Lamentations 1:11

11 CAPH omnis populus eius gemens et quaerens panem dederunt pretiosa quaeque pro cibo ad refocilandam animam vide Domine considera quoniam facta sum vilis

Lamentations 1:11 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:11

All her people sigh
Not her priests only, ( Lamentations 1:4 ) ; but all the common people, because of their affliction, particularly for want of bread. So the Targum,

``all the people of Jerusalem sigh because of the famine;''
for it follows: they seek bread;
to eat, as the Targum; inquire where it is to be had, but in vain: they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul:
or, "to cause the soul to return" F24; to fetch it back when fainting and swooning away through famine; and therefore would give anything for food; part with their rich clothes, jewels, and precious stones; with whatsoever they had that was valuable in their cabinets or coffers, that they might have meat to keep from fainting and dying; to refresh and recruit their spirits spent with hunger: see, O Lord, and consider; for I am become vile;
mean, base, and contemptible, in the eyes of men, through penury and want of food; through poverty, affliction, and distress; and therefore desires the Lord would consider her case, and look with pity and compassion on her.
FOOTNOTES:

F24 (vpn byvhl) "ad reducendum animam", Montanus, Piscator.

Lamentations 1:11 In-Context

9 TETH sordes eius in pedibus eius nec recordata est finis sui deposita est vehementer non habens consolatorem vide Domine adflictionem meam quoniam erectus est inimicus
10 IOTH manum suam misit hostis ad omnia desiderabilia eius quia vidit gentes ingressas sanctuarium suum de quibus praeceperas ne intrarent in ecclesiam tuam
11 CAPH omnis populus eius gemens et quaerens panem dederunt pretiosa quaeque pro cibo ad refocilandam animam vide Domine considera quoniam facta sum vilis
12 LAMED o vos omnes qui transitis per viam adtendite et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus quoniam vindemiavit me ut locutus est Dominus in die irae furoris sui
13 MEM de excelso misit ignem in ossibus meis et erudivit me expandit rete pedibus meis convertit me retrorsum posuit me desolatam tota die maerore confectam
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.