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Text -- Lamentations 3:60-66 (NET)
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
Thou hast been a witness to all their fury.
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Wesley: Lam 3:63 - -- At feasts, and at their merry meetings, I am all the subject of their discourse.
At feasts, and at their merry meetings, I am all the subject of their discourse.
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Wesley: Lam 3:66 - -- Many passages of this nature which we meet with are prophecies, some of them may be both prophecies and prayers.
Many passages of this nature which we meet with are prophecies, some of them may be both prophecies and prayers.
JFB -> Lam 3:58-60; Lam 3:58-60; Lam 3:60; Lam 3:60; Lam 3:61-63; Lam 3:62; Lam 3:63; Lam 3:64-66; Lam 3:65; Lam 3:66
JFB: Lam 3:58-60 - -- Jeremiah cites God's gracious answers to his prayers as an encouragement to his fellow countrymen, to trust in Him.
Jeremiah cites God's gracious answers to his prayers as an encouragement to his fellow countrymen, to trust in Him.
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JFB: Lam 3:60 - -- Means their malice. Jeremiah gives his conduct, when plotted against by his foes, as an example how the Jews should bring their wrongs at the hands of...
Means their malice. Jeremiah gives his conduct, when plotted against by his foes, as an example how the Jews should bring their wrongs at the hands of the Chaldeans before God.
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JFB: Lam 3:63 - -- Whether they sit or rise, that is, whether they be actively engaged or sedentary, and at rest "all the day" (Lam 3:62), I am the subject of their deri...
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JFB: Lam 3:65 - -- Rather, blindness or hardness; literally, "a veil" covering their heart, so that they may rush on to their own ruin (Isa 6:10; 2Co 3:14-15).
Rather, blindness or hardness; literally, "a veil" covering their heart, so that they may rush on to their own ruin (Isa 6:10; 2Co 3:14-15).
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JFB: Lam 3:66 - -- Destroy them so that it may be seen everywhere under heaven that thou sittest above as Judge of the world.
Destroy them so that it may be seen everywhere under heaven that thou sittest above as Judge of the world.
Clarke: Lam 3:60 - -- Thou hast seen - all their imaginations - Every thing is open to the eye of God. Distressed soul! though thou knowest not what thy enemies meditate ...
Thou hast seen - all their imaginations - Every thing is open to the eye of God. Distressed soul! though thou knowest not what thy enemies meditate against thee; yet he who loves thee does, and will infallibly defeat all their plots, and save thee.
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Clarke: Lam 3:65 - -- Give them sorrow of heart - They shall have a callous heart, covered with obstinacy, and thy execration. The former is their state, the latter their...
Give them sorrow of heart - They shall have a callous heart, covered with obstinacy, and thy execration. The former is their state, the latter their fate. This is the consequence of their hardening their hearts from thy fear. Blayney translates, "Thou wilt give with a hearty concordance thy curse unto them."That is, Thou wilt give it to them freely, and without reserve; intimating that God felt no longer any bowels of compassion for them. Formerly he inflicted punishments with reluctance, while there was any hope of amendment: but, in the instance before us, the case was so hopeless, that God acts according to the simple principle of vindictive justice. The prophet therefore considers them on the utmost verge of final reprobation: another plunge, and they are lost for ever.
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Clarke: Lam 3:66 - -- Persecute and destroy them - Thou wilt pursue them with destruction. These are all declaratory, not imprecatory
Persecute and destroy them - Thou wilt pursue them with destruction. These are all declaratory, not imprecatory
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Clarke: Lam 3:66 - -- From under the heavens of the Lord - This verse seems to allude to the Chaldaic prediction, in Jer 10:11. By their conduct they will bring on themse...
From under the heavens of the Lord - This verse seems to allude to the Chaldaic prediction, in Jer 10:11. By their conduct they will bring on themselves the curse denounced against their enemies
The Septuagint and Vulgate seem to have read "From under heaven, O Jehovah:"and the Syriac reads, "Thy heavens, O Jehovah!"None of these makes any material change in the meaning of the words
It has already been noticed in the introduction, that this chapter contains a triple acrostic, three lines always beginning with the same letter; so that the Hebrew alphabet is thrice repeated in this chapter, twenty-two multiplied by three being equal to sixty-six.
Calvin: Lam 3:60 - -- This mode of speaking was often used by the saints, because God, when it pleased him to look on their miseries, was ever ready to bring them help. No...
