Lamentations 1:2

2 She sobs through the night; tears stream down her cheeks. Among all her lovers, there is no one left to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her and become her enemies.

Lamentations 1:2 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:2

She weepeth sore in the night
Or, "weeping weeps" F9; two weepings, one for the first, the other for the second temples F11; and while others are taking their sleep and rest; a season fit for mourners, when they can give their grief the greater vent, without any interruption from others; and it being now a night of affliction with her, which occasioned this sore weeping. Jarchi observes, that it was in the night that the temple was burnt: and her tears [are] on her cheeks;
continue there, being always flowing, and never wholly dried up; which shows how great her grief was, and that her weeping was without intermission; or otherwise tears do not lie long, but are soon dried up, or wiped off: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort [her];
as the Assyrians formerly were, ( Ezekiel 23:5 Ezekiel 23:9 Ezekiel 23:12 ) ; and more lately the Egyptians her allies and confederates, in whom she trusted; but these gave her no assistance; nor yielded her any relief in her distress; nor so much as spoke one word of comfort to her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her
enemies;
those who pretended great friendship to her, and were in strict alliance with her, acted the treacherous part, and withdrew from her, leaving her to the common enemy; and not only so, but behaved towards her in a hostile manner themselves; for "the children of Noph and Tahapanes", places in Egypt confederate with the Jews, are said to "have broken the crown of their head", ( Jeremiah 2:16 ) . The Targum interprets the "lovers" of the "idols" she loved to follow, who now could be of no use unto her by way of comfort.


FOOTNOTES:

F9 (hkbt hkb) "plorando plorat", Vatablus; "plorando plorabit", Pagninus, Montanus.
F11 T. Sanhedr. ib. col. 2.

Lamentations 1:2 In-Context

1 Jerusalem, once so full of people, is now deserted. She who was once great among the nations now sits alone like a widow. Once the queen of all the earth, she is now a slave.
2 She sobs through the night; tears stream down her cheeks. Among all her lovers, there is no one left to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her and become her enemies.
3 Judah has been led away into captivity, oppressed with cruel slavery. She lives among foreign nations and has no place of rest. Her enemies have chased her down, and she has nowhere to turn.
4 The roads to Jerusalem are in mourning, for crowds no longer come to celebrate the festivals. The city gates are silent, her priests groan, her young women are crying— how bitter is her fate!
5 Her oppressors have become her masters, and her enemies prosper, for the LORD has punished Jerusalem for her many sins. Her children have been captured and taken away to distant lands.
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