Lamentations 1:17

17 Zion ¹stretches out her hands; There is no one to comfort her; The LORD has ²commanded concerning Jacob That the ones round about him should be his adversaries; ³Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

Lamentations 1:17 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:17

Zion spreadeth forth her hands
Either as submitting to the conqueror, and imploring mercy; or rather as calling to her friends to help and relieve her. The Targum is,

``Zion spreadeth out her hands through distress, as a woman spreads out her hands upon the seat to bring forth;''

see ( Jeremiah 4:31 ) . Some render the words, "Zion breaks with her hands" ^F6; that is, breaks bread; and Joseph Kimchi observes, that it was the custom of comforters to break bread to the mourner; but here she herself breaks it with her hands, because there was none to comfort her: [and there is] none to comfort her;
to speak a word of comfort to her, or to help her out of her trouble; her children gone into captivity; her friends and lovers at a distance; and God himself departed from her; (See Gill on Lamentations 1:16); the Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob, [that] his adversaries
[should be] round about him;
that he should be surrounded by them, and carried captive, and should be in the midst of them in captivity: this was the decree and determination of God; and, agreeably to it, he ordered it in his providence that the Chaldeans should come against him, encompass him, and overcome him; and that because he had slighted and broken the commandments of the Lord; and therefore was justly dealt with, as is acknowledged in ( Lamentations 1:18 ) . So the Targum,

``the Lord gave to the house of Jacob commandments, and a law to keep, but they transgressed the decree of his word; therefore his enemies encompassed the house of Jacob round about:''

Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them;
reckoned filthy and unclean, abominable and nauseous; whom none cared to come near, but shunned, despised, and abhorred; as the Jews separated from the Gentiles, and would not converse with them; so neither now would the Chaldeans with the Jews; but treat them as the offscouring of all things.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 (hydyb Nwyu hvrp) "frangit Sion manibus suis", sub. "panem", Vatablus.

Lamentations 1:17 In-Context

15 "The Lord has rejected all my strong men In my midst; He has called an appointed time against me To crush my young men; The Lord has trodden as in a wine press The virgin daughter of Judah.

16 "For these things I weep; My eyes run down with water; Because far from me is a comforter, One who restores my soul. My children are desolate Because the enemy has prevailed."

17 Zion stretches out her hands; There is no one to comfort her; The LORD has commanded concerning Jacob That the ones round about him should be his adversaries; Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

18 "The LORD is righteous; For I have rebelled against His command; Hear now, all peoples, And behold my pain; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.

19 "I called to my lovers, but they deceived me; My priests and my elders perished in the city While they sought food to restore their strength themselves.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 1:15; Jeremiah 4:31
• 2. 2 Kings 24:2-4; Jeremiah 12:9
• 3. Lamentations 1:8