Ver. 6. — This verse is verbaUy reproduced in Ps. oxliiL 3. In dark places; i.e. in Hades (comp. Ps. Ixxxviii. 7). As tbey tliat be dead of old. A strange comparison ; for what difference can it make whether the dead are men of the ancient or the modern world? The rendering, however, though perfectly admissible, is less suitable to the context than as they that are far ever dead; who have entered "the land from which there is no return" (an Assyrian tiHe of Hades). Comp. " the everlasting house," «.e. the grave (Ecoles. xii. 5), " the everlasting sleep " (Jer. li. 39, 57).
Vers. 7 — 9. — ^Three figures, interrupted by a literal statement of the ill success of prayer. A traveller who finds himself suddenly eaged up by • high thorn hedge
(comp. Job ilL 23; Hm. U. 6)l A prlioner
with a heavy chain. Again, a traveller suddenly shut up by soUd stone walls (comp. Hos. ii. 8).
Ver. 7. — My chain; literally, my brass (comp. Judg. xvi. 21 ; 2 Kings xxv. 7).
Ver. 8. — He shutteth out my prayer. There is a kind of barrier through which these futile prayers cannot penetrate (comp. on ver. 44).
Ver. 9. — Inolosed ; or, vailed up ; the participle of this verb is rendered " masons " m the Authorized Version of 2 Kings xii. 12. Hade my paths crooked ; t.e. hath compelled me tu walls in byways (oomp. margin of the Authorized Version, Judg. v. 6). But this hardly seems appropriate to the context. The semitat meas subvertit of the Vulgate is preferable. Bender, therefore, turnei my path upside down (comp. Isa. xxiv. t). An analogous expression in Job xxz. 13 is rendered in the Authorized Version, "they mar my path." Tbenius thinks that the de- struction of a raised causeway is the figure intended; but the word is quite corrMtly rendered " paths ; " see the note of Delitnoh on Isa. llx. 8.
Ver. 10. — Was; rather, is. As a hear ... as a lion. The comparison of the enemy to • lion is not unconunon ; see e.g. Jer. iv. 7; v. 6 (see note); xlix. 19; 1. 44; Ps. X. 9; xvii. 12 ; Job x. 16. The bear is only once mentioned in such a context (Hos. xili. 8). The two latter passages may possibly have been in the mind of the writer, as Jehovah is in both the subject of the comparison.
Ver. 11. — Hath turned aside my ways ; i.e. hath caused me to go astray. Comp. Ps. cxlvi. 9, " The way of the ungodly he maketh erooked," i.e. lie leadeth them to destruction. Made me desolate; or, mad4 me stunned (" astonied," Ezra ix. 3 in om Bible). So ch. i. 13, 16.
Ver. 12. — Set me as a mark. PreoiMly aa Job complains of Jehovah, " He hath Ht me up for his mark " (Job xvi. 13).
Ver. 13. — This verse seems strangely short — it consists of only four vords in tiie Hebrew. Probably something Uke "his
oa. III. 1—66.] THE LAMENTATIONS OP JEliBMIAH.
33
weapona," or " the weapons of death " (Pi. Tii. 13), has fallen out. Restore them, and the veise becomes a two-membered one, like its oompanioQs. To enter into my reins. So Job (xvi. 12), " He cleaveth my reins asunder." "Kerns," equivalent to "inward parts," like " heart," with which it is often combined; e.g. Jer. xi. 20 ; xvii, 10 ; xx. 12.
Ver. 14. — A derision to all my people. If the text-reading is correct, these are the words of Jeremiah (or one like Jeremiah), describing the ill return accorded to hi* friendly admonitions. But the Massora mention Ps. oxliv. 2 ; 2 Sam. xxil 41 ; uh. iii. 14, as passages in which "my people" it used, whereas we should expect " penples." The Syriao Version of our passage actually translates "to all peoples," and. the prefixed "all" certainly favours the plural, and so, in a far higher degree, does the view we have been led to aJdopt of the speaker of this Lamentation (see Introduction). The correction {'ammim for 'ammi) hns been received by Archbishop Seeker, by Ewald, and by J. Olshausen. Their song. A reminiscence of Job xxx. 9.
Ver. 15. — With bitterness ; literally, teilk bittemeeses ; i.e. bitter troubles. A remi- niscence of Job is. 18. With wormwood; i.e. with a drink of wormwood (comp. Jer. ix. IS; xxiii. 15). We are slightly reminded of Pi. Ixix. 21, " They gave me gall for my o.eat."
Ter, 16.— He hathalsobrokenmy teeth with gravel stones ; i.e. he hath (unnatural as it may seem in Israel's Father) given me stones instead of bread (oomp. Matt. vii. 9). 'i'lie Jewish rabbi commonly called Baahi thinks that a historical fact is preserved in these words, and that the Jewish exiles were really obliged to eat bread mixed with grit, because they had to bake in pits dug in the ground. So too many later com- mentators, e.g. Grotius, who compares • passage of Seneca ('De Beneflc.,' ii. 7), " Beneficium superb^ datum simile est pani lapidoso." He hath covered me vith ashes ; rather, Ae hath pressed mt down into ashes, A figurative expression for great humilia- tion. So in the Talmud the Jewish nation is described as " pressed down into ashes" (• Bereshith Eabba,' 75).
Ver. 17. — Thou hast removed my soul; rather, thou hatt rejected my icul. The words look like a quotation from Ps. Ixxxviii. 14 (Hebrew, 15), where they are undoubtedly an address to Jehovah, liut there is another rendering, wliich gram- matically is equally tenable, and which Bvoids the strangely abrupt address to God, viz. My soul is r^ected (from peace).
Vers, 19 — 21. — These verses prepare the way for a brief interval of calmness and resignation.
Ver. 19. — Eememhering ; rather, re- member. It is the language of prayer.
Ver. 20. — My soul, etc. This rendering is difficult. In the next verse we read, " This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope," which seems inconsistent with ver. 20 as given in the Authorized Version. / 1 equally grammatical and still more obvious translation is. Thou (0 Godt) wilt turely remember, for my soul is bowed down within me. The latter part of the line is a reminiscence of Ps. xlii. 5, at least, if the text be correct, for the closing words do not cohere well with the opening ones. The Peshito (Syriac) has, " Remember, and revive [literally, 'cause to return'] my soul within me," which involves a slightly different reading of one word. But more tempting than any other view of the meaning is that of Bickell, though it in- volves a correction and an insertion, " My soul remembereth well and meditateth on thy faithfulness."
Ver. 21. — This I recall to my mind, ete.; viz. that thou wilt remember me, or, thy faithfulness (ver. 20). Here again there appears to be a reminiscence of a passage in Ps. xlii. (ver. 4). Others suppose that " this " refers to the following verses ; but in this case a new section would begin in the middle of a triad (the triad of verses beginning with zayin), which is certainly improbable.
Vers. 22 — 36. — Besionatioit and Hofb-
rCLNESS.