin daughter of Judah.
 
The Hebrew מוֹעֵד mo’eid appointed time/festival is used intentionally here in correlation to the cessation of moadim, festival observances. The appointed times of God are times of remembrance and celebration; however, He also appoints the times of discipline as opportunities for repentance/returning. It may be that Nebuchadnezzar began his final assault on Jerusalem during one of the aliyot going up festivals. This would not necessarily contradict the Jewish tradition that connects the final destruction of Jerusalem to the 9th of Av.
 
The Hebrew גַּת gat meaning press is used to describe a wine press, an olive press etc. Here it is Judah herself that is being utterly crushed and poured out under the weight of HaShem’s foot.
 
Yet future, Yeshua the King of Judah, would allow Himself to be put under the גַּת press of God’s justice, taking on himself the sins of Judah, Israel and the nations. His desperate prayers for the cup of plagues and redeeming atonement to be taken from Him were prayed in Gan גַּת gat Sheminim.
 
עַל־אֵ֣לֶּה׀ אֲנִ֣י בוֹכִיָּ֗ה עֵינִ֤י׀ עֵינִי֙ יֹ֣רְדָה מַּ֔יִם כִּֽי־רָחַ֥ק מִמֶּ֛נִּי מְנַחֵ֖ם מֵשִׁ֣יב נַפְשִׁ֑י הָי֤וּ בָנַי֙ שֽׁוֹמֵמִ֔ים כִּ֥י גָבַ֖ר אוֹיֵֽב׃
 
1:16 Over these I wail, my eye, my eye, water runs down because far from me is the comforter, from returning my soul, my children have become stunned because the enemy has prevailed.
 
The repetition of עֵינִ֤י aiyniy “my eye” denotes the uninterrupted tears of inconsolable suffering.
 
The Comforter is of course God and yes, the then future atoning Comforter Yeshua, Imanu El, with us God.
 
“From returning my soul” is a way of saying “from saving my life”. It’s also an allusion to the acceptance of a repentant person or in this case people. At this point Judah is beginning to realize that she is responsible for her own suffering due to her rebellion but she is not yet repentant and thus is still far from the returning of her soul through the Comforter.
 
“My children have become stunned” could be understood as “My children have become numb through shock, horror and awe”. Therefore, when we read “because the enemy has prevailed” we see a sober warning. When we raise our children in a society that saturates them with godlessness, evil violence, immoral images, isolation and disconnection from truth, they become numb and the origin of their ignorance becomes obvious. It is the satanic impetus which we as a society have acted upon in raising them, that has prevailed.
 
פֵּֽרְשָׂ֨ה צִיּ֜וֹן בְּיָדֶ֗יהָ אֵ֤ין מְנַחֵם֙ לָ֔הּ צִוָּ֧ה יְהוָ֛ה לְיַעֲקֹ֖ב סְבִיבָ֣יו צָרָ֑יו הָיְתָ֧ה יְרוּשָׁלִַ֛ם לְנִדָּ֖ה בֵּינֵיהֶֽם׃
 
1:17 Stretched out is Zion, in her hands there is no comfort, YHVH has commanded against Jacob enemies to surround him, and Jerusalem has become an unclean menstruating woman among them.
 
Zion, the temple mount, the center of Israel’s sacrificial cult, represents all of Israel. She opens her hands to find no comfort because she has long since rejected her Comforter. YHVH has assigned enemies as tools of discipline against Jacob/Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem. The priests and the temple have become defiled, metaphorically, an unclean menstruating woman.
 
“Zion spreads out her hands from anguish like a woman spread upon the birth stool. She screams but there is no one to speak comfortingly to her heart. The Lord commanded the House of Jacob to keep the commandments and Torah, but they transgressed the decree of his Memra. Therefore his oppressors completely encircle Jacob. Jerusalem is like an unclean woman among them.”
 
-2nd Century C.E Aramaic Targum to Lamentations 1:17
 
צַדִּ֥יק ה֛וּא יְהוָ֖ה כִּ֣י פִ֣יהוּ מָרִ֑יתִי שִׁמְעוּ־נָ֣א ׳כָל־עַמִּים׳ ״כָל־הָֽעַמִּ֗ים״ וּרְאוּ֙ מַכְאֹבִ֔י בְּתוּלֹתַ֥י וּבַחוּרַ֖י הָלְכ֥וּ בַשֶּֽׁבִי׃
 
1:18 YHVH is right, for His commandments I rebelled against, hear now all you peoples/tribes, my sorrow, my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
 
Judah admits that YHVH is right to discipline her. She admits that she has rebelled against Him and broken His commandments. She thus testifies to the peoples/tribes “Hear my confession and the sorrow which reflects the pain caused by my willful sin, and look at the result of my actions, my daughters and sons have been taken into captivity.”
 
“The Lord told the people of the House of Israel that they should not allow those who kill by the sword to pass through their land. Josiah the king went forth and drew his sword against Pharaoh the Lame on the plain of Megiddo, which he had not been commanded [to do] and he had not sought instruction from before the Lord. Therefore archers shot arrows at King Josiah and he died there. Before his spirit left him he moved his lips and said, “The Lord is blameless for I have transgressed against his Memra.” Hear now all peoples, the lamentations that Jeremiah made over Josiah and see my affliction that has come upon me after his death. My virgins and young men have gone into exile.”
 
