How can it be that…cast a gloom. Bring darkness,¹ as Scripture states, “the heavens had become darkened with clouds.”²

footnotes: ¹ Alternatively, ‘has raised up to the clouds.’ (Ibn Ezra) ² I Melochim 18:45.

From heaven to earth. After He lifted them up to heaven, He cast them to earth all at once, and not gradually;³ from a lofty roof to a deep pit.

footnotes: ³ Otherwise Scripture should have stated לארץ, instead of ארץ, the latter expression indicates that it was done in one instant. (Sifsei Chachomim)

His footstool. His footstool, referring to the Beis Hamikdosh.⁴

footnotes: ⁴ See Targum in Tehilim 99:5.

[Every] residence of Yaakov. The houses of Yaakov,⁵ an expression of a dwelling place.⁶

footnotes: ⁵ Referring to the exile of the ten tribes; and ‘the fortifications of the province of Yehudah’ refers to the exile of the Dovidic dynasty, and thereby ‘He desecrated the kingdom, etc.’ ⁶ From the root נוה; referring to the 480 learning institutions in Yerusholayim. (Eichah Rabbah 2:4)

Razing them to the ground. He lowered them to the ground.

He has desecrated the kingdom and its princes. These are the Israelites, who were called, “a kingdom of kohanim.”⁷

footnotes: ⁷ Shemos 19:6.

And its princes. Midrash Aggadah [states] that these are the heavenly princes⁸ [whose appointments] He changed. The one appointed over fire He appointed over water, and He changed all the appointees because there were among the wicked of Yisroel those who knew the Ineffable Name of God, and they relied that they could invoke the heavenly princes to save them from fire, water, and sword. But now, when he would invoke the prince of fire by his name, he would reply, “This dominion is not within my power,” and so all of them.

footnotes: ⁸ It cannot mean ordinary princes because they are included in the previously stated ‘the kingdom.’ (Sifsei Chachomim)

He withheld His right hand. He withdrew Himself as though withdrawing His right hand from waging war for his children.⁹

footnotes: ⁹ His right hand is symbolic of strength and war. See Shemos 15:6.

He arched His bow. Because this is the manner of archers who are strong, to place their foot upon them [bows] when he bends them; therefore it is written as an expression of treading [=דְּרִיכָה.¹⁰

footnotes: ¹⁰ At first He merely arched his bow to scare them so that they repent.

He poured his fury like fire. The arrangement of the words is as follows: He poured His fury, which is like fire, for we do not find the “pouring” of fire except in conjunction with fury as it is written, “Pour Your fury upon the nations.”¹¹

footnotes: ¹¹ Tehilim 79:6.

He magnified in the community of Yehudah. He increased in the congregation of Yehudah.

Suffering and lamentation. Pain and wailing.

He magnified. The yud is vowelized with a small patach [=segol], which is an expression of increasing others, [as in,] “And the people increased וַיִּרֶב and were very mighty,”¹² is vowelized [under the yud] with a chirik, which is an expression meaning that he himself increased. Similarly, every word whose radical ends with a hei, e.g., to turn פָּנָה, to go astray זָנָה, to weep בָּכָה, are vowelized in that manner when the hei is missing, when it speaks of itself it is vowelized with a chirik, e.g., “And Pharaoh turned.”¹³ But when it speaks of others it is vowelized with a small patach [=segol], e.g., “and he turned [the foxes] tail to tail,”¹⁴ [and] “and Yehudah went into exile from his land,”¹⁵. [and] “and the king of Bavel exiled Yisroel into Assyria.”¹⁶

footnotes: ¹² Shemos 1:20. See Rashi there on וייטב. ¹³ Shemos 17:23. ¹⁴ Shoftim 15:4. ¹⁵ II Melochim 25:21. Here, ויגל is vowelized with a chirik ¹⁶ Ibid., 18:11.

He cut down. An expression of cutting, and similarly, “He will cast off like a vine,”¹⁷ [and] “your steps were cut off.”¹⁸

footnotes: ¹⁷ Iyov 15:33. ¹⁸ Yirmiyahu 13:22.

Like a garden. As they cut off the vegetables of a garden.

