Thomas Aquinas Commentary Lamentations 3:10-12

"He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places. He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow." — Lamentations 3:10-12 (ASV)

Here, the prophet describes the nature of their affliction:

1. That it is done deceitfully.
2. That it is done openly, as in the words he has bent his bow (Lamentations 3:12).
3. That it is done abundantly, as in the words he has filled me (Lamentations 3:15).

Regarding the first point, deceit, he makes two observations.

1. First, he presents the deceit of their enemies. The pronoun he—that is, Nebuchadnezzar, who fights against me with ambushes—has become to me as a bear, which signifies his cruelty, and as a lion, which designates his power. As it is written, And I will be to them as a lioness, as a leopard in the way of the Assyrians (Hosea 13:7).
2. Second, he describes how God prevents their plans to repel the enemy’s ambushes: he has turned aside my paths. As written above: he has made me forsaken, wasted with sorrow all the day long (Lamentations 1:13).

Next, concerning the phrase He has bent his bow, the prophet shows that God afflicted him publicly and openly. Regarding this, he makes a few points.

1. First, he presents the proposition: the bow signifies judgment or the army of their enemies, and he has been set up as a mark toward which everyone publicly shoots arrows. As the psalmist says, He has bent his bow (Psalms 7:13). And as Job says, He has broken me, and has set me up to be his mark (Job 16:13).