Lamentations 1:12

Lamentations 1:12 12. Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. 12. Non ad voc omnes qui transitis per viam? Aspicite et videte, an sit dolor sicut dolor meus, qui factus est mihi, quia affixit me (vel, dolore affecit) Jehova in die excandescentiae irae suae. The beginning of the verse is variously explained. Some read it interrogatively, "Is it nothing to you who pass by the way?" Others more simply, "I see that I am not cared for by you; to you my sorrow is nothing." Some again read thus, "Let it not be a sorrow to you;" and others, "Let not sorrow be upon you," that is, let not what I have happen to you; so that it is a prayer expressive of benevolence. What I prefer is the interrogation, Is it nothing to you who pass by the way? for the letter, h, He, the note of a question, is often omitted. But were it read affirmatively, the meaning would not be unsuitable: "It does not concern you who pass by," as though Jerusalem, in its lamentations, felt grieved that all those who passed by were not touched either with pity or with sorrow. [138] But she addressed those who passed by, that she might more fully set forth the greatness of her calamity. For. had she directed her words to neighbors alone, there would not have been so much force in them; but when she spoke to strangers, she thus shewed that her calamity was so great, that it ought to have roused the sympathy of men from the remotest parts, even while on their journey. And she asks them to look and see. The order is inverted, for she said before, "See, Jehovah, and look." Then Jerusalem asked God, first to turn his eyes to see her calamities, and then attentively to notice them: but now for another purpose she says, look ye and see, that is, consider how evident is my calamity, which otherwise might have been in a measure hidden from you. Look ye, she says, is there a sorrow like my sorrow? she adds, which is come to me: some render the words actively, "which Jehovah has brought on me;" but the other version is more correct, for it is more literal. Jerome's rendering is, "who has gleaned me;" and tsll olal, means sometimes to glean, nor do I wish to reject this interpretation. But what follows is incorrectly rendered, as in a former instance, by Jerome, "of which Jehovah has spoken:" for he derived the verb, as before stated, from hgh, ege; but it comes from ygh, ige, as it is evident from the letter v, vau, being inserted. There is then no doubt but that the Church intimates that God was the author of that sorrow which she deplored. And it is necessary to know this, lest men should be carried away into excesses in their mourning, as it frequently happens. For the majesty of God imposes a check, when we perceive that we have to do with him. Simple and bare knowledge of this is not, indeed, sufficient, for, as it has been said, the ungodly, while they know that their sorrows proceed from God, yet murmur against him: but it is nevertheless the beginning of patience and meekness when we have a regard to God. It was, then, for this reason that Jerusalem said that she had been afflicted by God. And it is added, In the day of the indignation of his wrath. Here the Prophet wished to express the grievousness of God's vengeance, by mentioning the indignation of wrath. Some render chrvm, cherun, "fury;" but as the word "fury" is too harsh, the word "indignation," or great heat (excandescentia) is not unsuitable. We must, however, bear in mind the design of the Prophet, which was to shew that God's vengeance had been so dreadful, as though his wrath had all been on a flame against Jerusalem: and this is more fully confirmed in the following verse, -- Footnotes: [138] It is evidently taken as lv by the Sept., the Vulg., and the Targ.; but as a negative by the Syr., and the sentence is taken as a question: and this gives the best meaning. -- Ed

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there is any {n} sorrow like my sorrow, which hath fallen upon me, with which the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. (n) Thus Jerusalem laments moving others to pity her and to learn by her example.

[Is it] nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted [me] in the day of his fierce anger. Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by the way? — Siste viator. Stay, passenger, hast not a tear to shed? … Sanchez thinks that this is Jerusalem’s epitaph, made by herself, as to be engraven on her tomb to move compassion. The Septuagint have οι προς υμας , Hei, id vos subaudite, clamo, Woe and alas, cry I to you; make ye nothing of my misery? I wish the like may never befall you - Ne sit super vos - for so some render the words. Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. — What we see in the water seemeth greater than it is, so in the waters of Marah. See Lamentations 3:1 . It is sure that "no temptation, taketh us but what is human, or common to man." 1 Corinthians 10:13 But what did the man Christ Jesus suffer! All our sufferings are but chips of his cross, saith Luther, not worthy to be named in the same day, … Wherein the Lord hath afflicted me. — This was yet no small allay to her grief, that God had done it. The Stoics, who held that all came by destiny, were noted for their patience, or rather tolerance, and equanimity in all conditions.

The prophet speaks in the name of the Jewish church, as a woman in misery sitting by the way-side, and calling to passengers that came by to have compassion on her, suggesting to them that her affliction was no ordinary affliction, nor the effect of a common and ordinary providence, but the effect of the Lord’s fierce anger, a most severe punishment.

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?.... O ye strangers and travellers that pass by, and see my distress, does it not at all concern you? does it not in the least affect you? can you look upon it, and have no commiseration? or is there nothing to be learned from hence by you, that may be instructive and useful to you? Some consider the words as deprecating; may the like things never befall you that have befallen me, O ye passengers; be ye who ye will; I can never wish the greatest stranger, much less a friend, to suffer what I do; nay, I pray God they never may: others, as adjuring. So the Targum, "I adjure you, all ye that pass by the way, turn aside hither:'' or as calling; so the words may be rendered, "O all ye that pass by" (y); and Sanctius thinks it is an allusion to epitaphs on tombs, which call upon travellers to stop and read the character of the deceased; what were his troubles, and how he came to his end; and so what follows is Jerusalem's epitaph: behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me; as it is natural for everyone to think their own affliction greatest, and that none have that occasion of grief and sorrow as they have; though there is no affliction befalls us but what is common unto men; and when it comes to be compared with others, perhaps will appear lighter than theirs: wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me, in the day of his fierce anger; signifying, that her affliction was not a common one; it was not from the hand of man only, but from the hand of God; and not in the ordinary way of his providence; but as the effect of his wrath and fury, in all the fierceness of it. (y) "O vos omnes", V. L.

Jerusalem, sitting dejected on the ground, calls on those that passed by, to consider whether her example did not concern them. Her outward sufferings were great, but her inward sufferings were harder to bear, through the sense of guilt. Sorrow for sin must be great sorrow, and must affect the soul. Here we see the evil of sin, and may take warning to flee from the wrath to come. Whatever may be learned from the sufferings of Jerusalem, far more may be learned from the sufferings of Christ. Does he not from the cross speak to every one of us? Does he not say, Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Let all our sorrows lead us to the cross of Christ, lead us to mark his example, and cheerfully to follow him.

12. The pathetic appeal of Jerusalem, not only to her neighbors, but even to the strangers "passing by," as her sorrow is such as should excite the compassion even of those unconnected with her. She here prefigures Christ, whom the language is prophetically made to suit, more than Jerusalem. Compare Israel, that is, Messiah, Isa 49:3. Compare with "pass by," Mt 27:39; Mr 15:29. As to Jerusalem, Da 9:12. M AURER, from the Arabic idiom, translates, "do not go off on your way," that is, stop, whoever ye are that pass by. English Version is simpler. Mem.

The lamentation of the city, personified as a woman in grief over her fate.