Lamentations 1:14

Lam 1:14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, [and] come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into [their] hands, [from whom] I am not able to rise up.

Ver. 14. The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand.] Compactum est. Or, Is bound upon his hand; that is, the Lord carrieth them in his continual remembrance.

They are wreathed.] Wrapped and wreathed together as a strong cord. My sins are twisted together, saith one, and sadly accented; so are the punishments of my sins, saith the Church here, neither can I get free, but as the heifer, by wriggling against the yoke, galleth her neck, so do I

And come up upon my neck.] Praeclarum scilicet monile, et torques, mearum virtutum index, et insigne.

He hath made my strength to fall.] Heb., He hath caused my power to stumble i.e., so to stumble as to fall; for he who stumbleth and yet falleth not, getteth ground.

From whom I am not able to arise.] Only God can raise me; and it is a work worthy of God, who

“ Deiecit ut relevet: premit ut solaria praestet. ”

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lam_1:14

The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hand.

A guilty conscience

I. Its sense of oppression. It feels itself under a yoke. It is heavy iron a crushing yoke is sin It is on the neck, there is no breaking away from it.

II. Its sense of degradation. It feels itself held m a miserable vassalage, carnally sold under sin.

III. Its sense of retribution. It feels that the heavy, degrading yoke is bound by His hand, the hand of justice: that his transgression is like a chain wreathed by retributive law upon the neck. The guilty conscience awakened feels that God is in all its sufferings, that there is justice in all. (Homilist.)

The misery of sin

1. The sins of Gods people are the heaviest burden they can possibly bear in this life.

(1) They make a separation between God and them.

(2) They give Satan matter to tyrannise over them.

(3) They do, after a sort, possess the soul with the very torments of hell.

2. When God meaneth to punish us for our sins, He calleth them all to remembrance.

(1) That His justice may find just matter why to smite us.

(2) That He may lay His corrections upon us according as He shall see meet, by viewing the quality of our sins and obstinacy therein, or proudness to repentance.

3. When God meaneth to correct, He will so do it as it cannot be escaped.

4. God giveth strength and courage to men, and taketh it away at His pleasure (Deu_28:7; Deu_28:25).

5. The issue of battle is in the hand of God alone (Psa_44:3).

6. God often delivereth His servants into the hands of the ungodly.

(1) To exercise them, and bring them to repentance, or to perfect His power in their weakness.

(2) To give the wicked occasion to show forth their cruel disposition.

7. God sometimes afflicteth His people so grievously that their state seemeth desperate and irrecoverable in the judgment of flesh and blood.

(1) That He may show His mighty power in restoring them.

(2) That all means being taken away, they may learn to look up to heaven and rest upon Him only. (J. Udall.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:14 For their sins, the people of Judah were tied to one another with ropes and taken as captives into exile.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mine heavy sins are continually before his eyes, as he that tieth a thing to his hand for a remembrance.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

yoke . . . is bound by his hand-- (Deu 28:48). Metaphor from husbandmen, who, after they have bound the yoke to the neck of oxen, hold the rein firmly twisted round the hand. Thus the translation will be, "in His hand." Or else, "the yoke of my transgressions" (that is, of punishment for my transgressions) is held so fast fixed on me "by" God, that there is no loosening of it; thus English Version, "by His hand."

wreathed--My sins are like the withes entwined about the neck to fasten the yoke to.

into their hands, from whom--into the hands of those, from whom, &c. MAURER translates, "before whom I am not able o stand."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. The yoke of my transgressions] I am now tied and bound by the chain of my sins; and it is so wreathed, so doubled and twisted round me, that I cannot free myself. A fine representation of the miseries of a penitent soul, which feels that nothing but the pitifulness of God's mercy can loose it.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Here, again, Jerusalem confesses that God had been justly displeased. She had ascribed to God’s vengeance the evils which she suffered; but now she expresses the cause of that displeasure or wrath. Hence she says, that the yoke of her iniquities had been bound in God’s hand. Though interpreters explain the words, yet they touch not the meaning of the Prophet; for they consider not that there is a continued metaphor. We ought then to bear in mind the two clauses, — that God’s hand held the yoke tied, and also that the yoke was bound around the neck of Jerusalem. As when a husbandman, after having tied a yoke to oxen, holds a rein, and folds it rotund his hand, so that the oxen not only cannot throw off the yoke, but must also obey the hand which holds the reins; so also it is said, that the yoke of iniquities was fastened: “I bear the yoke,” she says, “but it is tied, and so fastened, that it cannot be shaken off; and then, however furious I may be, or kick, God holds the tied yoke by his own hand so as to constrain me to bear it.”

We now, then, see the design and import of the Prophet’s words, that God was justly incensed against Jerusalem, and had justly used so much severity. Expressed at the same time is the atrocity of the punishment, though wholly just; for, on the one hand, Jerusalem complains that a yoke was laid on her neck, tied and fastened, and also that it was tied by the hand of God, as though she had said, that she was under such a constraint, that there was no relaxation. On the one hand, then, she bewails the grievousness of her calamity; and on the other, she confesses that she fully deserved what she suffered; and thus she accused herself, lest any should think that he clamored against God, as is commonly the case in sorrow.

