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This chapter, though it has the same number of verses with the 1st, 2nd, and 4th, is not alphabetical, as they were, but the scope of it is the same with that of all the foregoing elegies. We have in it, I. A representation of the present calamitous state of God's people in their captivity (v. 1-16). II. A protestation of their concern for God's sanctuary, as that which lay nearer their heart than any secular interest of their own (Lam 5:17, Lam 5:18). III. A humble supplication to God and expostulation with him, for the returns of mercy (Lam 5:19-22); for those that lament and do not pray sin in their lamentations. Some ancient versions call this chapter, "The Prayer of Jeremiah."

INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 5 In this chapter are reckoned up the various calamities and distresses of the Jews in Babylon, which the Lord is desired to remember and consider, Lam 5:1; their great concern for the desolation of the temple in particular is expressed, Lam 5:17; and the chapter is concluded with a prayer that God would show favour to them, and turn them to him, and renew their prosperity as of old, though he had rejected them, and been wroth with them, Lam 5:19.

Wherefore dost thou, forget us for ever,.... Since thou art firm, constant, and unchangeable, and thy love and covenant the same. God seems to forget his people when he afflicts them, or suffers them to be oppressed, and does not arise immediately for their help; which being deferred some time, looks like an eternity to them, or they fear it will ever be so; at least this they say to express their eager desire after his gracious presence, and to show how much they prize it: and forsake us so long time? or, "to length of days" (d)? so long as the seventy years' captivity; which to be forsaken of God, or to seem to be forsaken of him, was with them a long time. (d) "in longitudinem dierum", Pagninus, Montanus.

Then, there is a wondered indignation. As said: "Why dost thou forget us forever, why dost thou so long forsake us?" Just as the prophet Isaiah 49:15 exclaims: "Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?"

This chapter is, as it were, an epiphonema, or conclusion to the four preceding, representing the nation as groaning under their calamities, and humbly supplicating the Divine favor, vv. 1-22.

EPIPHONEMA, OR A CLOSING RECAPITULATION OF THE CALAMITIES TREATED IN THE PREVIOUS ELEGIES. (Lam. 5:1-22) (Psa 89:50-51).

for ever--that is, for "so long a time."

A Prayer to the Lord by the Church, Languishing in Misery, for the Restoration of Her Former State of Grace 1 Remember, O Jahveh, what hath happened to us; consider, and behold our reproach. 2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to foreigners. 3 We are orphans, without a father; our mothers are as widows. 4 Our own water we drink for money, our own wood cometh to us in return for payment. 5 On our necks are we persecuted; we are jaded, - there is no rest for us. 6 [Towards] Egypt we reach our hand, - [towards] Assyria, to satisfy ourselves [with] bread. 7 Our fathers sinned, they are not; we bear their iniquities. 8 Servants rule us; there is none to deliver us out of their hand. 9 At the risk of our life we bring in our bread, because of the sword of the wilderness. 10 Our skin gloweth with heat like a furnace, because of the fever-heat of hunger. 11 They have forced women in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah. 12 Princes are hung up by their hand; the face of the elders is not honoured. 13 Young men carry millstones, and lads stagger under [loads of] wood. 14 Elders cease from the gate, young men from their instrumental music. 15 The joy of our heart hath ceased, our dancing has turned into mourning. 16 The crown of our head is fallen; woe unto us, that we have sinned! 17 Because of this our heart became sick; because of these [things] our eyes became dark. 18 Upon Mount Zion, which is laid waste, jackals roam through it. 19 Thou, O Jahveh, dost sit [enthroned] for ever; They throne is for generation and generation. 20 Why dost thou forget us for ever, - forsake us for a length of days? 21 Lead us back, O Jahveh, to thyself, that we may return; renew our days, as of old. 22 Or, hast Thou indeed utterly rejected us? art thou very wroth against us? This poem begins (Lam 5:1) with the request addressed to the Lord, that He would be pleased to think of the disgrace that has befallen Judah, and concludes (Lam 5:19-22) with the request that the Lord may not forsake His people for ever, but once more receive them into favour. The main portion of this petition is formed by the description of the disgrace and misery under which the suppliants groan, together with the acknowledgment (Lam 5:7 and Lam 5:16) that they are compelled to bear the sins of their fathers and their own sins. By this confession, the description given of their misery is divided into two strophes (Lam 5:2-7 and Lam 5:8-16), which are followed by the request for deliverance (Lam 5:19-22), introduced by Lam 5:17 and Lam 5:18. The author of this prayer speaks throughout in the name of the people, or, to speak more correctly, in the name of the congregation, laying their distress and their supplication before the Lord. The view of Thenius, - that this poem originated among a small company of Jews who had been dispersed, and who, in the mist of constant persecution, sought a place of refuge from the oppression of the Chaldeans, - has been forced upon the text through the arbitrary interpretation of detached figurative expressions.