“Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.”
The prayer, &c. This title is not in Hebrew, Septuagint, &c. Theodoret has passed over the chapter, as if he doubted of its authenticity. It does not follow the order of Hebrew letters like the preceding, and seems to be a form of prayer for those who retired into Egypt. (Calmet) — Jeremias foresees what would happen, and prays as the people would do. (Worthington)
“Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.”
Aliens. The Idumeans seized and kept possession of the southern parts.
“We are orphans and fatherless , our mothers are as widows.”
Father. Many had none surviving, and all had lost their king. (Worthington)
“We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. is: Heb. cometh for price”
Water. Even this was not given for nothing.
“We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.”
Hand; engaged to serve Egyptians, Babylonians, (Calmet) or other nations, to procure sustenance. (Worthington)
“Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.”
Iniquities. This was the usual complaint of the Jews, (chap. xxxi. 29.) as if they had committed no offence themselves. If any virtuous people were involved in the common ruin, they bore it with resignation, and acknowledged that they had deserved it, 1 Esdras ix. 6., and 2 Esdras i. 6., and Esther xiv. 6., and Daniel iii. 29.
“Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.”
Servants. One had command over another, Matthew xxiv. 45. The Chaldeans were like slaves, and the race of Cham was condemned to servitude, Genesis ix. 26. (Calmet) — The Jews had formerly dominion over Edom, &c., who now treated them so cruelly. (Menochius) (Lyranus)
“We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.”
Sword. Any one might kill us.
“They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.”
Oppressed. Hebrew, “afflicted.” Brutal insolence prevailed. (Calmet)
“Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.”
Hand. Thus Leonidas was treated, after his head was cut off, by Xerxes. (Herodotus vii. 238.)
“They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.”
Indecently, like the Sodomites. Hebrew, “they made the young men grind” at the mill, in their prison, (Haydock) as Samson (Judges xvi. 21.) and Sedecias (according to the Septuagint, chap. lii. 11.) were forced to do. To grind is often used in a bad sense; but it is not necessary to adopt it here. (Calmet) (Amama) — The Chaldeans treated their captives without pity or shame. (Haydock) — Wood; burdens, or stumbling-blocks, unless they were crucified; or, “roasted,” if we admit a small alteration in the Hebrew, chap. iv. 10. (Calmet) — They were forced to grind naked, and were beaten with staves. (Worthington)
“The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.”
Gates, where sentence was usually passed. (Haydock) — The Jews had judges at Babylon, (Daniel xiii. 5.) but not at first, nor everywhere.
“The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! The: Heb. The crown of our head is fallen”
Crown, used at feasts; (Calmet) or, we have lost the sovereign power. (Worthington)
“For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.”
Dim, the natural consequence of extreme want, 1 Kings xiv. 27.
“Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.”
Foxes, which were very common, Judges xv. 4. Thus, Horace says:
“Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.”
Convert. Thy grace must work upon our hearts, (Calmet) before we can expect redress, (Haydock) and an end of our banishment. (Tirinus) (Grotius) — Beginning, when our fathers observed the law. (St. Thomas Aquinas) (Menochius) See chap. xxxi. 18.; St. Augustine, City of God ii., and iv. (Worthington)
“But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us. But: or, For wilt thou utterly reject us?”
Thou hast. We might read with an interrogation, (Haydock) in Hebrew, “Hast thou?” &c. The Jews superstitiously repeat the last verse, for fear of ending the book in an ominous manner, as they do at the end of Isaias and Malachias. (Calmet) — Having treated us so severely, stop thy hand. (Worthington) — But I perceive it will be in vain to beg for redress till the seventy years be expired. (Menochius)