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MESSAGE

The Mouth of the Enemy

Lamentations 3:46–47 NKJV

46 All our enemies Have opened their mouths against us. 47 Fear and a snare have come upon us, Desolation and destruction.

The Intercession of Jeremiah

Lamentations 3:48–51 NKJV

48 My eyes overflow with rivers of water For the destruction of the daughter of my people. 49 My eyes flow and do not cease, Without interruption, 50 Till the Lord from heaven Looks down and sees. 51 My eyes bring suffering to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city.

The Enemy Tried to Kill Me

Lamentations 3:52–54 NKJV

52 My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird. 53 They silenced my life in the pit And threw stones at me. 54 The waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!”

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 3:52–55

Jeremiah’s ministry during Judah’s final days created many enemies. The people from his own hometown plotted to kill him (Jer. 11:18–23), and everybody at the temple demanded that he be executed (Jer. 26:7–9). He was beaten and thrown into prison as a traitor (Jer. 37:11–16), and was later, near the end of Nebuchadnezzar’s siege, lowered into a muddy cistern to starve to death (Jer. 38:1–6).

The God Hears Our Cries

Lamentations 3:55–57 NKJV

55 I called on Your name, O Lord, From the lowest pit. 56 You have heard my voice: “Do not hide Your ear From my sighing, from my cry for help.” 57 You drew near on the day I called on You, And said, “Do not fear!”

Redemption

Lamentations 3:58–60 NKJV

58 O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul; You have redeemed my life. 59 O Lord, You have seen how I am wronged; Judge my case. 60 You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me.

The Change of Tune

Lamentations 3:61–63 NKJV

61 You have heard their reproach, O Lord, All their schemes against me, 62 The lips of my enemies And their whispering against me all the day. 63 Look at their sitting down and their rising up; I am their taunting song.

Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV

17 The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

Lamentations 3:64–66 NKJV

64 Repay them, O Lord, According to the work of their hands. 65 Give them a veiled heart; Your curse be upon them! 66 In Your anger, Pursue and destroy them From under the heavens of the Lord.

The Message of Lamentations: Honest to God 4. Hope Pleading: The Man Encourages His People’s Trust (52–66)

Such requests and the vivid language in which they are framed are characteristic of Jeremiah and some psalms. Behind them lies the same assumption as verses 34–36. God does not and cannot ignore the evil deeds of the persistently unrepentant wicked who trample on others. The justice with which God will redeem and vindicate those who call out to him, especially those who do so with honest confession of sin and repentance, is the same justice with which he will ultimately destroy those who refuse to do so. The whole earth—all that lies under the heavens of the LORD (66)—will one day be cleansed from all evil and evil-doers. Such is the promise of the New as well as the Old Testament.