Lamentations 1:8

8 Jerusalem, who outsinned the whole world, is an outcast. All who admired her despise her now that they see beneath the surface. Miserable, she groans and turns away in shame.

Lamentations 1:8 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:8

Jerusalem hath grievously sinned
Or, "hath sinned a sin" {r}; a great sin, as the Targum; the sin of idolatry, according to some; or of covenant breaking, as others; though perhaps no particular sin is meant, but many grievous sins; since she was guilty of a multitude of them, as in ( Lamentations 1:5 ) ; therefore she is removed;
out of her own land, and carried captive into another: or, is "for commotion" F19; for scorn and derision; the head being moved and shook at her by way of contempt: or rather, "for separation" F20; she being like a menstruous woman, defiled and separate from society: all that honoured her despise her;
they that courted her friendship and alliance in the time of her prosperity, as the Egyptians, now neglected her, and treated her with the utmost contempt, being in adversity: because they have seen her nakedness;
being stripped of all her good things she before enjoyed; and both her weakness and her wickedness being exposed to public view. The allusion is either to harlots, or rather to modest women, when taken captive, whose nakedness is uncovered by the brutish and inhuman soldiers: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward;
being covered with shame, because of the ill usage of her, as modest women will, being so used.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 (hajx ajx) "peccatum peccavit", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.
F19 (hdynl) "in commotionem", Montanus, Vatablus, Calvin.
F20 "Ut separata", Grotius; "tanquam ex immunditia separata est", Junius & Tremellius.

Lamentations 1:8 In-Context

6 All beauty has drained from Daughter Zion's face. Her princes are like deer famished for food, chased to exhaustion by hunters.
7 Jerusalem remembers the day she lost everything, when her people fell into enemy hands, and not a soul there to help. Enemies looked on and laughed, laughed at her helpless silence.
8 Jerusalem, who outsinned the whole world, is an outcast. All who admired her despise her now that they see beneath the surface. Miserable, she groans and turns away in shame.
9 She played fast and loose with life, she never considered tomorrow, and now she's crashed royally, with no one to hold her hand: "Look at my pain, O God! And how the enemy cruelly struts."
10 The enemy reached out to take all her favorite things. She watched as pagans barged into her Sanctuary, those very people for whom you posted orders: keep out: this assembly off-limits.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.