John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 1:20

"Behold, O Jehovah; for I am in distress; my heart is troubled; My heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: Abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death." — Lamentations 1:20 (ASV)

The people again turn to pray to God. What was previously said should be remembered: that these lamentations of Jeremiah differ from the complaints of the ungodly because the faithful first acknowledge that they are justly chastised by God's hand, and secondly, they trust in his mercy and implore his aid.

For by these two marks—repentance and faith—the Church is distinguished from unbelievers. Sighing and mourning in adversities, and also lamenting their miseries, are common to both. But the children of God differ greatly from the ungodly because they humble themselves under his mighty hand, confess that they deserve to suffer punishment, and furthermore, they do not cast away the hope of salvation but implore his mercy.

Then the Prophet again introduces the people as praying to God to look on them. For the ungodly pour out their complaints into the air; and when at any time nature dictates to them that they should address God, still no prayer arises from a sincere heart.

Undoubtedly, the Prophet here showed the faithful how they were to lament their common miseries: by patiently bearing God's chastisements and also seeking deliverance from him, even though they had provoked his wrath. For when we see that we are pressed down by God's hand, we do not murmur. Instead, the knowledge of our sins humbles us, and faith moderates our mourning, which would otherwise become excessive. And when we thus humbly flee to God, we, in a manner, unburden our sorrows into his bosom, as it is said in the Psalms, Cast (or roll) on God thy cares (Psalms 55:22).

He then says first, See, Jehovah, for affliction is to me. He then expresses the manner of the affliction: because his bowels were bound, or troubled. The word is from חמר, chemer, which is doubled. Some derive it from חמור, chemur, an ass, and so render it “bound,” as when a burden is fastened on an ass.

But the opinion of those who derive the word from mortar or cement is more probable. For, just as cement is made by mixing water with lime and sand and stirring them together, so by a metaphor the bowels are said to be stirred or troubled. This explanation agrees better with what follows—for it is added, my heart is overturned.

The reason is given: because the people, by rebelling had rebelled—that is, had been very rebellious against God. We have said that the complaints of the godly differ from those of the ungodly, for they not only pray to God but also make a sincere confession, so as to make it evident that they are justly chastised by God's hand. At the beginning of the verse the faithful prayed, and now again they declare that they deserved what they suffered, because they had been very rebellious.

Then Jeremiah proceeds with what he had begun to say about the grievousness of their punishment: Abroad, or 'without,' he says, the sword bereaves, and at home it is like death. This means, “When we go abroad, the sword meets us; and when we hide ourselves at home, there also many deaths surround us.” He uses the particle of likeness, as (or 'like'), as though he had said that nothing met them at home but what was deadly.