It is added, He hath made to fall, or weakened, etc. The verb כשל, cashel, in Hilphil, means, as it is well known, to stumble, or to cause to stumble or fall. He hath, then, weakened my strength; the Lord hath given me up into the hand of my enemies, from whom I shall not be able to rise; that is, he hath so subjugated me, and so laid me prostrate under the hands of my enemies, that there is no hope of rising again. Were any one to ask, “Why then does she pray, and again will pray often?” the answer is, that when she says here, that she will not be able to rise again, the reference is made to the outward state of things: in the meantime, the grace of God is not taken to the account. and this goes beyond all human means. She then says, that according, to the thoughts of the flesh, she had no hope, because there appeared to be no means of rising. But yet she did not despair, but that God would at length, by His almighty power, cause her to rise from fatal ruin. And this is a mode of speaking that ought to be borne in mind; for hope sees things which are hidden. But at the same time the faithful speak according to the common appearance of things, and when they seem to despair, they regard what falls under their own observation and judgment. So then Jerusalem now says that she could not rise, except God manifested his extraordinary power, which far exceeds all human means. It follows, —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(14) Is bound by his hand . . .—The verb is not found elsewhere, but was probably a technical term for the twisting of the thongs by which the yoke was fastened, the “yoke” in this case being the transgressions of Judah, which were as a sore burden too heavy to be borne.

He hath made.—Better, it hath made; i.e., the yoke which was above her strength to bear.

The Lord.—It is noticeable that here, and in thirteen other passages in this book, the word Adonai is used instead of the more usual Jehovah, as though the latter, the covenant Name of the God of Israel, was less appropriate in the lips of one who was under His condemnation.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. is bound] The manifold sins of the people are likened to a complication of cords, attaching a yoke to the neck of a beast of burden, and keeping it secure in its place. Cp. note on “bands and bars” of Jer_27:2. The Heb. verb, however, occurs here only, and the reading may be corrupt. The LXX (and so Vulg.), by the slightest possible change in reading the Heb. verb (involving only the transference of a diacritical mark), render “watch has been kept over mine iniquities,” obtaining the latter part of their rendering by taking the word pointed in MT. to mean yoke (‘ol) as though it were the preposition upon (‘al). We must then, for the sake of metrical division, take “by his hand” in connexion with “they are knit together,” and, as this leaves the next line (in the MT.) too short, Budde there inserts “a yoke” before “upon,” rendering, “They have come up as a yoke upon my neck; they have made my strength to fail.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand,.... That is, the punishment of her sins was laid upon her by the Lord himself; his hand was in it; it came from him; the Chaldeans were only instruments; and a heavy yoke this was. So the Targum renders it,

"the yoke of my rebellions is made heavy by his hand:''

they are wreathed, and come upon my neck; or, "twisted together" (b); as lines to make a cord; or as several cords to make a rope; or as branches of trees or withes are implicated and entwined; and so the Targum,

"they are twisted together as the branches of a vine.''

It denotes the complication of judgments upon the Jewish nation for their sins, with which they were holden as with cords; and which were like ropes about their necks, very heavy and distressing to them, and from which they could not deliver themselves. Mr. Broughton thinks the apostle has reference to this passage; and explains it by the sin that easily besets, or cunningly wraps about, Heb 12:1;

he hath made my strength to fall; by the weight of punishment laid upon her, which she could not stand up under, but sunk and fell: this may be understood of her strong and mighty men; her men of valour and courage, who yet stumbled and fell:

the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up; meaning the Chaldeans; nor were the Jews at last delivered from them by their own strength, but by the means of Cyrus the Persian conquering Babylon.

(b) "involutae", Vatablus; "perplexae", Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin; "contortae", Piscator, Grotius, Michaelis.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Watched. This metaphor is not too harsh, chap. xxxi. 28. The Masorets prefer, (Calmet) "is bound by his hand." (Protestants) But miskad is explained (Haydock) by the Septuagint, &c., in the sense of the Vulgate. God lays the yoke on my neck suddenly. My iniquities are like bands, and Nabuchodonosor has power over me.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Still the prophet eyeth God in all, and acknowledgeth his justice while he calls their afflictions the yoke of their transgressions, that is, which was put upon their neck, upon the same account that yokes are put about the necks of beasts that use to break hedges, &c. and bound to keep them fast. My punishments are twisted as cords, to make them more strong; I have a complication of judgments upon me, sword, famine, pestilence, captivity; they are not only prepared for my neck, but they are already put upon it. All my valiant men, the strength of my nation is broken; and I am so fallen, that I am not able to rise again.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. Yoke of my transgressions — The “yoke” formed by my sins. This is described as bound by the hand of God, who causeth the sin of every man to find him out.

Wreathed — Interwoven, knotted together.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Is bound...are wreathed. The transgressions of Jerusalem are likened to a heavy yoke. So numerous are they that they are said to be "wreathed," or twisted together, like ropes. Into their hands. The Hebrew has simply "into hands;" following a suggestion of the Septuagint. Budde would read, "Into the hands of adversaries."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Is bound - Put upon my neck on account of my transgressions. Wreathed - My punishments are twisted as cords; I have a complication of judgments upon me, sword, famine, pestilence, captivity.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The yoke of my transgressions was marked Heb. נִשְׂקַד. This word has no likeness in Scripture, and in the Aramaic language of the Pesikta (d’Rav Kahana p. 153), they call a goad מַסְקְדָא, an ox goad, and I say that it is equivalent to pointurez in Old French. My transgressions were dotted, spotted, and marked in the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, for a remembrance. Their number and their recompense were not forgotten.

they have become interwoven Heb. יִשְּׂתָּרְגוּ. They became many plaits, and came up on my neck. This is the language of the Mishnah (See M.K. 1:8). We may not girth (מְסָרְגִין) the bedsteads.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.