His dwelling place. His abode.¹⁹ It is written שִׁכּוֹ [to indicate] that He lightened²⁰ His anger against His children with the destruction of His House. [So it is expounded] in the Midrash of Lamentations.²¹

footnotes: ¹⁹ The Kodesh Hakodoshim. (Palgei Mayim) ²⁰ As in Bereishis 8:1, ‘and the waters subsided’ [וישכו]. ²¹ Eichah Rabbah 2:10.

He destroyed His place of Communion. The Holy of Holies,²² where He would meet with His children, as it is stated, “I will set My meeting you there.”²³

footnotes: ²² Alternatively, the Beis Hamikdosh. (Palgei Mayim) ²³ Shemos 25:22. See footnote for 1:4 above.

The king and the kohein. King Tzidkiyahu²⁴ and Serayahu the Kohein Gadol.²⁵ must be two individuals rather than a king who is a kohein, because the kings who ruled during the period of the first Beis Hamikdosh were descendants of the non-kohein Dovidic dynasty. (Sifsei Chachomim)

footnotes: ²⁴ See II Melochim 25:7. ²⁵ See II Melochim 25:18-21. Rashi explains that the king and the kohein

[He] nullified. He rejected,²⁶ and similarly, “You rejected נֵאַרְתָּה the covenant of Your servant.”²⁷

footnotes: ²⁶ Alternatively, ‘he burnt.’ ²⁷ Tehilim 89:40.

Like that of a festival day. For they were making merry and singing with a loud voice in its midst. So did the enemies let out a cry of joy when it was destroyed.

Adonoy determined to destroy. It had been many days since this entered His mind, as it is stated, “For it has aroused My anger and My fury— this city—[from the day that they built it until this day], to remove it from My Presence.”²⁸

footnotes: ²⁸ Yirmiyahu 32:31.

He set the course. Of judgement, to be punished for our sins.

From destroying. From destroying.

The fence and the wall. A large wall and a small wall, a low wall opposite a high wall.

Her gates sank into the ground. The Midrash Aggadah [states], that because they [i.e., the gates] imparted honor to the Ark, as it is stated, “raise up your heads O gates,”²⁹ therefore no one had any power over them, and they sank into the ground. [But] our Rabbis said that they were Dovid’s handiwork, therefore, the enemies had no power over them.³⁰

footnotes: ²⁹ Tehilim 24:9. ³⁰ Maseches Sotah 9a.

Without guidance. There is no one among them to give instructions.

They sit on the ground, etc. According to its apparent meaning. But the Midrash Aggadah [states] that Nevuchadnetzar sat them on the ground when Tzidkiyahu rebelled against him and transgressed his oath. He came and stationed himself in Dophnei³¹ of Ontochya, and sent for the Sanhedrin. They came toward him and he saw that they were men of imposing appearance. He sat them down in golden chairs and said to them, “recite your Torah for me chapter by chapter and translate it for me.” When they reached the chapter dealing with vows, he said to them, “[What] if he wishes to retract [from his vow], can he retract?” They said to him, “Let him go to a sage and he will absolve him [of his vow].” He said to them, “If so, you [must have] absolved Tzidkiyahu of his oath.” He [Nevuchadnetzar] commanded, and they pushed them down and sat them on the ground.³² They then tied the hair of their heads to the horses’ tails³³ and dragged them.

footnotes: ³¹ Nevuchadnetzar’s headquarters was situated in Rivlah as indicated in Yirmiyahu 39:5. See Targum Yonoson Ben Uzieil in Bamidbar 34:11, who identifies Rivlah as Daphnei. However, the Gemara in Maseches Sanhedrin 96b identifies Rivlah as Antochya. ³² If they had sat down on their own accord, Scripture would have stated yushvu instead of yishvu and domu instead of yidmu. ³³ As indicated by the end of the verse, ‘they lower their heads to the ground.’

Shriveled. Regrezilerent [shriveled up] in O.F. Intestines— when a person casts them into a fire— shrivel up and burn.

Faint. Pasmer [faint] in O.F.

What testimony can I offer you, to what can I compare you. To say to you, “Why do you wonder about your destruction? Did that not happen to such and such a nation, just like [it happened] you?”³⁴

footnotes: ³⁴ I.e., there is no other nation that suffered a calamity equal to yours.

