John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 3:53

"They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone upon me." — Lamentations 3:53 (ASV)

He now employs other comparisons. Some improperly confine this to Jeremiah himself, as though he explained here before God the wrongs done to himself. But there is no doubt that he undertakes the cause of the whole people, and his object was to encourage the faithful by his own example to lament their state so that they might obtain pardon from God.

He then compares himself to a man half-dead, cast into a pit and there left for lost. Then some improperly interpret the words, “they cast stones,” for stoning was not in the Prophet’s mind. But having said that he was securely bound in a pit or dungeon, he adds that a stone was laid over him so that he might not come out, as we know was the case with Daniel (Daniel 6:16, 17). Daniel was cast into the den of lions, and then a stone was put on the mouth of the den.

So also the Prophet says that he was securely bound in the pit, and not only that, but that a stone was laid over him so that there might be no hope of coming out; thus the pit was like a grave. Here, then, he means that he was reduced to the last extremity, because he had not only been taken by his enemies but had also been cast into a pit. And, as is well known, it is a metaphorical expression or a similitude.