Let all their wickedness come before you; and do unto them, as you have done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.
All Commentaries on Lamentations 1:22 Go To Lamentations 1
Thomas Aquinas
AD 1274
Here a vindicated Judah (Jerusalem) is sought. First is recalled the fault within memory. As expressed: "Let all their evil-doing come before thee." That is, from their sins. For, Psalm l09(l08):l4: exclains: "May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!"
Second, a penalty is sought. As said: "and dealwith them as thou hast dealt with me because of my transgressions." And, as said above in Verse 12: "which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger."
Third, a cause is assigned. As Verse 22 concludes: I, for my groans are many and my heart is faint." Namely, due to the evils that I (Judah, Jerusalem), suffer from such enemies. As Jeremiah 8:18: declares: "My grief is beyond healing, my heart is sick within me."