This mode of speaking was often used by the saints, because God, when it pleased him to look on their miseries, was ever ready to bring them help. Nor were they words without meaning, when the faithful said, O Lord, thou hast seen; for they said this for their own sake, that they might shake off all unbelief. For as soon as any trial assails us, we imagine that God is turned away from us; and thus our flesh tempts us to despair. It is hence necessary that the faithful should in this respect struggle with themselves and feel assured that God has seen them. Though, then, human reason may say, that God does not see, but neglect and disregard his people, yet on the other hand, this doctrine ought to sustain them, it being certain that God does see them. This is the reason why David so often uses this mode of expression.
Thou, Jehovah, he says, hast seen all their vengeances By vengeances here he means acts of violence, according to what we find in Psa 8:2, where God is said “to put to flight the enemy and the avenger.” By the avenger there he simply means, not such as retaliate wrongs, but cruel and violent men. So also, in this place, by vengeances, he means all kinds of cruelty, as also by thoughts he means wicked counsels, by which the ungodly sought to oppress the miserable and the innocent. He again repeats the same thing, —
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Calvin: Lam 3:61 - -- We see that this is a repetition, but for vengeances he now mentions reproaches And in this way he sought again to turn God to mercy; for when he b...
We see that this is a repetition, but for vengeances he now mentions reproaches And in this way he sought again to turn God to mercy; for when he brings no aid, he seems to close his eyes and to render his ears deaf; but when he attends to our evils, he then soon brings help. The Prophet, then, having said that God saw, now refers to hearing: he had heard their reproaches. Adopting a language not strictly proper, he adds, that he had heard their thoughts; though he speaks not only of their secret counsels, but also of all the wicked conspiracies by which his enemies had contrived to ruin him. 203 He adds, —
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Calvin: Lam 3:62 - -- Instead of thoughts, he now mentions lips, or words. The verb הגה , ege means to meditate, when no voice is uttered; but as the noun is connec...
Instead of thoughts, he now mentions lips, or words. The verb
He adds, every day, or daily. This circumstance also must have availed to obtain favor, so that God might the sooner aid his people. For had the ungodly made violent assaults, and soon given over, it would have been easy to persevere in so short a trial, as when a storm soon passes by; but when they went on perseveringly in their machinations, it was very hard to bear the trial. And hence we derive a ground of hope, supplied to us by what the Holy Spirit suggests to us here, that God will be merciful to us on seeing the pertinacity of our enemies. He then adds, —
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Calvin: Lam 3:63 - -- The Prophet repeats still the same thing, only in other words. He had spoken of the lyings in wait, and the conspiracies and the speeches of his enem...
The Prophet repeats still the same thing, only in other words. He had spoken of the lyings in wait, and the conspiracies and the speeches of his enemies; he now adds, that nothing was hid from God. By sitting and rising, he means all the actions of life, as when David says,
“Thou knowest my sitting and my rising,” (Psa 139:2;)
that is, whether I rest or walk, all my actions are known to thee. By rising, then, the Prophet denotes here, as David did, all the movements or doings of men; and by sitting, he means their quiet counsels; for men either deliberate and prepare for work while they sit, or rise, and thus move and act.
He means, in short, that whether his enemies consulted silently and quietly, or attempted to do this or that, nothing was unknown to God. Now, as God takes such notice of the counsels and all the actions of men, it cannot be but that he restrains and checks the wicked; for God’s knowledge is always connected with his office as a judge. We hence see how the Prophet strengthens himself, as we have lately stated, and thus gathers a reason for confidence; for the wicked counsels of his enemies and their works were not hid from God.
He adds, I am become a song He again sets before God his reproach, east upon him by the ungodly. For that indignity also availed much to lead God not to suffer his people to be unworthily treated. It now follows, —
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Calvin: Lam 3:64 - -- He adds here a conclusion; for he has hitherto been relating, as I have said, the evils which he suffered, and also the reproaches and unjust oppress...
He adds here a conclusion; for he has hitherto been relating, as I have said, the evils which he suffered, and also the reproaches and unjust oppressions, in order that; he might have God propitious to him; for this is the way of conciliating favor when we are wrongfully dealt with; for it cannot be but that God will sustain our cause. He indeed testifies that he is ready to help the miserable; it is his own peculiar work to deliver captives from prison, to illuminate the blind, to succor the miserable and the oppressed. This is the reason, then, why the Prophet now confidently asks God to render to his enemies their reward, according to the work of their hands
Were any one to object, and say, that another rule is prescribed to us, even to pray for our enemies, even when they oppress us; the answer is this, that the faithful, when they prayed thus, did not bring any violent feelings of their own, but pure zeal, and rightly formed; for the Prophet here did not pray for evil indiscriminately on all, but on the reprobate, who were perpetually the enemies of God and of his Church. He might then with sincerity of heart have asked God to render to them their just reward. And whenever the saints broke forth thus against their enemies, and asked God to become an avenger, this principle must be ever borne in mind, that they did not indulge their own wishes, but were so guided by the Holy Spirit — that moderation was connected with that fervid zeal to which I have referred. The Prophet, then, as he speaks here of the Chaldeans, confidently asked God to destroy them, as we shall again presently see. We find also in the Psalms the same imprecations, especially on Babylon, — “Happy he who shall render to thee what thou hast brought on us, who shall dash thy children against a stone.” (Psa 137:8.) It follows, —
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Calvin: Lam 3:65 - -- He expresses what the vengeance was to be, even that God would give them up to a reprobate mind; for by מגנת-לב , meganet-leb, he no doubt m...
