They have heard that I sigh I have no comforter all mine enemies have heard of my calamity; they are glad that thou hast done it. Thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called, and they shall be like unto me.
Jerusalem's lament reaches its last turn, and she has already confessed her rebellion. Now she asks God to see three things: no one comforts her, her enemies cheer that He struck her, and the day He announced should reach them too.
Everyone else has heard her sighing and done nothing, so she turns to the One who caused the trouble. Commentators read the end of the chapter as two requests. She asks God to look, and she asks Him to repay.
Finally, Jehovah is called on to look. Jerusalem was troubled in this way, and troubled inwardly too, because of her own grievous rebellion. And He is asked to repay the enemy who took pleasure in their utter shame and deep suffering.
Her appeal rests on the confession made a few verses earlier.
Verse 18 holds an open admission: "The LORD is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word." This is evidence that their hearts were truly exercised before God. They received only the due reward of their deeds, and they own it with a broken heart and a humbled soul.
Her enemies are not just glad that Jerusalem fell. They are glad that her own God brought her down, and that gladness is what pulls the appeal out of her.
The enemy is proud, and rejoices at seeing the affliction of the one God loves. This gives occasion to plead for compassion on the afflicted, and for judgment on the malice of the enemy.
The day she asks for is not one she invents in her bitterness. God Himself has already announced it, and she asks that it come.
Their enemies had heard of their sighs. They rejoiced in their affliction, glad that the Lord had dealt with them in this way. Their own time of grief was coming. God would bring the appointed day when they too would know His indignation because of their sins.
Later in the book the prophet turns to Edom, the brother nation, and answers its gloating.
Did Edom taunt his fallen brother in the day of his distress? He did indeed, and with murderous, treacherous hatred too. So the prophet calls out to Edom. "Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom… but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare."
Her prayer asks that her enemies end up as she is. Commentators do not smooth that over.
It is a cry for vengeance. It does not fit Christian light and privilege, or the grace of this present age, but it fits the character of Jewish blessing exactly. Their deliverance was an earthly one, so it required the judgment of their oppressors.
The same writer also hears a second voice in the verse — the voice of Jesus.
In a certain sense these last two verses also set out the doom of those who refuse to own the Lordship of Jesus. He too could say of such people, "You will bring the day that You have called, and they shall be like Me." Those who reject His grace despise His sufferings, and they must know for themselves the awful power of divine wrath.
(Ironside quotes an older translation here. The ESV reads, "You have brought the day you announced.")
The chapter ends with the complaint unanswered. No comforter has appeared. But the book does not stop there.
Her cry in chapter 1 was, "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow." … Where could she find any relief? Who would comfort her? God, against whom she had sinned, had provided for this. The man she had treated so badly was His messenger to her, and his experience is the one place comfort and hope can be drawn from.
- Confessed. She does not dispute the justice of the blow; she owns her rebellion first, and only then dares to ask God to look.
- Uncomforted. Everyone heard her groaning; no one came. The enemies' only response was pleasure that her own God had struck her.
- Appointed. The day she asks for is one God had already announced — she asks for its arrival, not its invention.
- Reversed. What the mockers enjoy will come back to them; the cup that passed through Jerusalem passes on to Edom.
- Answered elsewhere. This chapter says nothing about her own future blessing. Comfort comes later, through the messenger she had mistreated. Commentators add that her cry for vengeance fits an earthly deliverance, not Christian ground.
Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.
Lamentations 1 ends as it began: a ruined city with no one to comfort her. In the last verse Jerusalem owns that her own sin caused the ruin, then asks God to treat her gloating enemies as He treated her.
God loves the city He had to strike. The appeal against the enemy is not a claim of innocence — it comes only after Judah owns her guilt.
Nothing moves the heart more than knowing that the one who is suffering is loved by God. He loves what He must strike, and He must strike what He loves. The enemy is proud, and glad to see the affliction of the one God loves. This gives occasion to plead for compassion on the afflicted, and for judgment on the malice of the enemy. At the end of chapter 1 the people make full confession. They own that it was Judah's sin that had brought the evil upon them, and that Jehovah was righteous. Then they call on the eye of Jehovah to look on their sorrow, and to judge those by whose wickedness they were punished.
The verse ends with many groans and a fainting heart. Jerusalem's trouble goes deep inside, and she asks God to pay back those who enjoyed her shame.
At the end, Jerusalem calls Jehovah to behold. She was troubled, and troubled inwardly too, because of her own grievous rebellion. She asks Him to repay the enemy who took pleasure in that utter shame and deep suffering.
A Christian reader may stumble here. Commentators do not soften this prayer. Israel's hope was an earthly one, and an earthly rescue means the oppressor must be judged.
The prayer goes up that God would hurry the time when all their wretchedness comes before Him, and He does as He has said (v.22). It is a cry for vengeance. It does not fit Christian light and privilege, or the grace of the present age. But it fits the character of Jewish blessing exactly. Their deliverance is an earthly one, so it needs the judgment of their oppressors.
Commentators also read these closing lines more widely. They picture what waits for anyone who treats the sufferings of Christ as nothing.
In a certain sense we may also read these last two verses another way. They set out the doom of those who refuse to own the Lordship of Jesus. He too could say of such, "You will bring the day that You have called, and they shall be like Me." Men who reject His grace despise His sufferings, and they must know for themselves the awful power of divine wrath.
The words in quotation marks there are verse 21 in an older translation.
Why does a chapter full of honest confession end with a fainting heart?
She acknowledges her sin before the Lord, and what it has brought on her. But what of the future? Admitting one's guilt, and the Lord's justice in dealing with a soul, can by itself give no hope for better times, and no renewed prosperity in the future. She has felt that God acts in government, so she can look for Him to deal with the nations as He has dealt with her. But this is poor comfort. She deserved it, they deserve it too, and this is all she says here. The punishment of her enemies was certain. Of her future blessing there is not a word.
Comfort does come in this book, but from an unexpected direction.
Where could she find any? Who would comfort her? God, against whom she had sinned, had provided for this. She had treated His messenger badly, yet from that man's experience comfort and hope can be drawn.
Commentators also look forward. The same sorrow will rise from a people still to pass through a darker hour.
We may look at these laments as prophecy. They express what the godly remnant of God's earthly people will feel in their souls as they pass through the great tribulation in a future day. God will then answer that beautiful prayer in the last chapter, "renew our days as of old," and He will fulfill all the glorious promises given to Israel.
- Confess first. Judah pleads against the enemy only after owning that her own rebellion caused the ruin, and that God was righteous.
- Then appeal. She asks God to look at the malice of those who enjoyed her shame, and to deal with them as He dealt with her.
- Read it in place. Commentators call this a cry for vengeance. It suits an earthly hope and an earthly rescue, not the grace of the present day.
- Hear the warning. God has called a day. It still stands over those who despise the sufferings of Christ and refuse His grace.
- Wait for the comforter. Confession alone leaves the heart faint. Hope comes through the messenger the city rejected, and in a coming day God will answer this same cry.