-2nd Century C.E Aramaic Targum to Lamentations 1:18
 
קָרָ֤אתִי לַֽמְאַהֲבַי֙ הֵ֣מָּה רִמּ֔וּנִי כֹּהֲנַ֥י וּזְקֵנַ֖י בָּעִ֣יר גָּוָ֑עוּ כִּֽי־בִקְשׁ֥וּ אֹ֙כֶל֙ לָ֔מוֹ וְיָשִׁ֖יבוּ אֶת־נַפְשָֽׁם׃
 
1:19 I called to my lovers, the ones who deceived me and caused my priests and elders in the city to perish as they sought food for their souls.
 
Rashi cites a tradition that says, “the children of Yishmael, who came out toward the exiles when their captors were leading them on the road nearby, and pretended that they were compassionate toward them. They brought for them various kinds of salty foods and inflated skin flasks. They thought that they [contained] wine, so they ate and became thirsty and wished to drink; but when they untied the flasks with their teeth, the air entered their intestines and they died.”
 
רְאֵ֨ה יְהוָ֤ה כִּֽי־צַר־לִי֙ מֵעַ֣י חֳמַרְמָ֔רוּ נֶהְפַּ֤ךְ לִבִּי֙ בְּקִרְבִּ֔י כִּ֥י מָר֖וֹ מָרִ֑יתִי מִח֥וּץ שִׁכְּלָה־חֶ֖רֶב בַּבַּ֥יִת כַּמָּֽוֶת׃
 
1:20 Look YHVH because of my adversary my intestines are troubled, my core being turns within me, for I was bitter in my rebellion, outside the sword has made me childless and at home there is death.
 
This is a confession to God that Judah was intentionally willful/bitter in rebelling against Him.
 
The reference to the intestines is both an allusion to physical agony and to conflicted and nagging emotions. The gut being the figurative seat of Hebrew emotion.
 
Judah’s sin has resulted in the armies outside the walls of Jerusalem killing her children and within her walls death from starvation and plague. The same has spiritual significance: outside the body sin wreaks havoc on our family and friends and inside the body, at the core of the inner person, the wages of sin are death.
 
שָׁמְע֞וּ כִּ֧י נֶאֱנָחָ֣ה אָ֗נִי אֵ֤ין מְנַחֵם֙ לִ֔י כָּל־אֹ֨יְבַ֜י שָׁמְע֤וּ רָֽעָתִי֙ שָׂ֔שׂוּ כִּ֥י אַתָּ֖ה עָשִׂ֑יתָ הֵבֵ֥אתָ יוֹם־קָרָ֖אתָ וְיִֽהְי֥וּ כָמֽוֹנִי׃
 
1:21 They heard, for I was groaning, for me there is no comfort, all my enemies have heard of my trouble, they are glad for it is Your doing, You have brought about the day You warned would come; may they become like me.
 
The enemies of Israel and Judah heard of her suffering and were glad. But the enemies of Israel are without excuse for their mocking of the Jewish people. They knew that the God of Israel was disciplining His people and yet they continued to honor their own gods and even mocked the cessation of the festivals of YHVH, thus mocking YHVH Himself. Therefore, the phrase concerning Israel’s enemies, “May they become like me” is not simply a statement of spiteful vengeance, but a deserved curse that will manifest on the enemies of God and of Israel.
 
The LORD had warned Israel through the prophet Jeremiah of this coming wrath (Jeremiah 25:15-38)
 
תָּבֹ֨א כָל־רָעָתָ֤ם לְפָנֶ֙יךָ֙ וְעוֹלֵ֣ל לָ֔מוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר עוֹלַ֛לְתָּ לִ֖י עַ֣ל כָּל־פְּשָׁעָ֑י כִּֽי־רַבּ֥וֹת אַנְחֹתַ֖י וְלִבִּ֥י דַוָּֽי׃
 
1:22 Let all their wickedness come before You and do to them as You have done to me for all my rebellion, for my groaning is great and my core being is faint.
 
“May there enter before you on the great judgment day all their evil deeds which they have done to me. May you turn against them as you have turned against me because of my many rebellions, for my groans are many and my heart is weak.”
 
-2nd Century C.E Aramaic Targum to Lamentations 1:22
 
This same prayer is prayed by Israel today concerning those who have committed such great atrocities against her. Though these afflictions have been allowed by God for the purpose of discipline, the fullness of her justification will come when Israel repents and calls on YHVH through the One Whom she has pierced, Yeshua HaMelekh the Comforter, Whom we have sought, though He has seemed far off, but is nonetheless closer to use than breathing.
 
“And the Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may act according to Him.”
 
-D’varim (Deuteronomy) 30:14 Author’s translation according to the illumination of John 1:1
 
Copyright 2025 Yaakov (Brown) Ben Yehoshua