Lamentations 1:14

14 My steps^[a] are being watched;^[b] by his hand they are tripped up. His yoke is on my neck; he makes my strength fail. My Lord has handed me over to people I can't resist.

Lamentations 1:14 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:14

The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand
That is, the punishment of her sins was laid upon her by the Lord himself; his hand was in it; it came from him; the Chaldeans were only instruments; and a heavy yoke this was. So the Targum renders it,

``the yoke of my rebellions is made heavy by his hand:''

they are wreathed, [and] come upon my neck;
or, "twisted together" ^F2; as lines to make a cord; or as several cords to make a rope; or as branches of trees or withes are implicated and entwined; and so the Targum,

``they are twisted together as the branches of a vine.''

It denotes the complication of judgments upon the Jewish nation for their sins, with which they were holden as with cords; and which were like ropes about their necks, very heavy and distressing to them, and from which they could not deliver themselves. Mr. Broughton thinks the apostle has reference to this passage; and explains it by the sin that easily besets, or cunningly wraps about, ( Hebrews 12:1 ) ; he hath made my strength to fall;
by the weight of punishment laid upon her, which she could not stand up under, but sunk and fell: this may be understood of her strong and mighty men; her men of valour and courage, who yet stumbled and fell: the Lord hath delivered me into [their] hands, [from whom] I am not
able to rise up;
meaning the Chaldeans; nor were the Jews at last delivered from them by their own strength, but by the means of Cyrus the Persian conquering Babylon.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F2 (wgrtvy) "involutae", Vatablus; "perplexae", Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin; "contortae", Piscator, Grotius, Michaelis.

Lamentations 1:14 In-Context

12 Is this nothing to all you who pass by? Look around: Is there any suffering like the suffering inflicted on me, the grief that the LORD caused on the day of his fierce anger?

13 From above he sent fire into my bones; he trampled them. He spread a net for my feet; he forced me backward. He left me devastated, constantly sick.

14 My steps are being watched; by his hand they are tripped up. His yoke is on my neck; he makes my strength fail. My Lord has handed me over to people I can't resist.

15 My Lord has despised my mighty warriors. He called a feast for me—in order to crush my young men! My Lord has stomped on the winepress of the young woman Daughter Judah.

16 Because of all these things I'm crying. My eyes, my own eyes pour water because a comforter who might encourage me is nowhere near. My children are destroyed because the enemy was so strong.

Footnotes

• [a]. Correction; or my wrong acts
• [b]. Or a yoke is bound to my wrong acts; Heb uncertain