He expresses what the vengeance was to be, even that God would give them up to a reprobate mind; for by
We now then perceive what the Prophet meant by asking God to give to his enemies the impediment of heart, even that he might take away a sound mind, and smite them with blindness and madness, as it is said elsewhere. — I run on quickly, that I may finish, lest the hour should prevent us. The last verse of this triple alphabet follows, —
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Calvin: Lam 3:66 - -- He first asks God to persecute them in wrath, that is, to be implacable to them; for persecution is, when God not only chastises the wicked for a s...
He first asks God to persecute them in wrath, that is, to be implacable to them; for persecution is, when God not only chastises the wicked for a short time, but when he adds evils to evils, and accumulates them until they perish. He then adds, and prays God to destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah This phrase is emphatical; and they extenuate the weightiness of the sentence, who thus render it, “that God himself would destroy the ungodly from the earth.” For the Prophet does not without a design mention the heavens of Jehovah, as though he had said, that though God is hidden from us while we sojourn in the world, he yet dwells in heaven, for heaven is often called the throne of God, —
“The heaven is my throne.” (Isa 66:1.)
“O God, who dwellest in the sanctuary.”
(Psa 22:4; Psa 77:14.)
By God’s sanctuary is often meant heaven. For this reason, then, the Prophet asked here that the ungodly should be destroyed from under the heaven of Jehovah, that is, that their destruction might testify that he sits in heaven, and is the judge of the world, and that things are not in such a confusion, but that the ungodly must at length render an account before the celestial judge, whom they have yet long neglected. This is the end of the chapter.
Defender -> Lam 3:66
Defender: Lam 3:66 - -- In these closing verses of his longest lamentation, the prophet in effect composes an imprecatory psalm, calling on God to take vengeance on his enemi...
In these closing verses of his longest lamentation, the prophet in effect composes an imprecatory psalm, calling on God to take vengeance on his enemies, for his enemies were really God's enemies, and vengeance belongs to God."
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TSK: Lam 3:65 - -- sorrow : or, obstinacy, Deu 2:30; Isa 6:10
thy : Deu 27:15-26; Psa 109:17, Psa 109:18; 1Co 16:22
sorrow : or, obstinacy, Deu 2:30; Isa 6:10
thy : Deu 27:15-26; Psa 109:17, Psa 109:18; 1Co 16:22
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TSK: Lam 3:66 - -- Persecute : Lam 3:43; Psa 35:6, Psa 73:15
under : Deu 7:24, Deu 25:19, Deu 29:20; 2Ki 14:27; Jer 10:11
heavens : Psa 8:3, Psa 115:16; Isa 66:1
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collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> Lam 3:55-66
Barnes: Lam 3:55-66 - -- A prayer for deliverance and for vengeance upon his enemies. Lam 3:55 Out of the low dungeon - " The lowest pit"of Psa 88:6. Some consider...
A prayer for deliverance and for vengeance upon his enemies.
Out of the low dungeon - " The lowest pit"of Psa 88:6. Some consider that Ps. 69 was composed by Jeremiah, and is the prayer referred to here (Jer 38:6 note).
Thou hast heard - In sending Ebedmelech to deliver me. The next clause signifies "Hide not thine ear to my relief to my cry,"i. e. to my cry for relief.
God now appears as the prophet’ s next of kin, pleading the lawsuits of his soul, i. e. the controversies which concern his salvation. and rescuing his life, in jeopardy through the malice of his enemies.
Wrong - Done to him by the perversion of justice.
Imaginations - Or, devices.
Their sitting down, and their rising up - i. e. all the ordinary actions of their life.
Musick - Or, song, "the subject of it."
The versions render the verbs in these verses as futures, "Thou shalt render unto them a recompence,"etc.
Give them sorrow of heart - Or, "Thou wilt give them"blindness "of heart."
Persecute ... - Or, pursue them in anger and destroy them, etc.
