Rashi on the Prophets and Writings

I am the man who has seen affliction Jeremiah lamented, saying, “I am the man who has seen affliction,” who has seen affliction more than all the prophets who prophesied concerning the destruction of the Temple, for the Temple was not destroyed in their days, but it was in my days.
by the rod of His wrath of the One who chastises and smites, i.e., the Holy One, blessed be He.

Only against me would He repeatedly I alone am constantly smitten, for the entire repetition of His blows is upon me.

He has made my flesh and my skin waste away Heb. בִּלָה, like (Isa. 44:19): “to rotten wood (לְבוּל עֵץ).” Another explanation: He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, like (ibid. 51:6): “And the earth shall rot away (תִּבְלֶה) like a garment,” i.e., both young and old lay on the ground with neither pillow nor cushion, and their flesh wore out when they were going into exile.

and encompassed He encompassed me.
gall Heb. רֹאשּׁ, like (Deut. 29: “gall (רֹאשּׁ) and wormwood.” The Midrash Aggadah (Lam. Rabhah), states: רֹאשּׁ refers to Nebuchadnezzar in the exile of Jehoiachin. travail Nebuzaradan, who completed the blow in the days of Zedekiah, and he wearied me.

He has fenced me in He has made a wall opposite me so that I should be imprisoned.
so that I cannot get out He stationed camps and troops of soldiers lying-in-wait around me.
He has made my chains heavy He made heavy fetters for my feet so that I would be unable to walk, f(i)eryes in Old French, chains.

He shuts out my prayer He shut the windows of the sky before it.

He has made my paths crooked If I wish to go out, I do not go out on roads paved in a straight way, because of the enemies, but I go out on a crooked road.

He is to me a bear lying in wait The Holy One, blessed be He, turned into a bear lying in wait for me.

He scattered thorns on my ways Heb. סוֹרֵר, an expression of סִירִים, thorns. סוֹרֵר means that He “thorned” them, He scattered thorns on my ways.
He caused me to spread my legs Heb. וַיְפַשְׁחֵנִי, an expression of spreading the legs. One who passes on roads that are not cleared must widen his stride, and there is an example of this in the language of the Gemara (M.K. 10b): “The one who pruned (דְפָשַׁח) a date palm” [meaning that he separated the branches from the trunk].

and set me up as a target He set me up opposite His arrows to shoot at me like a target, asenayl in Old French, target.

the arrows of His quiver arrows that are placed within the quiver, called cuyvre, quiver.

He has made...grind Heb. וַיַגְרֵס, and He broke, and an example is (Ps. 119.20): “My soul is crushed (גָרְסָה)”; and similarly (Lev. 2:14): “ground (גֶרֶשּׂ) when still fresh.”
on gravel Heb. בֶּחָצָץ, fine pebbles that are in the midst of the dust, for the exiles would knead their dough in the pits that they would dig in the ground, and the gravel would enter it, as the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Ezekiel (12:3), “Make yourself implements for exile,” in which to drink and in which to knead a small cake, so that they should learn and do likewise, as it is stated (ibid. 24:24): “And Ezekiel will be to you for a sign,” but they ridiculed him and did not do so; [so] their teeth were ultimately broken.
and caused me to wallow He turned me over in ashes like a vessel inverted on its mouth, adenter in Old French, to throw flat on one’s face. There is a similar word in the Mishnah (sic) (Yev. 107b): Pishon the camel driver measured with an inverted (כְּפוּשָּׁה) measure.

So I said, Gone is my life Heb. נִצְחִי. I said to myself in the midst of my many troubles, “My world and my hope are gone.”

and my misery Heb. וּמְרוּדִי, compleynt, wailing.

well remembers My soul [well remembers] my affliction and my misery and is bowed down within me. This is the simple meaning according to the context of the verse. The Midrash Aggadah (Lam. Rabbah), however, [explains it as follows:] I know that You will ultimately remember what was done to me, but my soul is bowed down within me waiting for the time of remembrance. On this the liturgical poet based [his poem]: “With this I know that You have to remember, but my soul is bowed down within me until You remember.”

This I reply to my heart After my heart said to me that my hope from the Lord was gone, I will reply this to my heart, and I will continue to hope. Now what is it that I will reply to my heart?

Verily, the kindnesses of the Lord never cease and the entire section until (v. 39): “Why should [a living man] complain? etc.”
Indeed, His mercies never fail Heb. כִּי לא תָמְנוּ, like כִּי לֹא תָמוּ. And some explain: כִּי לֹא תָמְנוּ, [for we have not ended] like (Num. 17:27): “Are we then altogether given (תָמְנוּ) to die?” It is [because of] the kindnesses of the Lord that we have not ended, that we have not perished because of our iniquities.

They are new every morning Your kindnesses are renewed from day to day.
great is Your faithfulness Your promise is great, and it is a great thing to believe in You that You will fulfill and keep what You promised us.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul The Lord is my portion; it is therefore proper that I should hope in Him.

It is good that one should wait quietly Heb. טוֹב וְיָחִיל וְדוּמָם. The “vav” of וְיָחִיל is superfluous like the “vav” of (Gen. 36:24): “Ayyah (וְאַיָּה) and Anah.” It is good that a man wait and remain silent and hope for the Lord’s salvation.

Let him sit solitary Whoever was befallen by mourning and trouble should sit solitary and hope for the best.
and wait Heb. וְיִדֹם, an expression of waiting, like (I Sam. 14:9): “If they say thus to us, Wait! (דֹמוּ)” about Jonathan.
for He has laid [it] upon him for the Lord of decrees has laid this decree upon him.

