Lamentations 3:15

15 He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat, bloated me with vile drinks.

Lamentations 3:15 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 3:15

He hath filled me with bitterness
Or "with bitternesses" {m}; instead of food, bitter herbs; the allusion perhaps is to the bitter herbs eaten at the passover, and signify bitter afflictions, sore calamities, of which the prophet and his people had their fill. The Targum is,

``with the gall of serpents;''
see ( Job 20:14 ) ; he hath made me drunken with wormwood;
with wormwood drink; but this herb being a wholesome one, though bitter, some think that henbane, or wolfsbane, is rather meant, which is of a poisonous and intoxicating nature; it is no unusual thing for persons to be represented as drunk with affliction, ( Isaiah 51:17 Isaiah 51:21 ) ( Jeremiah 25:27 ) .
FOOTNOTES:

F13 (Myrwrmb) "amaritudinibus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Michaelis, "amaroribus", Cocceius.

Lamentations 3:15 In-Context

13 He shot me in the stomach with arrows from his quiver.
14 Everyone took me for a joke, made me the butt of their mocking ballads.
15 He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat, bloated me with vile drinks.
16 He ground my face into the gravel. He pounded me into the mud.
17 I gave up on life altogether. I've forgotten what the good life is like.
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.