Poole: Lam 3:60 - -- Thou hast been a witness to all their fury and rage, and all their malicious and bloody contrivances against me.
Thou hast been a witness to all their fury and rage, and all their malicious and bloody contrivances against me.
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Poole: Lam 3:61 - -- Whatever knowledge men get of things done from their eye or ear, thou hast from thy omnisciency; thou knowest not only their malicious actions, but ...
Whatever knowledge men get of things done from their eye or ear, thou hast from thy omnisciency; thou knowest not only their malicious actions, but words and thoughts.
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Poole: Lam 3:62 - -- That is, thou hast observed and noted the motions or products of my enemies’ lips, and their secret devices before they came out of their lips...
That is, thou hast observed and noted the motions or products of my enemies’ lips, and their secret devices before they came out of their lips.
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Poole: Lam 3:63 - -- That is, at all times, when they sit down and rise up, I am their song. Though probably the words have a special reference to their sitting down at ...
That is, at all times, when they sit down and rise up, I am their song. Though probably the words have a special reference to their sitting down at feasts, and at their merry meetings. I am all the subject of their discourse, they spend their time in mocking and scoffing at us, and at Jerusalem; we are they that make them sport.
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Poole: Lam 3:64 - -- These three last verses are all but the same general petition, though expressed in various phrases; the prophet had prayed, Lam 3:59 , that God woul...
These three last verses are all but the same general petition, though expressed in various phrases; the prophet had prayed, Lam 3:59 , that God would judge his people’ s cause, here he prayeth that he would also judge his enemies, he only desireth justice against them, a recompence of the work of their hands.
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Poole: Lam 3:65 - -- The word translated
sorrow of heart is found no where else in holy writ, which makes a certain particular explication of it to be difficult, and h...
The word translated
sorrow of heart is found no where else in holy writ, which makes a certain particular explication of it to be difficult, and hath given interpreters a strange liberty in translating it shield, sorrow, and grief , obstinacy or hardness of heart, perplexity, abjection or breaking of heart ; the best guides we have to direct us in the sense of it are,
1. The other things joined with it; persecution, destruction , a recompence according to their works, so that some afflictive evil of a heavy nature is certainly signified by it.
2. The analogy of faith , which restraineth us from wishing or praying for spiritual or eternal evils against our worst enemies; it therefore probably signifies such perplexity and breakings of mind as commonly attend a state of great affliction.
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Poole: Lam 3:66 - -- Bring them to a temporal ruin and destruction. How far such petitions are lawful we have before showed, in our notes on Psa 69:22-24 , &c.; Psa 119:...
Bring them to a temporal ruin and destruction. How far such petitions are lawful we have before showed, in our notes on Psa 69:22-24 , &c.; Psa 119:6-10 , &c.; Jer 11:20 15:15 : see also Lam 1:22 . It is hard to interpret all passages of this nature which we meet with as prophecies, though some of them are so, and others may be both prophecies and prayers.
Lips; or language (Genesis xi. 1.) thou knowest, ver. 60.
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Haydock: Lam 3:65 - -- Buckler, to cover all the body. They shall be surrounded with misery, (Psalm cviii. 29.) while God will protect his servants, Psalm v. 13. (Calmet)...
Buckler, to cover all the body. They shall be surrounded with misery, (Psalm cviii. 29.) while God will protect his servants, Psalm v. 13. (Calmet) ---
Let sorrow pierce their heart, as thy enemies are treated. (Worthington)
Gill: Lam 3:60 - -- Thou hast seen all their vengeance,.... The spirit of revenge in them; their wrath and fury, and how they burn with a desire of doing mischief; as wel...
Thou hast seen all their vengeance,.... The spirit of revenge in them; their wrath and fury, and how they burn with a desire of doing mischief; as well as their revengeful actions, carriage, and behaviour:
and all their imaginations against me; their secret contrivances of mischief, their plots and schemes they devise to do hurt unto me.
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Gill: Lam 3:61 - -- Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord,.... Their reproachful words uttered against the prophet and his people, against God himself; their spiteful la...
Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord,.... Their reproachful words uttered against the prophet and his people, against God himself; their spiteful language, their taunts, and scoffs and jeers:
and all their imaginations against me; those he not only saw, as they appeared in their actions; but heard them, as they were expressed by their words; yea, they were manifest to him, while they only were in silent thought forming in the mind.
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Gill: Lam 3:62 - -- The lips of those that rose up against me,.... This is to be connected with the preceding words; and expresses the same thing in different language. T...
