The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.
He pursues the same subject, but he seems more clearly to explain what he had briefly stated in the preceding verse, when he says that all joy of the heart had ceased, and that all the dances were turned into mourning The words ought rather to be thus rendered, — Turned into mourning was our piping. The word does not mean dancing, but playing on some fistular instrument. — Ed.
In trouble, pour out your complaint before God and make it known; He sees and remembers all that befalls you. Their whole grief compressed into one word: reproach. This reproach cut deeper because it reflected on God's own honor, who had once owned them as His people.
AI summary
Commenting on Lamentations 5:1-16
The joy of our heart is ceased,.... ward joy was gone, as well as the external signs of it: it "sabbatized" (y), as it may be rendered; alluding perhaps to the cordial joy expressed formerly on their sabbaths and other festivals, now not observed; at least, not with that joy, inward and outward, they formerly were: our dance is turned into mourning; which also was...