Charles Spurgeon Commentary Lamentations 3:5

"He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail." — Lamentations 3:5 (ASV)

He has built against me, –

"As if He deliberately built walls to block my way, and erected castles from which to attack my soul, 'He has built against me,'" –

And compassed me with gall and travail.

"He has shut me up in a circle of bitterness."

He has built against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.

That is to say, as the besiegers erected a mound against a city, and threw up earthworks, so, the prophet says, God seemed to have thrown up earthworks from which He might fire off the great guns of the law against him.