Charles Ellicott Commentary Lamentations 3:16

"He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he hath covered me with ashes." — Lamentations 3:16 (ASV)

He has also broken my teeth. —The metaphor of food is continued. The mourner eats bread that is gritty, as if made of sand instead of flour. (Compare to Proverbs 20:17.) Here, again, we are reminded of Dante (Parad. xvii. 58), when he speaks of the bitterness of the bread which comes as the grudging gift of strangers.