---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Verse Lamentations 3:1. I am the man that hath seen affliction — Either the prophet speaks here of himself, or he is personating his miserable countrymen."
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/lamentations/3"
---

Verse [Lamentations 3:1](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/1). ***I am the man that hath seen affliction*** — Either the prophet speaks here of himself, or he is personating his miserable countrymen. This and other passages in this poem have been applied to Jesus Christ's passion; but, in my opinion, without any foundation.

Verse [Lamentations 3:2](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/2). ***He hath - brought me into darkness*** — In the sacred writings, *darkness* is often taken for *calamity; light*, for *prosperity*.

Verse [Lamentations 3:5](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/5). ***He hath builded against me*** — Perhaps there is a reference here to the *mounds* and *ramparts* raised by the Chaldeans in order to take the city.

Verse 7. ***He hath hedged me about*** — This also may refer to the lines drawn round the city during the siege. But these and similar expressions in the following verses may be merely metaphorical, to point out their *straitened, oppressed*, and *distressed* state.

Verse 9. ***He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone*** — He has put insuperable obstacles in my way; and confounded all my projects of deliverance and all my expectations of prosperity.

Verse 12. ***He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the**********arrow.*** — One might conjecture that the following thought in the *Toozek i Teemour* was borrowed from this: -
"One addressed the caliph Aaly, and said, 'If the *heavens* were a *bow*, and the *earth* the *cord* thereof; if *calamities* were *arrows, man* the *butt* for those arrows; and the holy blessed *God* the unerring *marksman*; where could the sons of Adam flee for succour?' The caliph replied, 'The children of Adam must flee unto the Lord.'" This was the state of poor Jerusalem. It seemed as a *butt* for all God's *arrows*; and each *arrow* of *calamity* entered into the soul, for God was the *unerring marksman*.

Verse 13. ***The arrows of his quiver*** — בני אשפתו *beney ashpatho*, "The sons of his quiver." The *issue* or *effect*; the subject, adjunct, or accident, or produce of a thing, is frequently denominated its *son* or *child*. So *arrows* that *issue* from a *quiver* are here termed *the sons of the quiver*.

Verse 15. ***He hath filled me with bitterness*** — במרורים *bimrorim*, with bitternesses, bitter upon bitter.
***He hath made me drunken with wormwood.*** — I have drunk the cup of misery till I am intoxicated with it. Almost in all countries, and in all languages, *bitterness* is a metaphor to express *trouble* and *affliction*. The reason is, there is nothing more disagreeable to the *taste* than the one; and nothing more distressing to the *mind* than the other. An Arabic poet. *Amralkeis*, one of the writers of the *Moallakat*, terms a man grievously afflicted [Arabic] *a pounder* *of wormwood*.

Verse 16. ***He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones*** — What a figure to express *disgust, pain*, and the consequent incapacity of *taking food* for the support of life; a man, instead of bread, being obliged to eat *small pebbles* till all his teeth are *broken* *to pieces* by endeavouring to grind them. One can scarcely read this description without feeling the *toothache*. The next figure is not less expressive.
***He hath covered me with ashes.*** — הכפישני באפר *hichphishani* *beepher*, "he hath plunged me into the dust." To be thrown into a mass or bed of perfect *dust*, where the eyes are blinded by it, the ears stopped, and the mouth and lungs filled at the very first attempt to respire after having been thrown into it-what a horrible idea of *suffocation* and *drowning*! One can scarcely read this without feeling a suppression of breath, or a stricture upon the lungs! Did ever man paint sorrow like this man?

Verse 17. ***Thou hast removed my soul*** — Prosperity is at such an utter distance from me, that it is impossible I should ever reach it; and as to *happiness*, I have forgotten whether I have ever tasted of it.

Verse 18. ***And my hope*** — That first, that last support of the miserable-it is gone! it is perished! The sovereign God alone can revive it.

Verse 20. ***By soul - is humbled in me.*** — It is evident that in the preceding verses there is a *bitterness* of *complaint* against the *bitterness* of *adversity*, that is not becoming to *man* when under the chastising hand of God; and, while indulging this feeling, all *hope* fled. Here we find a different feeling; he *humbles* himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his *hope* revives, [Lamentations 3:21](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/21).

