Lamentations 1:8

8 Jerusalem sinned a sin, therefore it was made unsteadfast; all that glorified it forsook it, for they saw the shame thereof (all who honoured it, deserted it, for they saw its shame); forsooth it wailed, and was turned aback.

Lamentations 1:8 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:8

Jerusalem hath grievously sinned
Or, "hath sinned a sin" {r}; a great sin, as the Targum; the sin of idolatry, according to some; or of covenant breaking, as others; though perhaps no particular sin is meant, but many grievous sins; since she was guilty of a multitude of them, as in ( Lamentations 1:5 ) ; therefore she is removed;
out of her own land, and carried captive into another: or, is "for commotion" ^F19; for scorn and derision; the head being moved and shook at her by way of contempt: or rather, "for separation" ^F20; she being like a menstruous woman, defiled and separate from society: all that honoured her despise her;
they that courted her friendship and alliance in the time of her prosperity, as the Egyptians, now neglected her, and treated her with the utmost contempt, being in adversity: because they have seen her nakedness;
being stripped of all her good things she before enjoyed; and both her weakness and her wickedness being exposed to public view. The allusion is either to harlots, or rather to modest women, when taken captive, whose nakedness is uncovered by the brutish and inhuman soldiers: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward;
being covered with shame, because of the ill usage of her, as modest women will, being so used.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (hajx ajx) "peccatum peccavit", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.
F19 (hdynl) "in commotionem", Montanus, Vatablus, Calvin.
F20 "Ut separata", Grotius; "tanquam ex immunditia separata est", Junius & Tremellius.

Lamentations 1:8 In-Context

6 And all the fairness of the daughter of Zion went out from the daughter of Zion; the princes thereof be made as rams not finding pastures; and went forth without strength before the face of the follower. (And all the beauty of the daughter of Zion went away from the daughter of Zion; its princes be made like rams not finding pasture; and they went forth without strength before their pursuer.)

7 And Jerusalem bethought on the days of her affliction and of trespassing, and on all her desirable things which it had from [the] eld days; when the people thereof fell down in the hand of enemies, and none helper was; [the] enemies saw it, and scorned the sabbaths thereof. (And Jerusalem remembered the days of its affliction and of its trespassing, and on all the desirable things which it had in the old days; when its people fell into the hands of its enemies, and there was no one to help them; its enemies saw it, and mocked its sabbaths.)

8 Jerusalem sinned a sin, therefore it was made unsteadfast; all that glorified it forsook it, for they saw the shame thereof (all who honoured it, deserted it, for they saw its shame); forsooth it wailed, and was turned aback.

9 The filths thereof be in the feet thereof, and it had no mind of her end; it was put down greatly, and had no comforter; Lord, see thou my torment, for the enemy is raised [up]. (Its filths be upon its feet, and it had no thought of its end; it was greatly put down, and it had no comforter; it said, Lord, see thou my torment, for the enemy is raised up against me.)

10 The enemy put his hand to all the desirable things thereof; for it saw heathen men entered into thy saintuary, of which thou haddest commanded, that they should not enter into thy church. (The enemy put his hands onto all its desirable things; and it saw the heathen go into thy Temple, of whom thou haddest commanded, that they should never enter into thy congregation.)