Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; Such as sit in darkness - Here begins the Second similitude, which he uses to illustrate the state of the captives in Babylon viz., that of a prisoner in a dreary dungeon.
1. They sit in or inhabit darkness. They have no light, no peace, no prosperity.
2. "In the shadow of death." The place where death reigns, over which he has projected his shadow; those against whom the sentence of death has been pronounced.
3. They are bound in this darkness, have no liberty to revisit the light, and cannot escape from their executioners.
4. They are afflicted, not only by want and privation in general, but they are tortured in the prison, עני oni, afflicted, humbled, distressed.
5. Their fetters are such as they cannot break; they are iron. The reason of their being in this wretched state is given.
Psalms 107:10Then they cry - The effect produced by affliction as before.