1Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace! 2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners. 3We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows. 4We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price. 5We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest. 6We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. 7Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment. 8Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands. 9We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness. 10Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger. 11Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah. 12Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect. 13Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood. 14The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music. 15Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. 16The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! 17Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim— 18because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes. 19You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation. 20Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long? 21Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old, 22unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
The Jewish nation supplicating the Divine favour. 1-16 Is any afflicted? Let him pray; and let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God. The people of God do so here; they complain not of evils feared, but of evils felt. If penitent and patient under what we suffer for the sins of our fathers, we may expect that He who punishes, will return in mercy to us. They acknowledge, Woe unto us that we have sinned! All our woes are owing to our own sin and folly. Though our sins and God's just displeasure cause our sufferings, we may hope in his pardoning mercy, his sanctifying grace, and his kind providence. But the sins of a man's whole life will be punished with vengeance at last, unless he obtains an interest in Him who bare our sins in his own body on the tree. 17-22 The people of God express deep concern for the ruins of the temple, more than for any other of their calamities. But whatever changes there are on earth, God is still the same, and remains for ever wise and holy, just and good; with Him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. They earnestly pray to God for mercy and grace; Turn us to thee, O Lord. God never leaves any till they first leave him; if he turns them to him in a way of duty, no doubt he will quickly return to them in a way of mercy. If God by his grace renew our hearts, he will by his favour renew our days. Troubles may cause our hearts to be faint, and our eyes to be dim, but the way to the mercy-seat of our reconciled God is open. Let us, in all our trials, put our whole trust and confidence in his mercy; let us confess our sins, and pour out our hearts before him. Let us watch against repinings and despondency; for we surely know, that it shall be well in the end with all that trust in, fear, love, and serve the Lord. Are not the Lord's judgments in the earth the same as in Jeremiah's days? Let Zion then be remembered by us in our prayers, and her welfare be sought above every earthly joy. Spare, Lord, spare thy people, and give not thine heritage to reproach, for the heathen to rule over them.