Lamentations 1:14

Nun

14 My transgressions have been formed into a yoke,^[a][b] fastened together by His hand; they have been placed on my neck, and the Lord has broken my strength. He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand.

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Lamentations 1:14 In-Context

12 Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see! Is there any pain like mine, which was dealt out to me, which the Lord made [me] suffer on the day of His burning anger?

13 He sent fire from on high into my bones; He made it descend. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, sick all day long.

14 My transgressions have been formed into a yoke, fastened together by His hand; they have been placed on my neck, and the Lord has broken my strength. He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand.

15 The Lord has rejected all the mighty men within me. He has summoned an army against me to crush my young warriors. The Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah [like grapes] in a winepress.

16 I weep because of these things; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort [me], no one to keep me alive. My children are desolate because the enemy has prevailed.

Footnotes

• [a]. Some Hb mss, LXX read He kept watch over my transgressions
• [b]. Or The yoke of my transgressions is bound; Hb obscure