Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate.

My ways He is turning aside, and He pulleth me in pieces, He hath made me a desolation.

By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste.

He has obstructed my path, and torn me in pieces; he has made me desolate.

DALETH. He has subverted my paths, and he has broken me. He has placed me in desolation.

Vias meas pervertit et scidit me (vel, dissipavit, vel, laceravit,) posuit me vastatam (vel, quasi vastitatem.)

In this verse also the Prophet shews how grievously the faithful are disturbed when they feel that God is adverse to them. But he uses the same figure as yesterday, though the word svrr, surer, is different: what he used yesterday was vh, oue, but in the same sense. He then says that his ways had been perverted; [1] and for this reason, because he had been disappointed in his purpose; whatever he did was made void, because God by force prevented him. When we undertake to do anything, a way is open to us; but when there is no success, our way is said to be perverted. And this is done by God, who has all events, prosperous as well as adverse, in his own hand. As, then, God directs our ways when he blesses our counsels and our actions; so, on the other hand, he perverts them, when all things turn out unsuccessfully, when our purpose is not done and events do not answer our expectations. He afterwards adds, He hath torn me or broken me. The verb phsch, peshech, means properly to cut, but here to tear or scatter. It follows lastly, he hath made me a waste In this expression he includes the other two things; for he who is reduced to desolation, does not hold on his way, nor find any exit; he is also drawn here and there, as though he was torn into several parts. We hence see that the Prophet here complains of extreme evils, for there was no hope of deliverance left. He adds, --

Footnotes

1 - The word, having the last letter doubled, means to turn aside again and again, "He has often turned aside my ways." -- Ed.

The meaning is, "God, as a lion, lying in wait, has made me turn aside from my path, but my flight was in vain, for springing upon me from His ambush lie has torn me in pieces."
Desolate - Or, astonied, stupefied that he cannot flee. The word is a favorite one with Jeremiah.

He hath turned aside my ways,.... Or caused me to depart or go back from the way I was in, and so fall into the hand of the enemy that lay in wait, as before. Jarchi interprets the word of thorns, and of scattering the way with thorns, and hedging it up with them, so that there was no passing, Hosea 2:6; the sense seems to be the same with Lamentations 3:9;
and pulled me in pieces: as any creature that falls into the hands of a bear or lion. Jarchi says it signifies a stopping of the feet, so that the traveller cannot go on in his way; and in the Talmudic language it is used for the breaking off of branches of trees, which being strowed in the way, hinder passengers from travelling; and this sense agrees with what goes before:
he hath made me desolate; or brought me into a desolate condition, into ruin and destruction, as the Jews were in Babylon.

turned aside--made me wander out of the right way, so as to become a prey to wild beasts.
pulled in pieces-- (Hosea 6:1), as a "bear" or a "lion" (Lamentations 3:10).