Verse 22. **It is of*****the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed*** — Being thus *humbled*, and seeing *himself* and his *sinfulness* in a proper point of view, he finds that God, instead of dealing with him in *judgment*, has dealt with him in *mercy*; and that though the affliction was excessive, yet it was less than his iniquity deserved. If, indeed, any sinner be kept out of hell, it is because God's *compassion* faileth not.

Verse 23. **They are*****new every morning*** — Day and night proclaim the mercy and compassion of God. Who could exist throughout the *day*, if there were not a continual superintending Providence? Who could be preserved in the *night*, if the Watchman of Israel ever slumbered or slept?

Verse 24. ***The Lord*****is*****my portion*** — [Psalms 119:57](../../../kjv/psalms/119/57).

Verse 26. **It is*****good that*****a man*****should both hope*** — *Hope* is essentially necessary to *faith*; he that *hopes not, cannot believe*; if there be no *expectation*, there can be no *confidence*. When a man *hopes* for salvation, he should not only *wait* for it, but use every means that may lead to it; for *hope* cannot live, if there be no *exercise*. If *hope* become *impatient, faith* will be impossible: for who can believe for his salvation when his mind is *agitated*? He must therefore *quietly wait*. He must *expect*, and yet be *dumb*, as the words imply; ever feeling his *utter unworthiness*; and, without *murmuring*, struggle into life.

Verse 27. ***That he bear the yoke in his youth.*** — Early *habits*, when good, are invaluable. Early *discipline* is equally so. He who has not got under wholesome restraint in youth will never make a useful man, a good man, nor a happy man.

Verse 28. ***He sitteth alone*** — He has learned that necessary lesson of *independence*, that shows him how *he is to serve himself*; to *give no trouble to others*; and *keep his troubles*, as far as possible, *in his own bosom*.

Verse 29. ***He putteth his mouth in the dust*** — Lives in a state of deep humility.
***If so be there may be hope.*** — Because there is room for hope.

Verse 30. ***He giveth*****his*****cheek to him that smiteth*** — He has that love that is not provoked. He is not quarrelsome, nor apt to resent injuries; he suffers long and is kind. Or, it may be rendered, "let him give his cheek."
***He is filled full with reproach.*** — Though all this take place, yet let his "trust be in God, who will not cast off for ever." God will take his part, and bring him safely through all hardships.

Verse 31. ***The Lord*** — אדני *Adonai*; but one of my ancient MSS. has יהוה *Jehovah*. The above verse is quoted in reference to our Lord's passion, by [Matthew 26:62](../../../kjv/matthew/26/62).

Verse 33. ***For he doth not afflict willingly*** — It is no pleasure to God to afflict men. He takes no delight in our pain and misery: yet, like a tender and intelligent parent, he uses the rod; not to gratify himself, but to profit and save us.

Verse 34. ***To crush under his feet*** — He can neither gain credit nor pleasure in trampling upon those who are already *bound*, and in suffering; such he knows to be the state of man here below. From which it most assuredly follows, that God never afflicts us but for our good, nor chastises but that we may be partakers of his holiness.
***All the prisoners of the earth*** — By the *prisoners of the earth*, or *land*, Dr. *Blayney* understands those insolvent debtors who were put in prison, and there obliged to work out the debt. Yet this is mercy in comparison with those who put them in prison, and keep them there, when they know that it is impossible, from the state of the laws, to lessen the debt by their confinement.
In [Lamentations 3:34-36](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/34-36), certain acts of tyranny, malice, and injustice are specified, which men often indulge themselves in the practice of towards one another, but which the Divine goodness is far from countenancing or approving by any similar conduct. - *Blayney*.

Verse 35. ***To turn aside the right of a man*** — To make a man lose his right, because one of the higher orders opposes him. Dr. *Blayney* thinks that עליון *elyon*, instead of being referred to *God*, should be considered as pointing out one of the *chief* of the people. I do not see that we gain any thing by this. The evil fact is, *turning aside the right of a man*; and the aggravation of it is, doing it *before the face of the Most High*; that is, in a court of justice, where God is ever considered to be present.

Verse 36. ***To subvert a man in his cause*** — To prevent his having justice done him in a lawsuit, &c., by undue interference, as by suborning false witnesses, or exerting any kind of influence in opposition to truth and right.-*Blayney*.
***The Lord approved not.*** — Instead of אדני *Adonai*, seventeen MSS., of *Kennicott's*, and one ancient of my own, have יהוה *Yehovah*. *Approveth not*, לא ראה lo raah, doth not see, turns away his face from it, abhors it.

