John Gill, on Lam 3:5

“Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour.”

“He hath builded against me,.... Fortresses, as the Targum adds; as when forts and batteries were raised by the Chaldeans against the city of Jerusalem, in which the prophet was: and compassed me with gall and travail; or "weariness" (e); the same with gall and wormwood, Lam 3:19; as Jarchi observes. The sense is, he was surrounded with sorrow, affliction, and misery, which were as disagreeable as gall; or like poison that drank up his spirits, and made him weary of his life. Thus our Lord was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; encompassed with sorrows, Mat 26:38. The Targum is, "he hath surrounded the city, and rooted up the heads of the people, and caused them to fail.'' (e) "et fatigatione", Montanus, Vatablus, Castalio.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.