All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. “Look, O LORD, and see, for I am despised.”
The Prophet here complains that all the citizens of Jerusalem were constantly groaning through want and famine. He first says, that all were sighing. The word “people” is collective, and hence he uses the plural number,נאנחיםץ , nanechim. Then he says that they were all sighing; but he expresses also the reason, because they were seeking bread.
Those that have any disposition to weep with those that weep, one would think, should scarcely be able to refrain from tears at the reading of these verses, so very pathetic are the lamentations here. I. The miseries of Jerusalem are here complained of as very pressing and by many circumstances very much aggravated. Let us take a view of these miseries. 1. As to their civil state.
Commenting on Lamentations 1:1-11
All her people sigh,.... Not her priests only, Lam 1:4; but all the common people, because of their affliction, particularly for want of bread. So the Targum, "all the people of Jerusalem sigh because of the famine;'' for it follows: they seek bread; to eat, as the Targum; inquire where it is to be had, but in vain: they have given their pleasant things for...