Verse 39. ***Wherefore doth a living man complain*** — He who has his life still lent to him has small cause of complaint. How great soever his affliction may be, he is still *alive*; therefore, he may seek and find mercy unto eternal life. Of this, *death* would deprive him; therefore let not a *living* man complain.

Verse 40. ***Let us search*** — How are we to get the pardon of our sins? The prophet tells us:
1. Let us examine ourselves.
2. "Let us turn again to the Lord."
3. "Let us lift up our heart;" let us make fervent prayer and supplication for mercy.
4. "Let us lift up our hand;" let us solemnly promise to be his, and bind ourselves in a covenant to be the Lord's only: so much *lifting up the hand* *to God* implies. Or, let us put our heart on our hand, and offer it to God; so some have translated this clause.
5. "We have transgressed;" let our confession of sin be fervent and sincere.
6. And to us who profess *Christianity* it may be added, *Believe on* *the Lord Jesus Christ* as having *died for thee*; and thou shalt not perish, but have everlasting life.
Verses [Lamentations 3:46](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/46), [Lamentations 3:47](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/47), [Lamentations 3:48](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/48), [Lamentations 3:46-48](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/46-48), beginning with פ *phe*, should, as to the order of the alphabet, follow 49, 50, 51, [Lamentations 3:49-51](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/49-51), which begin with *ain*, which in its grammatical position precedes the former.

Verse 47. ***Fear and a snare*** — [Jeremiah 48:13](../../../kjv/jeremiah/48/13).

Verse 48. ***Mine eye runneth down*** — I weep incessantly.

Verse 51. ***Mine eye affecteth mine heart*** — What I *see* I *feel*. I see nothing but *misery*; and I *feel*, in consequence, nothing but *pain*. There have been various translations of the original: but they all amount to this.
***The daughters of my city.*** — The villages about Jerusalem.

Verse 52. ***Mine enemies chased me*** — From this to the end of the chapter the prophet speaks of his own personal sufferings, and especially of those which he endured in the *dungeon*. See [Jeremiah 38:6](../../../kjv/jeremiah/38/6), &c.

Verse 56. ***Hide not thine ear at my breathing*** — He dared not even to *complain*, nor to *cry*, nor to *pray aloud*: he was obliged to *whisper* his prayer to God. It was only a *breathing*.

Verse 57. ***Fear not.*** — How powerful is this word when spoken by the Spirit of the Lord to a disconsolate heart. To *every mourner* we may say, on the authority of God, *Fear not*! God will plead thy cause, and redeem thy soul.

Verse [Lamentations 3:60](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/60). ***Thou hast seen - all their imaginations*** — Every thing is open to the eye of God. Distressed soul! though *thou* knowest not *what* thy enemies *meditate* against thee; yet he who *loves thee* does, and will infallibly defeat all *their* plots, and save *thee*.

Verse [Lamentations 3:65](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/65). ***Give them sorrow of heart*** — They shall have a *callous* heart, *covered* with *obstinacy*, and thy *execration*. The former is their *state*, the latter their *fate*. This is the consequence of their hardening their hearts from thy fear. *Blayney* translates, "Thou wilt give with a hearty concordance thy curse unto them." That is, Thou wilt give it to them freely, and without reserve; intimating that God felt no longer any bowels of compassion for them. Formerly he inflicted punishments with reluctance, while there was any hope of amendment: but, in the instance before us, the case was so hopeless, that God acts according to the simple principle of vindictive justice. The prophet therefore considers them on the utmost verge of final reprobation: another plunge, and they are lost for ever.

Verse [Lamentations 3:66](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/66). ***Persecute and destroy them*** — Thou wilt pursue them with destruction. These are all *declaratory*, not *imprecatory*.
***From under the heavens of the Lord.*** — This verse seems to allude to the Chaldaic prediction, in [Jeremiah 10:11](../../../kjv/jeremiah/10/11). By their conduct they will bring on themselves the curse denounced against their enemies.
The *Septuagint* and *Vulgate* seem to have read "From under heaven, O Jehovah:" and the *Syriac* reads, "Thy heavens, O Jehovah!" None of these makes any material change in the meaning of the words.
It has already been noticed in the *introduction*, that this chapter contains a *triple acrostic, three* lines always beginning with the same letter; so that the Hebrew alphabet is thrice repeated in this chapter, *twenty-two* multiplied by *three* being equal to *sixty-six*.

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