Albert Barnes Commentary Lamentations 1:12-16

"Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is brought upon me, Wherewith Jehovah hath afflicted [me] in the day of his fierce anger. From on high hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them; He hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: He hath made me desolate and faint all the day. The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand; They are knit together, they are come up upon my neck; he hath made my strength to fail: The Lord hath delivered me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand. The Lord hath set at nought all my mighty men in the midst of me; He hath called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men: The Lord hath trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah. For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water; Because the comforter that should refresh my soul is far from me: My children are desolate, because the enemy hath prevailed." — Lamentations 1:12-16 (ASV)

The lamentation of the city, personified as a woman in grief over her fate.

(Lamentations 1:13)

It prevails - Or, has subdued.

He has turned me back - Judaea, like a hunted animal, endeavors to escape, but finds every outlet blocked by nets, and recoils from them with terror and a sense of utter hopelessness.

(Lamentations 1:14)

Bound by his hand - As the plowman binds the yoke upon the neck of oxen, so God compels Judah to bear the punishment of her sins.

They are wreathed, and ... - Or, they are knotted together, “they come up” etc. Judah’s sins are like the cords by which the pieces of the yoke are fastened together (Jeremiah 27:2); they are knotted and twined like a bunch upon the neck, and bind the yoke around it so securely that it is impossible for her to shake it off.

He has made ... - Or, it has made “my strength” to stumble. The yoke of punishment thus imposed and securely fastened, bows down her strength by its weight, and makes her totter beneath it.

The Lord - The third distich of the verse begins here, and with it a new turn of the lamentation. The title Adonai (properly, my Lord) is in the Lamentations used by itself in fourteen places, while the name Yahweh is less prominent; as if in their punishment the people felt the lordship of the Deity more, and His covenant-love to them less.

(Lamentations 1:15)

The Lord has trodden under foot - Or, אדני 'ădonāy has made contemptible (i. e. put into the balance, made to go up as the lighter weight, and so made despicable) “my war-horses” (put metaphorically for heroes).

In the midst of me - They had not fallen gloriously in the battlefield, but remained ignominiously in the city.

Assembly - Or, “a solemn feast;” the word especially used of the great festivals (Leviticus 23:2). אדני 'ădonāy has proclaimed a festival, not for me, but against me.

The Lord has trodden ... - Or, “אדני 'ădonāy has trodden the winepress for the virgin daughter of Judah.” (See Jeremiah 51:14 note). By slaying Judah’s young men in battle, God is trampling for her the winepress of His indignation.