Lamentazioni 2:13

13 Con che ti scongiurerò? a che ti assomiglierò, figliuola di Gerusalemme? A che ti agguaglierò, per consolarti, Vergine, figliuola di Sion? Conciossiachè il tuo fiaccamento sia grande come il mare: chi ti medicherà?

Lamentazioni 2:13 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 2:13

What thing shall I take to witness for thee?
&c.] What argument can be made use of? what proof or evidence can be given? what witnesses can be called to convince thee, and make it a clear case to time, that ever any people or nation was in such distress and calamity, what with sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity, as thou art? what thing shall I liken thee to, O daughter of Jerusalem?
what kingdom or nation ever suffered the like? no example can be given, no instance that comes up to it; not the Egyptians, when the ten plagues were inflicted on them; not the Canaanites, when conquered and drove out by Joshua; not the Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, and Syrians, when subdued by David; or any other people: what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter
of Zion?
for this is one way that friends comfort the afflicted, by telling them that such an one's case was as bad, and worse, than theirs; and therefore bid them be of good heart; bear their affliction patiently; before long it will be over; but nothing of this kind could be said here; no, nor any hope given it would be otherwise; they could not say their case was like others, or that it was not desperate: for thy breach [is] great like the sea;
as large and as wide as that: Zion's troubles were a sea of trouble; her afflictions as numerous and as boisterous as the waves of the sea; and as salt, as disagreeable, and as intolerable, as the waters of it: or her breach was great, like the breach of the sea; when it overflows its banks, or breaks through its bounds, there is no stopping it, but it grows wider and wider: who can heal thee?
it was not in the power of man, in her own power, or of her allies, to recover her out of the hands of the enemy; to restore her civil or church state; her wound was incurable; none but God could be her physician. The Targum is,

``for thy breach is great as the greatness of the breach of the waves of the sea in the time of its tempest; and who is the physician that can heal thee of thy infirmity?''

Lamentazioni 2:13 In-Context

11 Gli occhi mi si son consumati di lagrimare, le mie interiora si son conturbate, Il mio fegato si è versato in terra, Per lo fiaccamento della figliuola del mio popolo, Quando i fanciulli, ed i bambini di poppa spasimavano Per le piazze della città.

12 E dicevano alle madri loro: Dove vi è del frumento e del vino? E svenivano, come un ferito per le strade della città, E l’anima loro si versava nel seno delle madri loro.

13 Con che ti scongiurerò? a che ti assomiglierò, figliuola di Gerusalemme? A che ti agguaglierò, per consolarti, Vergine, figliuola di Sion? Conciossiachè il tuo fiaccamento sia grande come il mare: chi ti medicherà?

14 I tuoi profeti ti han vedute visioni di vanità, e di cose scempie; E non hanno scoperta la tua iniquità, Per ritrarti di cattività, E ti hanno veduti carichi di vanità, e traviamenti.

15 Ogni viandante si è battuto a palme per te; Ha zufolato, e ha scosso il capo contro alla figliuola di Gerusalemme, Dicendo: È questa quella città, che diceva esser compiuta in bellezza, La gioia di tutta la terra?