Lamentations 3:11

Lam 3:11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.

Ver. 11. He hath turned aside my ways.] As Lam 3:9.

And pulled me in pieces.] As a bear or lion doth the silly sheep that falleth into their paws. Carnali quadam intemperie haec effusa sunt. The Vulgate hath it, Confregit me. He hath broken me in pieces; scil., Attempting to leap over his hedge; {Lam 3:7} his stone wall. {Lam 3:9} In the year 1590, Nicolas Frischlin, that famous poet, orator, and philosopher, attempting to escape out of prison, was so broken, a capite ad talos, a cute ad ossa. from the head to the heels, from the skin to the bones. {a}

{a} Alsted., Chron., 480.

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.

turned aside--made me wander out of the right way, so as to become a prey to wild beasts.

pulled in pieces-- (Hos 6:1), as a "bear" or a "lion" (Lam 3:10).

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

In this verse also the Prophet shews how grievously the faithful are disturbed when they feel that God is adverse to them. But he uses the same figure as yesterday, though the word סורר, surer, is different: what he used yesterday was עוה, oue, but in the same sense.

He then says that his ways had been perverted; and for this reason, because he had been disappointed in his purpose; whatever he did was made void, because God by force prevented him. When we undertake to do anything, a way is open to us; but when there is no success, our way is said to be perverted. And this is done by God, who has all events, prosperous as well as adverse, in his own hand. As, then, God directs our ways when he blesses our counsels and our actions; so, on the other hand, he perverts them, when all things turn out unsuccessfully, when our purpose is not done and events do not answer our expectations.

He afterwards adds, He hath torn me or broken me. The verb פשח, peshech, means properly to cut, but here to tear or scatter. It follows lastly, he hath made me a waste In this expression he includes the other two things; for he who is reduced to desolation, does not hold on his way, nor find any exit; he is also drawn here and there, as though he was torn into several parts. We hence see that the Prophet here complains of extreme evils, for there was no hope of deliverance left. He adds, —

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.

(11) He hath turned aside.—The terror caused by the lion turns the traveller from his path, and there is no other; and then comes the attack by which he is torn in pieces.

He hath made me desolate.—Better, made me astonied, as in Ezr_9:3. The verb (which occurs forty times in Jeremiah’s prophecies and three times in Lam.), paints the stupefaction of terror.

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

11. He hath driven me from the path, and then sprung upon me and devoured me.

desolate] appalled, stupified. Cp. Lam_4:5; akin to the word rendered “astonishment” in Jer_5:30 (mg.), Jer_18:16.

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.

He hath turned aside my ways,.... Or caused me to depart or go back from the way I was in, and so fall into the hand of the enemy that lay in wait, as before. Jarchi interprets the word of thorns, and of scattering the way with thorns, and hedging it up with them, so that there was no passing, Hos 2:6; the sense seems to be the same with Lam 3:9;

and pulled me in pieces: as any creature that falls into the hands of a bear or lion. Jarchi says it signifies a stopping of the feet, so that the traveller cannot go on in his way; and in the Talmudic language it is used for the breaking off of branches of trees, which being strowed in the way, hinder passengers from travelling; and this sense agrees with what goes before:

he hath made me desolate; or brought me into a desolate condition, into ruin and destruction, as the Jews were in Babylon.

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

The same thing is repeated in other phrases which was before said, viz. that God had pleased by his providence to frustrate all the designs and counsels of the Jews, and miserably to destroy them, as a lion or a bear (the wild beasts mentioned before) tear in pieces the beasts they prey upon.

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

11. Pulled… in pieces — The figure of a beast of prey still continues. He turns him from the path and tears him “in pieces.”

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

Hath turned aside my ways; i.e. hath caused me to go astray. Comp. Psa_146:9, "The way of the ungodly he maketh crooked," i.e. he leadeth them to destruction. Made me desolate; or, made me stunned . ("astonied," Ezr_9:3 in our Bible) So Lam_1:13, Lam_1:16.

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

He scattered thorns on my ways Heb. סוֹרֵר, an expression of סִירִים, thorns. סוֹרֵר means that He “thorned” them, He scattered thorns on my ways.

He caused me to spread my legs Heb. וַיְפַשְׁחֵנִי, an expression of spreading the legs. One who passes on roads that are not cleared must widen his stride, and there is an example of this in the language of the Gemara (M.K. 10b): “The one who pruned (דְפָשַׁח) a date palm” [meaning that he separated the branches from the trunk].

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.