Lamentations 1:3

3 Judah passed from torment and multitude of servage, it dwelled among heathen men, and found no rest; all the pursuers thereof took it among anguishes. (Judah went into the torment of captivity and a multitude of servitude, or of slavery, it lived among the heathen, and found no rest; all of its pursuers brought it much anguish.)

Lamentations 1:3 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:3

Judah is gone into captivity
Not only Jerusalem the metropolis of Judea was destroyed, but the whole country was ravaged, and the inhabitants of it carried captive into Babylon: because of affliction, and because of great servitude;
because of their sins in oppressing and afflicting their poor brethren, and retaining them in a state of bondage after their seven years' servitude, contrary to the law of God; for which they were threatened with captivity, ( Jeremiah 34:13-22 ) ; so the Targum,

``the house of Judah went into captivity, because they afflicted the fatherless and the widows; and because of the multitude of service which they caused their brethren the children of Israel to serve, who were sold unto them; and they did not proclaim liberty to their servants and maidens, who were of the seed of Israel:''

or, "through affliction, and through great servitude" ^F12; that is, through the affliction and servitude they suffered by the Chaldeans, into whose hands they fell; though some understand it of the Jews, who, to escape the affliction and servitude of the Chaldeans, went into a kind of voluntary captivity, fleeing to the countries of Moab, Ammon, and Edom, during the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; see ( Jeremiah 40:11 Jeremiah 40:12 ) ; she dwelleth among the Heathen; the uncircumcised and the unclean;
and so was deprived of both her civil and religious liberties; having no opportunity of worshipping God, and enjoying him in his courts, as formerly; and which must be very uncomfortable living, especially to those who were truly gracious: she findeth no rest.
The Targum adds,

``because of the hard service to which they subjected her;''

she found no natural rest, being carried from place to place; nor civil rest, being kept in hard bondage; nor spiritual rest, being deprived of the worship and ordinances of God; and being conscious of her sins, which had brought all this misery on her: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits;
having hunted her as men hunt wild beasts, and get them into some strait and difficult place, and then seize on them. The Targum interprets it, between the borders; or between the hedges, as Ben Melech; and so Jarchi, of the borders of a field and vineyard; and of a ditch on the one side and the other, that there is no room to escape; and who makes mention of a Midrash, that explains it not of place, but time, between the seventeenth day of Tammuz, and the ninth of Ab; see ( Jeremiah 52:7 Jeremiah 52:8 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 (ynem) "per afflictionem"; (j) "hic, non [prae], sed per significat", Grotius; "[vel] prae afflictione, [sub.] a Chaldaeis perpessa"; so some in Vatablus.

Lamentations 1:3 In-Context

1 How sitteth alone the city (that once was so) full of people? the lady of folks is made as a widow; the princess of provinces is made under tribute. (How the city now sitteth alone, or empty, that once was so full of people! the lady of nations is made like a widow; the princess of provinces is put under tribute/is made to suffer forced labour.)

2 It1 weeping wept in the night, and the tears thereof be in the cheeks thereof (and its tears be on its cheeks); there is none of all the dearworthy thereof, that comforteth it; all the friends thereof forsook it, and be made enemies to it.

3 Judah passed from torment and multitude of servage, it dwelled among heathen men, and found no rest; all the pursuers thereof took it among anguishes. (Judah went into the torment of captivity and a multitude of servitude, or of slavery, it lived among the heathen, and found no rest; all of its pursuers brought it much anguish.)

4 The ways of Zion mourn, for no men come to the solemnity; all the gates thereof be destroyed, the priests thereof wail; the virgins thereof be defouled, and it is oppressed with bitterness. (The ways of Zion mourn, for no people come to its solemn feasts; all its gates be destroyed, its priests wail; its virgins be defiled, and it is oppressed with bitterness.)

5 The enemies thereof be made in the head, and the enemies thereof be made rich, for the Lord spake on it. For the multitude of wickednesses thereof the little children thereof be led into captivity, before the face of the troubler. (Its enemies be put at its head, that is, they rule over it, and they be made rich, for the Lord spoke against it. For the multitude of its wickednesses its little children be led into captivity, by the enemy.)