The lips of those that rose up against me,.... This is to be connected with the preceding words; and expresses the same thing in different language. The sense is, that the Lord heard the words which dropped from the lips of his enemies; their sarcasms, flouts, and jeers; their bitter reflections, severe invectives, and scornful language:
and their device against me all the day; or, "their meditation of ill against me"; or, "their speech", or discourse x; which all turned upon the same topic. Schultens y derives the word from the Arabic word which signifies to mock and scoff, or pursue anyone with ironical and satirical expressions; and so may intend here contumelious and reproachful language.
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Gill: Lam 3:63 - -- Behold their sitting down, and their rising up,.... All their actions; the whole course of their lives; all which fell under the divine omniscience, P...
Behold their sitting down, and their rising up,.... All their actions; the whole course of their lives; all which fell under the divine omniscience, Psa 139:2; but that is not barely here meant; but that he would take particular notice hereof, and punish for the same. It may have respect both to their lying down at night, and rising in the morning; and to their sitting down at meals, and rising from them; at which times they were always meditating mischief against the people of God, or speaking opprobriously of them; when they made sport of them, as follows:
I am their music; or "music maker" z; as Samson was to the Philistines; the matter of their mirth; the subject of their song; and the object of their derision.
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Gill: Lam 3:64 - -- Render unto them a recompence, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render this, and the following ...
Render unto them a recompence, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render this, and the following verses, not as petitions, but as prophecies of what should be; but they seem rather to be expressed by way of request; and here, that God would deal with them according to the law of retaliation, and requite them according to what they had done; that he would do to them as they had done to the Lord's people, and others; and this is ordered to be done particularly to the Chaldeans, or Babylonians, Jer 50:15.
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Gill: Lam 3:65 - -- Give them sorrow of heart,.... That which will cause sorrow of heart; such judgments and punishments as will be grievous to them. Some have observed a...
Give them sorrow of heart,.... That which will cause sorrow of heart; such judgments and punishments as will be grievous to them. Some have observed a likeness between the word here used and that translated "music", Lam 3:63; and think some respect may be had to it; that whereas the people of God had been matter of mirth and music to them, God would give them music, but of another sort; a song, but a doleful one. The Septuagint version renders it, "a covering of the heart"; the word a having the signification of a shield, which covers; and may signify blindness, hardness, and stupidity of heart, that they might not see the evils coming upon them, and how to escape them. A modern learned interpreter, Christianus Benedictus Michaelis, would have it compared with the Arabic word , "ganan", which signifies "to be mad", and from whence is "muganah", "madness"; and so the sense be, give them distraction of mind:
lay curse unto them: and what greater curse is there than to be given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart, or to madness and distraction? it may include all the curses of the law denounced against transgressors.
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Gill: Lam 3:66 - -- Persecute and destroy them in anger,.... As they have persecuted the people of God, do thou persecute them; and never leave pursuing them untie thou h...
Persecute and destroy them in anger,.... As they have persecuted the people of God, do thou persecute them; and never leave pursuing them untie thou hast made a full end of them, as the effect of vindictive wrath and vengeance:
from under the heavens of the Lord; which are made by him, and in which he dwells; let them not have the benefit of them, nor so much as the sight of them; but let them perish from under them, Jer 10:11.
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes: Lam 3:60 The MT reads לִי (li, “to me”); but many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions (Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta, ...
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NET Notes: Lam 3:65 The noun מְגִנַּה (mÿginnah) is a hapax legomenon. Its meaning is debated; earlier lexicographers...
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NET Notes: Lam 3:66 Heb “pursue.” The accusative direct object is implied in the Hebrew, and inserted in the translation.
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> Lam 3:1-66
TSK Synopsis: Lam 3:1-66 - --1 The prophet bewails his own calamities.22 By the mercies of God, he nourishes his hope.37 He acknowledges God's justice.55 He prays for deliverance,...
MHCC -> Lam 3:55-66
MHCC: Lam 3:55-66 - --Faith comes off conqueror, for in these verses the prophet concludes with some comfort. Prayer is the breath of the new man, drawing in the air of mer...
Matthew Henry -> Lam 3:55-66
Matthew Henry: Lam 3:55-66 - -- We may observe throughout this chapter a struggle in the prophet's breast between sense and faith, fear and hope; he complains and then comforts him...
Keil-Delitzsch -> Lam 3:55-66
Keil-Delitzsch: Lam 3:55-66 - --
Prayer for deliverance, and confident trust in its realization. Lam 3:55. "Out of the lowest pit I call, O Lord, on Thy name;" cf. Psa 88:7, Psa 88:...
Constable -> Lam 3:1-66; Lam 3:41-66
Constable: Lam 3:1-66 - --III. The prophet's response to divine judgment (the third lament) ch. 3
As mentioned previously, this lament is ...
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