To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth.
] These words, with what follow in ( Lamentations 3:35 Lamentations 3:36 ) ; either depend upon the preceding, and are to be connected with them, "he doth not afflict", &c. ( Lamentations 3:33 ) ; though he lays his hand on men, he do not crush them under his feet, or break them in pieces, and utterly destroy them, even such, and all such, as are bound in affliction and iron; or, in a spiritual sense, such as are prisoners to sin, Satan, and the law, as all men by nature are; he does not crush these to pieces, though they deserve it, at least not "all" of them; for he proclaims in the Gospel liberty to the captives, and says, by the power of his grace, to the prisoners, go forth, and encourages the prisoners of hope to turn to their strong hold: and also, though he afflicts, he does no injustice to them, does not turn aside their right, or subvert their cause, ( Job 8:3 ) ( Job 34:5 Job 34:12 ) ; or rather these depend upon, and are to be connected with, the last clause of ( Lamentations 3:36 ) ; "the Lord approveth not": as he does not do these things himself, he do not approve of them in others; that they should use captives cruelly, trample upon them like mire in the streets, or as the dust of their feet; particularly regard may be had to the Jews in Babylon, used ill by those that detained them; for though it was by the will of God they were carried captive, yet the Chaldeans exceeded due bounds in their usage of them, and added affliction to their affliction, which the Lord approved not of, but resented, ( Zechariah 1:15 ) .