Lamentations 2

The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity

1 How the Lord in his anger

has set the daughter of Zion *[ch. 3:44] under a cloud!

*[Matt. 11:23]; See Isa. 14:15He has cast down from heaven to earth

the splendor of Israel;

he has not remembered *1 Chr. 28:2his footstool

in the day of his anger.

2 The Lord *ver. 16;[Ps. 35:25;56:2;Ezek. 36:3] has swallowed up *ver. 17, 21;ch. 3:43;[Ezek. 9:5,10] without mercy

all the habitations of Jacob;

in his wrath *Ps. 89:40he has broken down

the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;

he has brought *Ps. 74:7down to the ground *Ps. 74:7in dishonor

the kingdom *Isa. 43:28and its rulers.

3 He has cut down in *See Jer. 12:13fierce anger

all *1 Sam. 2:1the might of Israel;

*Ps. 74:11he has withdrawn from them his right hand

in the face of the enemy;

*Ps. 79:5;89:46he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,

consuming all around.

4 *ch. 3:12He has bent his bow like an enemy,

with his right hand set *See Jer. 30:14like a foe;

and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes;

in the tent of the daughter of Zion,

he has poured out his fury like fire.

5 *[See ver. 4above] The Lord has become like an enemy;

*ver. 16;[Ps. 35:25;56:2;Ezek. 36:3] he has swallowed up Israel;

*[2 Kgs. 25:9] he has swallowed up all its palaces;

he has laid in ruins its strongholds,

and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah

*Isa. 29:2mourning and lamentation.

6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden,

laid in ruins *ch. 1:4;Isa. 1:13;Zeph. 3:18his meeting place;

*ch. 1:4;Isa. 1:13;Zeph. 3:18the Lord has made Zion forget

festival and *Isa. 1:13Sabbath,

and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

7 *[Ps. 89:38] The Lord has scorned his altar,

*[Ezek. 24:21] disowned his sanctuary;

*Deut. 32:30he has delivered into the hand of the enemy

the walls of her palaces;

*Ps. 74:4they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord

as on the day of festival.

8 *[Jer. 5:10] The Lord determined to lay in ruins

*ver. 18the wall of the daughter of Zion;

*See 2 Kgs. 21:13he stretched out the measuring line;

he did not restrain his hand from destroying;

*Jer. 14:2he caused rampart and wall to lament;

*Jer. 14:2they languished together.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;

*Jer. 51:30;Nah. 3:13he has ruined *Jer. 51:30;Nah. 3:13and broken her bars;

*[Hos. 3:4] her king and princes are among the nations;

the law is no more,

and *Ps. 74:9her prophets find

no vision from the Lord.

10 The elders of the daughter of Zion

*ch. 1:1;3:28;Isa. 3:26sit on the ground *Ezek. 3:15in silence;

*See Josh. 7:6they have thrown dust on their heads

and *Jer. 48:37;Ezek. 7:18;Amos 8:10;See Jer. 4:8put on sackcloth;

the young women of Jerusalem

have bowed their heads to the ground.

11 *[ver. 18; ch. 5:17;Ps. 6:7] My eyes are spent with weeping;

*See ch. 1:20my stomach churns;

*[Job 16:13] my bile is poured out to the ground

*ch. 3:48because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,

*[ch. 4:4;Jer. 44:7] because infants and babies *ver. 19;[Isa. 51:20]faint

in the streets of the city.

12 They cry to their mothers,

*See ch. 1:11"Where is bread and wine?"

*[See ver. 11above]as they faint like a wounded man

in the streets of the city,

as their life is poured out

on their mothers’ bosom.

13 What can I say for you, *[ch. 1:12] to what compare you,

O daughter of Jerusalem?

*[ch. 1:12] What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,

O virgin daughter of Zion?

*2 Sam. 5:20;[Ezek. 26:3]For your ruin is vast as the sea;

who can heal you?

14 *See Jer. 5:31Your prophets have seen for you

false and deceptive visions;

*[Isa. 58:1] they have not exposed your iniquity

to *See Jer. 30:3restore your fortunes,

*See Jer. 5:31but have seen for you *[Jer. 23:33,34]oracles

that are false and misleading.

15 All who pass along the way

clap their hands at you;

*See 2 Chr. 29:8they hiss and wag their heads

at the daughter of Jerusalem:

"Is this the city that was called

*Ps. 48:2;Ezek. 16:14the perfection of beauty,

*Ps. 48:2;Ezek. 16:14the joy of all the earth?"

16 *ch. 3:46;[Job 16:9,10] All your enemies

rail against you;

they hiss, they gnash their teeth,

they cry: "We *See ver. 2have swallowed her!

Ah, this is the day we longed for;

now we have it; *[Ps. 35:21]we see it!"

17 The Lord has done what he purposed;

he has carried out *See Lev. 26:14-45;Deut. 28:15-68his word,

which he commanded *ch. 1:7;Jer. 46:26long ago;

*See ver. 2he has thrown down *ver. 2, 21without pity;

*[Ps. 38:16;89:42] he has made the enemy rejoice over you

and exalted the *[ver. 3]might of your foes.

18 Their heart cried to the Lord.

O *ver. 8wall of the daughter of Zion,

*See ver. 11let tears stream down like a torrent

*Ps. 32:4;42:3day and night!

*Ps. 77:2Give yourself no rest,

*Ps. 17:8your eyes no respite!

19 "Arise, *Ps. 119:147,148cry out in the night,

at the beginning of the night watches!

*Ps. 62:8;[1 Sam. 7:6] Pour out your heart like water

before the presence of the Lord!

*[1 Tim. 2:8] Lift your hands to him

for the lives of your children,

*See ver. 11, 12who faint for hunger

at the head of every street."

20 Look, O Lord, and see!

*ch. 1:22With whom have you dealt thus?

*ch. 4:10;See Jer. 19:9Should women eat the fruit of their womb,

the children of *ver. 22their tender care?

Should *[ch. 4:13]priest and prophet be killed

in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 In the dust of the streets

*[2 Chr. 36:17] lie the young and the old;

*[2 Chr. 36:17] my young women and my young men

have fallen by the sword;

*ch. 3:43you have killed them in the day of your anger,

slaughtering *ver. 2, 17without pity.

22 You summoned as if to *[ver. 6] a festival day

*See Jer. 6:25my terrors on every side,

*[Jer. 42:17;44:14] and on the day of the anger of the Lord

no one escaped or survived;

*ver. 20those whom I held and raised

my enemy destroyed.