Rashi on the Prophets and Writings

O how...remained lonely Jeremiah wrote the Book of Lamentations. This is the scroll that Jehoiakim burned on the brazier that was on the fire (sic). It [originally] contained three alphabetical acrostics (Lam. ch. 1): “O how...remained,” (ch. 2) “How...brought darkness,” (ch. 4) “How dim...has become,” and he added to it, (ch. 3) “I am the man,” which contains three alphabetical acrostics, as it is said (Jer. 36:32): “and there were yet added to them many words like those,” three corresponding to three.
lonely solitary, devoid of her inhabitants.
populous Heb. רַבָּתִי עָם, great of people. The “yud” is superfluous, like רַבַּת עָם, for her people were many. There are many Aggadic midrashim [on this verse], but I have come to explain the language of the Scripture according to its literal meaning.
She has become like a widow but not really a widow; rather, like a woman whose husband went abroad and intends to return to her.

She weeps, yea, she weeps weeping twice over the two destructions.
in the night for the Temple was burned at night, as the master said (Ta’an. 29a): “At eventide, they ignited the fire upon it.” Another explanation: because of the night—the night of the weeping of the Spies on the ninth of Av caused it to happen to them (Lam. Rabbah ms. 1:178, Targum, Sanh. 104b, Ta’an. 29a). Another explanation: in the night—for whoever weeps at night, the one who hears his voice weeps along with him (Lam. Rabbah 1:24, Sanh. ad loc.).
and her tears are on her cheek since she weeps constantly.
all her friends those who love her.

Judah went into exile from her land.
and great servitude with which the Chaldeans burdened her.
she settled among the nations and in the place where she was exiled and settled she found no rest.
between the boundaries where there is a high place on either side, and there is no place to flee.
the boundaries Heb. הַמְצָרִים, the boundaries of fields and vineyards. The Midrash Aggadah (Lam. Rabbah 1:29) explains: between the seventeenth of Tammuz and the ninth of Av.

because no one comes to the appointed season the pilgrims who went up for the festivals.
her maidens grieve Heb. נוּגוֹת, an expression of grief (יָגוֹן), and there is no radical but the “gimmel” alone.

are at ease dwell in tranquility.
has afflicted her caused her grief, and this is an expression of grief.

like harts who did not find pasture like harts who did not find pasture, who have no strength to flee, for their strength has been weakened by hunger.
pursuer Heb. רוֹדֵף. Every רֹדֵף in Scripture is defective (רֹדֵף), but this one is full (רוֹדֵף), for they were pursued with a full pursuit. Therefore the paytan composed “I was fully pursued, but the year of my redemption is missing, (גְאֻלַי).” (Isa. 63: 4): “The year of my redemption (גְאֻלַי) has arrived” is spelled defectively.

Jerusalem recalls in her exile.
the days of her poverty the days of her destruction, which brought her to poverty.
and her miseries Heb. וּמְרוּדֶיהָ. This is an expression of pain, like (Jud. 11:37): “and I wailed (וְיָרַדְתִּי) upon the mountains”; (Ps. 55:3): “I lament (אָרִיד) in my speech, and I moan.”
all her precious things And she remembered all the good of her precious things that were from days of old.
gloating on her desolation Heb. מִשְּׁבַּתֶיהָ. They rejoiced over the cessation of her festivals, her New Moons, and her Sabbaths; and the Midrash Aggadah (Lam. Rabbah) interprets it as a different expression, that they rested in exile on the Sabbaths and festivals and observed the seventh year, and the heathens ridiculed them and said, “Fools! In your land you did not keep the Sabbatical Year, and now in exile you keep it? In your land, you did not keep the Sabbath, and now in exile you keep it?”

a wanderer Heb. לְנִידָה, an exile, an expression of moving and wandering (נָע וָנָד), esmo(u) vement in Old French, that which moves on.
her shame Heb. עֶרְוָתָה, lit. her nakedness.
she herself sighed Heb. נֶאֶנְחָה is in the passive past tense, sospirer in Old French, to sigh, [a verb]. “They heard that I am sighing (נֶאֶנָחָה) (verse 21) is a noun, sospirose in Old French, one who sighs.

Her uncleanliness is in her skirts This is an expression of disgrace. Her menstrual blood is visible in the skirts of her garments, i.e., her sins are conspicuous; she committed them flagrantly.
she was not mindful of her end When they would sin, they were not mindful of what their end would be. Therefore, “she fell astonishingly.” Her descent was astonishing, bringing about much bewilderment, for everyone was bewildered that this happened to her, something that did not happen to any other city.