For the Lord will not cast [him] off forever It is therefore good to wait.

Though he cause grief If a man brings grief upon himself because of his iniquity, afterwards—He will yet have compassion according to the abundance of His kindness.
The words הוֹגָה וְיָגֶה are expressions of תּוּגָה, grief.

For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of man from His heart and from His will, but the iniquity causes [it].

[Or] crush under His feet This refers back to, “For He does not willingly afflict to crush under His feet, etc., or pervert the righteous judgment of a man, or distort a man’s dispute, etc.” All these the Lord did not approve. He did not approve of them, and it did not enter His thoughts to do so.

does not approve He does not approve that the heavenly tribunal should distort a person’s dispute, like (Gen. 20:10): “What did you see that you did, etc.”

[And] by the command of the Most High, etc. And if you attempt to say that this evil did not come to me from His hand, that it is happenstance that it has befallen me, this is not so, for both evil occurrences and good occurrences—who has commanded and they came to pass, unless the Lord ordained? And by His command both evil and good come. But “why should a living man complain? A man for his sins.” Every man should complain about his sins, because they are what bring the evil upon him. (By the command of the Most High, neither good nor evil come Said Rabbi Johanan: Since the day that the Holy One, blessed be He, said, [Deut. 30:15]: “See, I have set before you today life and good, etc.,” neither evil nor good has come from His command, but the evil comes by itself to the one who commits evil and the good to the one who does good. [Lam. Rabbah].) Therefore, what should a man complain about, if not about his sins?

Let us lift up our hearts to our hands When we lift up our hands to heaven, let us also lift up our hearts with them, to return, to bring back our hearts before the Omnipresent, blessed be He. (Lam. Rabbah ms.). Another explanation: to our hands to the clouds, to the heavens, as Scripture states (I Kings 18:44): “There is a cloud as small as a man’s palm, rising.” And similarly, (Job 36:32): “Over the clouds (כַּפַּיִם) He covers the rain.” And [according to] the Midrash of our Sages: Let us lift up our hands sincerely to the Holy One, blessed be He, like one who washes his hands with cleanliness, who casts from his hands all contamination, for “he who confesses [his sins] and abandons [them] will obtain mercy, but he who confesses [his sins] but does not abandon [them] is like one who immerses himself while holding a [dead] reptile in his hand.”

We have rebelled and have been disob edient This is our way, [that we sinned] because of the evil inclination.
You have not forgiven And for You, forgiveness is fitting, for so is Your way.

You have enveloped Yourself with anger You set anger up to be a barrier between You and us, and You pursued us with it.

scum and refuse That is נִיעַ in the language of the Mishnah (B.K. 3b), כִּיחוֹ וְנִיעוֹ, his phlegm and his mucus, which is drawn out from the lungs and emitted from the throat.
You make us This is in the present tense.

We had terror and pitfalls When we fled because of the terror, we fell into the pit.
desolation Heb. הַשֵׁאת, an expression of desolation (שְּׁאִיָה).

without respite without change or cessation.

My eye sullies my soul more than all the daughters of my city Jeremiah was from a priestly family, and he said, “My eye, with its tears, sullies my face over myself more than all the daughters of my city.”
sullies Heb. עוֹלְלָה, an expression of sullying, like (Job 16:15): “and sullied (וְעוֹלַלְתִּי) my radiance.”
more than all the daughters of my city My family has more to cry for than all the daughters of the city, for it was chosen for sanctity and for the service of the Holy One, blessed be He, over all Israel.

They have confined my life in the dungeon Heb. בַּבּוֹר, in prison.
They have confined Heb. צָמְתוּ, they bound, like the junction (צֹמֶת) of the sinews (Hul. 76a); (Song 4:1): “from within your kerchief (לְצַמָתֵךְ),” estreyture in Old French, restriction, tightening.
and have cast a stone upon me on the mouth of the dungeon. That is what they did to Daniel, and Jeremiah foresaw it with the holy spirit.
They have confined my life in the dungeon And although they confined my life in the dungeon so that I cannot ascend from within it, they did not pay attention to this until they cast a stone upon me.

Water flowed, etc. When a person enters water up to his waist, he still has hope, but if the water flows over his head, he then says, “My hope is gone,” but I do not do this, for “I called, etc.”
Water flowed the heathens.

You did draw near when I called on You So were You accustomed in the early days to draw near to me on the day I called.

You did plead my cause in days past.

You have seen wrong done to me, O Lord In this trouble, that my enemies wronged me.
judge my cause as You have already done [in times past].

Give them a weakness of heart Heb. מְגִנַת לֵב, a breaking of the heart, as Scripture says: (Hosea 11:8): “I shall break you (אֲמַגֶנְךָ), O Israel”; (Gen. 14:20): “who broke (מִגֵן) your adversaries in your hand.” Another explanation: מְגִנַתלֵב, stopping up of the heart, trouble and sighing, which are like a shield against the heart. But he who explains it as an expression of grief (תּוּגָה וְיָגוֹן) is in error, for there is no “nun” in this word, for the “nun” in יָגוֹן is not a radical, but is like the “nun” of הָמוֹן from the root of הָמוּ גוֹיִם and like קָלוֹן from the root of נִקְלֶה, and like the “nun” of צִיוֹן from the root of צִיָה and so the “nun” of שִּׁבְרוֹן from the root of שֶּׁבֶר (and like the “nun” of שִּׁגָעוֹן, שְּׁמָמוֹן. It appears to me that this is the correct reading, and this is easy to understand.)
Your curse An expression of (Isa. 19: 13): נוֹאֲלוּ שָׂרֵי צֹעַן, “The princes of Zoan have become foolish.”