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He hath filled me with bitterness - במרורים bimrorim, with bitternesses, bitter upon bitter.
He hath made me drunken with wormwood - I have drunk the cup of misery till I am intoxicated with it. Almost in all countries, and in all languages, bitterness is a metaphor to express trouble and affliction. The reason is, there is nothing more disagreeable to the taste than the one; and nothing more distressing to the mind than the other. An Arabic poet. Amralkeis, one of the writers of the Moallakat, terms a man grievously afflicted a pounder of wormwood.
Having dwelt upon the difficulties which hemmed in his path, he now shows that there are dangers attending upon escape.
Lamentations 3:11
The meaning is, “God, as a lion, lying in wait, has made me turn aside from my path, but my flight was in vain, for springing upon me from His ambush lie has torn me in pieces.”
Desolate - Or, astonied, stupefied that he cannot flee. The word is a favorite one with Jeremiah.
Lamentations 3:12
This new simile arises out of the former one, the idea of a hunter being suggested by that of the bear and lion. When the hunter comes, it is not to save him.
Lamentations 3:14
Metaphor is dropped, and Jeremiah shows the real nature of the arrows which rankled in him so deeply.
Lamentations 3:15
“He hath” filled me to the full with bitterness, i. e. bitter sorrows Job 9:18.
Lamentations 3:16
Broken my teeth with gravel stones - His bread was so filled with grit that in eating it his teeth were broken.
Lamentations 3:17
Prosperity - literally, as in the margin, i. e. I forgot what good was, I lost the very idea of what it meant.
Lamentations 3:18
The prophet reaches the verge of despair. But by struggling against it he reaches at length firm ground.