Lamentations 3:11

11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate.

Lamentations 3:11 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 3:11

He hath turned aside my ways
Or caused me to depart or go back from the way I was in, and so fall into the hand of the enemy that lay in wait, as before. Jarchi interprets the word of thorns, and of scattering the way with thorns, and hedging it up with them, so that there was no passing, ( Hosea 2:6 ) ; the sense seems to be the same with ( Lamentations 3:9 ) ; and pulled me in pieces:
as any creature that falls into the hands of a bear or lion. Jarchi says it signifies a stopping of the feet, so that the traveller cannot go on in his way; and in the Talmudic language it is used for the breaking off of branches of trees, which being strowed in the way, hinder passengers from travelling; and this sense agrees with what goes before: he hath made me desolate;
or brought me into a desolate condition, into ruin and destruction, as the Jews were in Babylon.

Lamentations 3:11 In-Context

9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
10 He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush.
11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow.
13 He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.