Lamentations 1:18

18 SADE iustus est Dominus quia os eius ad iracundiam provocavi audite obsecro universi populi et videte dolorem meum virgines meae et iuvenes mei abierunt in captivitatem

Lamentations 1:18 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:18

The Lord is righteous
Or, "righteous [is] he the Lord" {g}; in all these dispensations of his providence, how afflictive and severe soever they may seem to be; however the enemies of the church and people of God might transgress just bounds, and act the cruel and unrighteous part; yet good men will always own that God is righteous in all his ways, and that there is no unrighteousness in him; though they sometimes know not how to reconcile his providences to his promises, and especially to his declared love and affection to them; see ( Jeremiah 12:1 ) ; the reason, clearing God of all injustice, follows: for I have rebelled against his commandment;
or, "his mouth" F8: the word of his mouth, which he delivered by word of mouth at Mount Sinai, or by his prophets since; and therefore was righteously dealt with, and justly chastised. The Targum makes these to be the words of Josiah before his death, owning he had done wrong in going out against Pharaohnecho, contrary to the word of the Lord; and the next clause to be the lamentation of Jeremiah upon his death: though they are manifestly the words of Jerusalem or Zion, whom the prophet personates, saying, hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow;
directing herself to all compassionate persons, to hearken and attend to her mournful complaint, and to consider her sorrow, the nature and cause of it, and look upon her with an eye of pity in her sorrowful circumstances: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity;
in Babylon; being taken and carried thither by the Chaldeans; had it been only her ancient men and women, persons worn out with age, that could have been of little use, and at most but of a short continuance, the affliction had not been so great; but her virgins and young men, the flower of the nation, and by whom it might have been supported and increased; for these to be carried away into a strange land must be matter of grief and sorrow.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 (hwhy awh qydu) "justus ipse est Jehovah", Cocceius.
F8 (whyp) "ori ejus", Pagninus, Montanus; Piscator, Cocceius.

Lamentations 1:18 In-Context

16 AIN idcirco ego plorans et oculus meus deducens aquam quia longe factus est a me consolator convertens animam meam facti sunt filii mei perditi quoniam invaluit inimicus
17 FE expandit Sion manus suas non est qui consoletur eam mandavit Dominus adversum Iacob in circuitu eius hostes eius facta est Hierusalem quasi polluta menstruis inter eos
18 SADE iustus est Dominus quia os eius ad iracundiam provocavi audite obsecro universi populi et videte dolorem meum virgines meae et iuvenes mei abierunt in captivitatem
19 COPH vocavi amicos meos et ipsi deceperunt me sacerdotes mei et senes mei in urbe consumpti sunt quia quaesierunt cibum sibi ut refocilarent animam suam
20 RES vide Domine quoniam tribulor venter meus conturbatus est subversum est cor meum in memet ipsa quoniam amaritudine plena sum foris interfecit gladius et domi mors similis est
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.