Lamentations 1:5

5 Its opponents are now in control. Its enemies have no worries. The LORD made Zion suffer for its many rebellious acts. Its children go ahead of their opponents into captivity.

Lamentations 1:5 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:5

Her adversaries are the chief
Or, "for the head" F14; or are the head, as was threatened, ( Deuteronomy 28:44 ) ; and now fulfilled; the Chaldeans having got the dominion over the Jews, and obliged them to be subject to them: her enemies prosper;
in wealth and riches, in grandeur and glory; live in ease and tranquillity, enjoying all outward felicity and happiness; while Zion was in distress; which was an aggravation of it; and yet this was but righteous judgment: for the Lord hath afflicted her;
who is righteous in all his ways: the Chaldeans were but instruments; the evil was from the Lord, according to his will and righteous determination, as appears by what follows: for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into
captivity before the enemy;
that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea were carried captive by the enemy, and drove before them as a flock of sheep, and that for the sins of the nation; and these not a few, but were very numerous, as Mordecai and Ezekiel, and others, who were carried captive young with Jeconiah, as well as many now.


FOOTNOTES:

F14 (varl) "in caput", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "facti sunt caput", Cocceius.

Lamentations 1:5 In-Context

3 "Judah has been exiled after [much] suffering and harsh treatment. Its [people] live among the nations; they find no rest. Those who chased them caught up with them in places where there was no way out.
4 "The roads to Zion are deserted. No one comes to the annual festivals. No one passes through any of its gates. Its priests are groaning. Its young women are made to suffer. Zion is bitter.
5 Its opponents are now in control. Its enemies have no worries. The LORD made Zion suffer for its many rebellious acts. Its children go ahead of their opponents into captivity.
6 All splendor has abandoned the people of Zion. Its influential people were like deer that couldn't find any pasture. They ran without any strength ahead of the hunters.
7 "Now, during its suffering and oppression, Jerusalem remembers all the treasures it had from ancient times, when its people fell into the power of their enemies with no one to help them. Their opponents looked on, and they laughed at Jerusalem's downfall.
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