Lamentations 3:14

14 I am a laughingstock^[a] to all my people,^[b] mocked by their songs^[c] all day long.

Lamentations 3:14 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 3:14

I was a derision to all my people
So Jeremiah was to the people of the Jews, and especially to his townsmen, the men of Anathoth, ( Jeremiah 20:7 Jeremiah 20:8 ) ; but if he represents the body of the people, others must be intended; for they could not be a derision to themselves. The Targum renders it, to the spoilers of my people; that is, either the wicked among themselves, or the Chaldeans; and Aben Ezra well observes, that "ammi" is put for "ammim", the people; and so is to be understood of all the people round about them, the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, that laughed at their destruction; though some interpret it of the wicked among the Jews, to whom the godly were a derision; or of those who had been formerly subject to the Jews, and so their people, though not now: [and] their song all the day;
beating on their tabrets, and striking their harps, for joy; for the word ^F12 used signifies not vocal, but instrumental music; of such usage of the Messiah, see ( Psalms 69:12 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 (Mtnygn) a (Ngn) "pulsare istrumentum musicum".

Lamentations 3:14 In-Context

12 He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.

13 He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.

14 I am a laughingstock to all my people, mocked by their songs all day long.

15 He filled me with bitterness, sated me with wormwood.

16 He ground my teeth on gravel and made me cower in the dust.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lm 1:7; Jb 12:4; Jr 20:7
• [b]. Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg; other Hb mss, Syr read all peoples
• [c]. Jb 30:9; Ps 69:12