To what can I liken you to console you. When trouble befalls a person, [people] say to him, “This also happened to so and so,” as a consolation for him.

Falsehood and stupidity. Words that have no taste, in O.F. aplastrement.

And did not expose your transgressions. To reprove you directly about your way.

To bring you back from your waywardness. To straighten you out of your waywardness, an expression of “rebellious שׁוֹבְבָה,”³⁵ “ backsliding שׁוֹבָבִים,”³⁶ “and he went waywardly שׁוֹבָב.”³⁷

footnotes: ³⁵ Yirmiyahu 8;5. ³⁶ Ibid., 3:14. ³⁷ Yeshayahuu 57:17.

And deception. They misled you away from Me.

They hiss. To blow with the mouth, [i.e., to whistle], sibler in O.F. It is customary for a person to do so upon seeing an important thing that was ruined and destroyed.

The perfection of beauty. All beauty was hers.³⁸

footnotes: ³⁸ See Tehilim 50:2. The gematriya [numerical value] of ירושלים is equal to כלילת יופי . (Yalkut Me’am Lo’ez)

They opened their mouths wide concerning you. Why did Scripture place the pei³⁹ before the ayin⁴⁰? Because they [i.e., the prophets] were saying with their mouths what they did not see with their eyes.

footnotes: ³⁹ Means ‘mouth’. ⁴⁰ Means ‘eye’.

He fulfilled his word. He completed His decree, as in, “let loose His hand and finish me off וִיבַצְּעֵנִי.”⁴¹

footnotes: ⁴¹ Iyov 6:9.

As decreed in the days of old. That which is written in the Torah, “then I will increase your punishment sevenfold.”⁴²

footnotes: ⁴² Vayikra 26:18.

Respite. Letting up, tresalement in O.F. [let up], as in, “and his heart grew faint וַיָּפָג.”⁴³

footnotes: ⁴³ Bereishis 45:26.

The pupil of your eye. The black area of the eye which is called preanal [in O.F.].

Watches. Two parts of the night, for the night is divided into three parts,⁴⁴ as our Rabbis stated in Maseches Berachos.⁴⁵

footnotes: ⁴⁴ See Rashi in Shemos 14:24. ⁴⁵ 3a.

Faint. Pasmez in O.F. [faint].

Infants who were lovingly attended. Tender children, who are still being raised with their mothers’ pampering. And our Rabbis expounded [that this phrase is] referring to Do’eg the son of Yoseif,⁴⁶ whose mother would measure him with [her] handbreadth every day,⁴⁷ to give gold to the Beis Hamikdosh according to how much he grew;⁴⁸ and in the end she devoured him.⁴⁹

footnotes: ⁴⁶ See Eichah Rabbah 1:51 which indicates that the infant was the son of Do’eg who had died, leaving a small child. However, according to an edification in the Talmudic text in Maseches Yoma 38b, Do’eg was the child’s name, and Rashi apparently had this version. ⁴⁷ The word טפחים [tipuchim] meaning care, can also be vowelized as tephuchim, meaning ‘handbreadths.’ ⁴⁸ I.e., the weight he gained. ⁴⁹ Maseches Yoma 38b.

When in the Sanctuary of God, was murdered a kohein and a prophet. The Holy Spirit answers them, “Was it proper for you to have murdered Zecharyah the son of Yehoyada,” as it is written in Divrei Hayomim,⁵⁰ that he reproved them when they came to prostrate themselves to Yo’ash, and they deified him. “And the Spirit [of God] enveloped Zecharyah the son of Yehoyada,”⁵¹ who was a kohein and a prophet, and they killed him in the courtyard.⁵²

footnotes: ⁵⁰ II Divrei Hayomim 24:20-21. ⁵¹ Ibid., 24:20. ⁵² Because he rebuked them for worshiping idols and he had prophesied the destruction of Yerusholayim.

You summon as if to a festive day. תִּקְרָא means] the same as קָרָאתָ; an expression in the present tense.

My neighbors. My evil neighbors, to gather about me to destroy.⁵³

footnotes: ⁵³ Alternatively, ‘my terrors.’ (Ibn Ezra)

To whom I attended lovingly and reared, my enemy has annihilated. The children whom I pampered and reared, the enemy came and annihilated them.