Explore the Bible Online

Lamentations 1:3

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.

Lamentations 1:3 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Lamentations 1:3

Theological / Devotional

Dwelleth among the heathen. Or, “sits among the Gentiles.” The parallel between Jerusalem’s desolation and her people’s loneliness in exile is strengthened by the use of the same word here as in v. 1: there the city sits solitary; here her people sit among the Gentiles.

Findeth no rest. A fulfillment of Deut. 28:65. The Heb. manoach, here translated “rest,” may refer to a resting place (Gen. 8:9; Isa. 34:14), to rest for the soul (Ps. 16:7), or to security in marriage (Ruth 3:1). In this last sense, especially, it seems to fit here; in searching for safety, Judah went after wicked lovers, who deserted her. Now in her punishment, there is no conjugal security for her (see on Lam. 1:1).

Straits. Or, “distresses.”

By SdaBc