Lamentations 1:17

17 Zion spreaded abroad his hands, none is that comforteth it; the Lord sent against Jacob enemies thereof, in the compass thereof; Jerusalem is made as defouled with unclean blood among them. (Zion spread abroad its hands, there is no one to comfort it; the Lord sent against Jacob its enemies, all around it; Jerusalem is defiled with unclean blood 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 took away all my worshipful men from the midst of me; he called time against me, that he should all-foul my chosen men; the Lord stamped a presser to the virgin, the daughter of Judah. (The Lord took away all my honourable men from my midst; he called out time against me, so that he could defile all my chosen people; the Lord stamped the virgin, the daughter of Judah, like grapes in a winepress.)

16 Therefore I am weeping, and mine eye is leading down water; for a comforter, converting my soul, is made far from me; my sons be made lost, for the enemy had the mastery. (And so I am weeping, and my eyes be leading down water; for a comforter, to refresh my soul, is made far from me; my sons and daughters be made lost, or left desolate, for the enemy had the mastery.)

17 Zion spreaded abroad his hands, none is that comforteth it; the Lord sent against Jacob enemies thereof, in the compass thereof; Jerusalem is made as defouled with unclean blood among them. (Zion spread abroad its hands, there is no one to comfort it; the Lord sent against Jacob its enemies, all around it; Jerusalem is defiled with unclean blood among them.)

18 (And the city saith,) The Lord is just (The Lord is in the right), for I stirred his mouth to wrathfulness; all peoples, I beseech, hear ye, and see my sorrow; my virgins and my young men went forth into captivity.

19 I called my friends, and they deceived me; my priests and mine eld men in the city be wasted; for they sought meat to themselves, to comfort their life/to strengthen their life (for they sought food for themselves, to refresh their souls).