Lamentations 1:12

12 "Doesn't this affect all of you who pass by? Look and see if there's any pain like the pain that the LORD has caused me, like the pain that he has made me suffer on the day of his fierce anger.

Lamentations 1:12 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:12

[Is it] nothing to you, all ye that pass by?
&c.] O ye strangers and travellers that pass by, and see my distress, does it not at all concern you? does it not in the least affect you? can you look upon it, and have no commiseration? or is there nothing to be learned from hence by you, that may be instructive and useful to you? Some consider the words as deprecating; may the like things never befall you that have befallen me, O ye passengers; be ye who ye will; I can never wish the greatest stranger, much less a friend, to suffer what I do; nay, I pray God they never may: others, as adjuring. So the Targum,

``I adjure you, all ye that pass by the way, turn aside hither:''

or as calling; so the words may be rendered, "O all ye that pass by" {y}; and Sanctius thinks it is an allusion to epitaphs on tombs, which call upon travellers to stop and read the character of the deceased; what were his troubles, and how he came to his end; and so what follows is Jerusalem's epitaph: behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is
done unto me;
as it is natural for everyone to think their own affliction greatest, and that none have that occasion of grief and sorrow as they have; though there is no affliction befalls us but what is common unto men; and when it comes to be compared with others, perhaps will appear lighter than theirs: wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me, in the day of his fierce anger;
signifying, that her affliction was not a common one; it was not from the hand of man only, but from the hand of God; and not in the ordinary way of his providence; but as the effect of his wrath and fury, in all the fierceness of it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (lk Mkyla awl) "O vos omnes", V. L.

Lamentations 1:12 In-Context

10 The enemies laid their hands on all of the city's treasures. Jerusalem has seen the nations enter the holy place. 'O Lord, they are the same people you have forbidden to enter your congregation.'

11 All the people are groaning as they beg for bread. They trade their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. 'O LORD, look and see how despised I am!'"

12 "Doesn't this affect all of you who pass by? Look and see if there's any pain like the pain that the LORD has caused me, like the pain that he has made me suffer on the day of his fierce anger.

13 He sent fire from above. He made it go deep into my bones. He spread a net for my feet. He made me turn back. He has left me devastated. He has made me sick all day long.

14 My rebellious acts are a heavy burden for me. They were tied together by God's own hands. They were tied around my neck. He has weakened me [with them]. The Lord has handed me over to people I cannot oppose.