John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 3:52

"They have chased me sore like a bird, they that are mine enemies without cause." — Lamentations 3:52 (ASV)

As we continue to the end of the chapter, we will see the various complaints by which the Prophet lamented the miseries of his own nation, so that he might eventually obtain God's mercy. Here, he uses the comparison of a bird or a sparrow. He says that the Chaldeans had been like fowlers, and the Jews like sparrows; and we know that birds possess neither prudence nor courage. He means, then, that the Jews had been without any help, having been exposed as prey to their enemies, who were like fowlers.

And he seems to allude to the words of Solomon, when Solomon says, that without a cause is the net spread for birds (Proverbs 1:17). He means that innocent men are ensnared by the wicked when the wicked spread their snares for them, as it were, on every side, while these innocent men are like birds, who lack the wisdom to avoid them.

We now understand, then, the main point of what the Prophet says: he amplifies the indignity of their calamity by this comparison: that the Chaldeans plundered the miserable people at will, who could not resist them, and who were, in fact, without any power to defend themselves.