Jerusalem hath grievously sinned Hebrew, חשׂא חשׂאה, in sinning hath sinned, or hath sinned sin: that is, sinned wilfully and deliberately; hath sinned that sin which of all others is the abominable thing which the Lord hates, the sin of idolatry. The sins of Jerusalem, which makes such a profession of worshipping and serving the true God, and therefore of obeying his will, and enjoys such privileges, are of all others the most grievous sins. Therefore she is removed The greatest part of her inhabitants are either carried away captive to Babylon, or are fled for refuge and safety to some of the neighbouring nations. Blaney translates this clause, Therefore hath she been as one set apart for unclean, instead of לנידה, a word that occurs nowhere else, reading לנדה, after nineteen MSS., which signifies a woman in her state of separation. All that honoured her, despise her She hath made herself vile, and therefore is justly vilified. Because they have seen her nakedness Have seen her deprived of all her strength and glory. As she had defiled herself with idolatry, (called spiritual adultery in Scripture,) so God has ordered her to be exposed to shame like a common harlot. Yea, she sigheth and turneth backward As ashamed to be seen in such a despicable condition, destitute of all those things which constituted her former glory. Her filthiness is in her skirts She carries the marks of her sins in the greatness of her punishments. She remembereth not her last end Reflects not on what is still further coming upon her. “The plain meaning of this,” says Blaney, “taken out of metaphor, seems to be, that although evident marks of her pollution appeared about her, and the land was defiled by her sinfulness, even to its utmost borders, she had no thought or consideration of what must be the consequence of all this at the last.” Therefore she came down wonderfully She was brought low, and humbled in an extraordinary manner having sinned grievously, Lamentations 1:8, she was degraded and punished wonderfully. Observe, reader, grievous sins bring wondrous ruin; there are some workers of iniquity for whom is prepared a strange and uncommon punishment.
Related Commentaries of Lamentations 1:8
Lamentations 1:8-9
8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
9 Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.