Ekhah 3:43

43 Thou hast covered with af (anger), and pursued us; Thou hast slain, Thou hast not pitied.

Ekhah 3:43 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 3:43

Thou hast covered with anger
Either himself; not as a tender father, that cannot bear to see the affliction of a child; this does not suit with anger; but rather as one greatly displeased, in whose face anger appears, being covered with it; or who covers his face with it, that he may not be seen, withdrawing his gracious presence; or hast put anger as a wall between thee and us, as Jarchi: so that there was no coming nigh to him: or else it means covering his people with it; so the Targum,

``thou hast covered "us" with anger;''
denoting the largeness and abundance of afflictions upon them; they were as it were covered with them, as tokens of the divine displeasure; one wave and billow after another passing over them. Sanctius thinks the allusion is to the covering of the faces of condemned malefactors, as a token of their being guilty: and persecuted us;
the Targum adds, in captivity; that is, pursued and followed us with fresh instances of anger and resentment; to have men to be persecutors is bad, but to have God to be a persecutor is dreadful: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied;
had suffered them to be stain by the sword of the enemy, and had shown no compassion to them; (See Gill on Lamentations 2:21); here, and in some following verses, the prophet, or the people he represents, are got to complaining again; though before he had checked himself for it; so hard it is under afflictions to put in practice what should be done by ourselves and others.

Ekhah 3:43 In-Context

41 Let us lift up levavenu (our heart) with our hands unto El baShomayim.
42 We have transgressed and have rebelled; Atah lo salachta (Thou hast not pardoned, forgiven).
43 Thou hast covered with af (anger), and pursued us; Thou hast slain, Thou hast not pitied.
44 Thou hast covered Thyself with an anan, that our tefillah not pass through.
45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse among the amim.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.