Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, which the LORD has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
All Commentaries on Lamentations 1:12 Go To Lamentations 1
Thomas Aquinas
AD 1274
Here is exposed the captivity of the city. Jerusalem, and the tribe of Judah. First in interpreted these people enduring a severity of judgment, second, the judgment of the enemy's cruelty. As said in Verse 11: "Look, O Lord, and behold, for I am despised."
Regarding a severity of judgment, two further ideas are advanced. First is set forth the severity of judgment in general, second in particular. As beyond said in Verse 15: "The Lord flouted all my mighty men in the midst of me, he summoned an assembly against me to crush my young men.
Regarding the general severity of judgment three more notions are conveyed. First is exposed the very indignation of the Lord God, as to how He vindicates through judgment.
Second is the severity of divine discipline regarding the Lord God educating through punishment. Like the next Verse 13 ("Mem") points out. "From on high he sent fire; into my bones he made it descend; he spread a net at my feet; he turned me back; he has left me stunned, faint all the day long."
Third is proposed the rigor of divine justice, insofar as the office of judge is exercised in punishing. As Verse l~4' states: "My transgressions were bound into a yoke; by his hand they were fastened together.
To the first idea (indignation of the Lord God) three further notions are advanced. First, an invocation is considered. As said in Verse 12: "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like to my sorrow which was brought upon me." That is, along this region of the desert. So Jeremiah says: "And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, 'Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?'" (Jer: 22:8)
Second the magnitude of their grief is viewed. Verse 12 says: "Look and see". For, while one considers their grief one does not view anything similar. Also, it was greatest, since everything was taken away. As Jeremiah 8:21 says: "For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me."
Third, such indignation of the Lord God is viewed as to a reason for such grief. For, one will vindicate captivity, as you (the enemy) destroy inhabitants like a sta]k of grape clusters in a vineyard.
For the prophet Isaiah 5:7 states: "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting." And Psalm 80(79):12 says: "Why then hast thou broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?"
Then, Verse 12 concludes: "which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger". That is, which the Lord threatens through his prophets.
