The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.
The anger - literally, the face of the Lord. It is the countenance which, by its expression, manifests anger (Psalms 34:16). Gesenius translates, 'the person of Yahweh;' Yahweh present, Yahweh Himself (Exodus 33:14, "my presence;" 2 Samuel 17:11).
Hath divided them - dispersed the Jews. They respected not ... the priests. This is the language of the Gentiles, 'The Jews have no hope of a return; for they respected not the persons of even good priests' (2 Chronicles 24:19-22). (Grotius.) Maurer explains it, 'They (the victorious foe) regard not the (Jewish) priests when imploring their pity' (Lamentations 5:12). The evident antithesis to "as for us" (Lamentations 4:17), and the language of "the pagan" at the close of Lamentations 4:15, of which Lamentations 4:16 is the continuation, favour the former view. There is also a righteous retribution in kind expressed by the antithetical repetition of the same Hebrew word х pªneey (H6440)], "The person of the Lord" has not respected them, but has "divided them," because "they respected not the persons of the priests."
[`Ayin (')]