The adversary stretched forth his hand Ammon and Moab.
upon all her precious things the Siphrei Torah, which are spoken of as (Ps. 19: 11): “They are to he desired more than gold.” All turned to plunder silver and gold, and they turned upon the Siphrei Torah in order to burn them, because it is written in them, (Deut. 23:4): “An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter, etc.”
whom You did command not to enter into Your assembly These are Ammon and Moab.

let it not happen to you Such a calamity should no longer happen to all those who transgress the Law. Our Sages said (Sanh. 104b): It is derived from here that “kuvlana” has a basis in Scripture. See what He did to me; behold and see, etc.
which has been dealt to me which has been done to me.
[with] which the Lord saddened on the day of His fierce anger. This is an expression [denoting] grief, saddening.

and it broke them Heb. וַיִרְדֶנָה, equivalent to וַיִרֶד אוֹתָה, and it broke it, [referring to each of his bones] through punishment and suffering. Therefore, the “nun” is punctuated with a “dagesh,” so that it is interpreted in the feminine singular, like יַעֲשֶׂנָה, he will do it; יְכַסְמֶנָה, he will gnaw at it; יִרְעֶנָה, will graze upon it; for עֶצֶם, bone, is in the feminine gender, as Scripture states (Ezek. 36:4): הָעֲצָמוֹת הַיְבֵשׁוֹת, the dry bones.” It broke each one. Another explanation: וַיִרְדֶנָה is like (Jud. 14:9): “and he separated it (וַיִרְדֵהוּ) into his hands.” It scrapes and separates the marrow from its midst.

The yoke of my transgressions was marked Heb. נִשְׂקַד. This word has no likeness in Scripture, and in the Aramaic language of the Pesikta (d’Rav Kahana p. 153), they call a goad מַסְקְדָא, an ox goad, and I say that it is equivalent to pointurez in Old French. My transgressions were dotted, spotted, and marked in the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, for a remembrance. Their number and their recompense were not forgotten.
they have become interwoven Heb. יִשְּׂתָּרְגוּ. They became many plaits, and came up on my neck. This is the language of the Mishnah (See M.K. 1:8). We may not girth (מְסָרְגִין) the bedsteads.

The Lord has trampled Heb. סִלָה. He trampled and trod, an expression of (Isa. 62:10): “pave, pave the highway (סֹלוּ סֹלוּ הַמְסִלָה),” [meaning to beat down the road].
He summoned an assembly against me Heb. מוֹעֵד, a gathering of troops to come against me. And our Sages expounded what they expounded (Pes. 77a, Ta’an. 29a, Sanh. 104b): Tammuz of that year was a full (thirty-day) month; [i. e., the Tammuz] of the second year from the Exodus from Egypt. Therefore, the return of the Spies occurred on the night of the ninth of Av, upon which their weeping was established for generations (Ta’an. ad loc., Sanh. ad loc., Sotah 35a).
the Lord has trodden as in a wine press An expression of massacre, like (Isa. 63:3): “A wine press I trod alone.” As one treads grapes to extract their wine, so did He trample the women to extract their blood.

my eye, yea, my eye i.e., my eye constantly sheds tears. The double expression indicates that there was no letup.

Zion spreads out her hands Heb. פֵּרְשָּׂה. Like (Isa. 25:11): “And he shall spread out (וּפֵרַשּׂ) his hands in his midst,” like a person who moves his hands to and fro and demonstrates his pain with them. Another explanation is: Zion broke, an expression of breaking, like (Lam. 4:4): “no one breaks it for them”; (Jer. 16:7): “and they shall not break [bread] (יִפְרְסוּ) for them in mourning,” to console him for his dead [kinsman]. So did Menachem classify it (Machbereth Menachem p. 146). And in the language of the Mishnah (Ber. 37a), the broken piece of bread (פְּרוּסָה) is intact. And it means that Zion was in pain like a person who clasps his hands and breaks them. I found an addendum.
the Lord has commanded concerning Jacob that his adversaries shall be round about him He commanded concerning Jacob that his adversaries would surround him. Even when they were exiled to Babylon and to Assyria, Sennacherib exiled their enemies, Ammon and Moab, and settled them beside them, and they taunted them, as is stated in Tractate Kiddushin (72a): Humania was in Babylon, entirely occupied by Ammonites.
an outcast Heb. לְנִדָה, for an outcast and a disgrace.

I called to my lovers Heb. לַמְאַהֲבַי, to those who make themselves appear as lovers.
[but] they deceived me e.g., the children of Ishmael, who went forth toward the exiles when the captors were leading them on the road nearby, as if they were compassionate toward them. And they brought them various kinds of salty foods and inflated skin flasks. They [the Jews] thought that these were [flasks of] wine, so they ate and became thirsty and wished to drink, and when they untied the flask with their teeth, the air entered their intestines and they died. This is what Scripture says (Isa. 21:13f.): “In the forest in Arabia you shall lodge, etc. Bring water toward the thirsty! The inhabitants of the land of Tema came before the wanderer with bread.”
to revive their souls so that they should revive their souls.

burn Heb. חֳמַרְמָרוּ, they became shriveled, and there is an expression like this in the language of the Mishnah (Hul. 3:3): “It fell into the fire and its intestines were scorched (וְנֶחְמְרוּ).”
in the house it is like death Within the house was fear of demons and destructive beings and angels of death, and from without, the enemy’s sword was bereaving them.

that You have done it You caused them to hate me when You separated me from their food and from their drink and from intermarrying with them. Had I intermarried with them, they would have had compassion upon me and upon their daughters’ sons.
You had brought the day that You proclaimed If only You had brought upon them the appointed day that You proclaimed upon me.
and let them be like me in distress.

May all their wickedness come before You May all their iniquities be remembered and counted before You.
and deal with them Heb. וְעוֹלֵל, and do, like (Prov. 20:11): “Also a child can disguise himself with his deeds (בְּמַעֲלָלָיו)”; (Jer. 32:19): “and in accordance with the fruit of his deeds (מַעֲלָלָיו).”