Lamentations 3:53

“They have cut off my life in the dungeon, etc.] Jarchi interprets it, “they bound me in the prison.” Jeremiah was both in a prison and in a dungeon, where he was deprived of the society of men, as if he had been dead; and he was in danger of losing his life; but whether any respect is had to it here is not certain: it seems rather to respect the people of the Jews in captivity, who were deprived of their rights and liberties, and of the comforts of life; and were like dead men in their graves, to whom they are compared, (<263711>Ezekiel 37:11); but since Jeremiah was not dead, nor did he die in the dungeon, Jarchi’s sense seems best, and agrees with what follows; and is confirmed by the…”

“in . . . dungeon-- (Jer 37:16). stone--usually put at the mouth of a dungeon to secure the prisoners (Jos 10:18; Dan 6:17; Mat 27:60).”

“They have cut off my life in the dungeon - Or, “They destroyed my life in the pit,” i. e. tried to destroy it by casting me into the cistern, and covering the month with a stone. See the margin reference. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Dungeon - Dungeon seems here to be taken for the lowest condition of misery. Lamentations 3:54”

“cut: Jer 37:20, Jer 38:6, Jer 38:9 and: Dan 6:17; Mat 27:60, Mat 27:66 Lamentations 3:54”

“צמתוּ is here used transitively in Kal, as the Piel is elsewhere, Psa 119:139, and the Pilpel, Psa 88:17. צמתוּ בבּור, "they were destroying (cutting off) my life down into the pit," is a pregnant construction, and must be understood de conatu: "they sought to destroy my life when they hurled me down into the pit, and cast stones on me," i.e., not "they covered the pit with a stone" (Pareau, De Wette, Neumann). The verb ידה construed with בּ does not take this meaning, for ידה merely signifies to cast, e.g., lots ( Jos 4:3, etc.), arrows ( Jer 50:14), or to throw down = destroy, annihilate, Zac 2:4; and בּי does not mean "in the pit in which I was," but "upon (or against) me." The sing. אבן…”