Lamentations 1:9

9 Her impurity was in her skirts, she remembered not her latter end; and she came down wonderfully: she hath no comforter. Jehovah, behold my affliction; for the enemy hath magnified himself.

Lamentations 1:9 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:9

Her filthiness [is] in her skirts
Her sin is manifest to all, being to be seen in her punishment. The allusion is to a menstruous woman, to whom she is compared, both before and after; whose blood flows down to the skirts of her garments, and there seen; by which it is known that she is in her separation. So the Targum,

``the filthiness of the blood of her separation is in her skirts; she is not cleansed from it, nor does she repent of her sins:''

she remembereth not her last end;
she did not consider in the time of her prosperity what her sins would bring her to; what would be the issue of them; nay, though she was warned by the prophet, and was told what things would come to at last, yet she laid it not to heart; nor did she lay it up in her mind, or reflect upon it; but went on in her sinful courses: therefore she came down wonderfully;
or, "with wonders" ^F21; from a very exalted estate to a very low one; from the height of honour and prosperity to the depth of distress and misery; to the astonishment and wonder of all about her, that so flourishing a city and kingdom should be brought to ruin at once, in so strange a manner; see ( Daniel 8:24 ) ; she had no comforter;
as none to help her against her enemies, ( Lamentations 1:7 ) ; and to prevent her ruin; so none to pity her, and have compassion upon her, and speak a comfortable word to her now she was in it: O Lord, behold my affliction:
not with his eye of omniscience only, which he did, and, of which she had no doubt; but with an eye of pity and compassion: thus Zion is at once and suddenly introduced, breaking out in this pathetic manner, being in great affliction and distress, having none else to apply to; and the enemy bearing hard upon her, and behaving in a very insolent and audacious manner, transgressing all bounds of humanity and decency; and therefore hoped the Lord would have compassion on her, though she had sinned against him: for the enemy hath magnified [himself];
behaved haughtily both against God and his people; attributing great things to himself; magnifying his own power and wisdom.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 (Myalp) "mirabiliter", Montanus, Vatablus.

Lamentations 1:9 In-Context

7 In the days of her affliction and of her wanderings, since her people fell into the hand of an adversary, and none did help her, Jerusalem remembereth all her precious things which she had in the days of old: the adversaries have seen her, they mock at her ruin.

8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore is she removed as an impurity: all that honoured her despise her because they have seen her nakedness; and she sigheth, and turneth backward.

9 Her impurity was in her skirts, she remembered not her latter end; and she came down wonderfully: she hath no comforter. Jehovah, behold my affliction; for the enemy hath magnified himself.

10 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her precious things; for she hath seen the nations enter into her sanctuary, concerning whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation.

11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their precious things for food to revive [their] soul. See, Jehovah, and consider, for I am become vile.