Lamentations 3:46 Meaning and Explanation

'All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.' The image is of foes gaping wide to mock, to threaten, to devour with words. The people are surrounded by hostile voices on every side, the jeering and gloating that compound the wound of defeat. There is no relief from the chorus of enemies.

This verse echoes the taunts heard in chapter two and gathers up the experience of being besieged not only by armies but by scorn. Yet the faithful sufferer has learned where to take such things. Rather than answering the enemies in kind, he names their hostility to God in prayer, laying it before the One who sees and who has promised that he will not cast off for ever. The open mouths of enemies are not the last sound the people will hear.