Panic and pitfall have come upon us—devastation and destruction.
The Prophet largely dwells on the grievousness of the calamity which had happened. He compares here the anxieties into which the people had been brought, to a pitfall and dread. There is a striking alliteration in the words פחד and פחת, pechet and peched.
It is easier to chide ourselves for complaining than to chide ourselves out of it. The Prophet owns his sin and calls it rebellion, laying the load upon himself; yet the wound bleeds afresh when he considers that his sins are confessed but not pardoned, his case pitiable but unpitied. In sharp trials we must think and speak kindly of God even when our souls are cast down.
AI summary
Commenting on Lamentations 3:42-54
Mine enemies chased me sore like a bird,.... That is weak and helpless, fearful and timorous; that flees from place to place when pursued; so it was with the prophet, or rather with the people of the Jews he represents; for here and in the following verses he speaks not only of himself, but of them; who, when they fled out of the city, were...