Lamentations 2:1-19
New American Standard Bible
God’s Anger over Israel
2 How the Lord has [a](A)covered the daughter of Zion
With a cloud in His anger!
He has (B)hurled
The (C)glory of Israel from heaven to earth,
And has not remembered His (D)footstool
In the day of His anger.
2 The Lord has [b](E)destroyed; He has not spared
All the settlements of Jacob.
In His wrath He has (F)overthrown
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah,
He has (G)hurled them down to the ground;
He has (H)profaned the kingdom and its leaders.
3 In fierce anger He has cut off
[c]All the (I)strength of Israel;
He has (J)pulled back His right hand
From the enemy.
And He has (K)burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
Consuming on all sides.
4 He has bent His (L)bow like an enemy;
His right hand is positioned like an adversary,
And He has killed everything that was (M)pleasant to the eye.
In the tent of the daughter of Zion
He has (N)poured out His wrath like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an (O)enemy.
He has (P)engulfed Israel;
He has engulfed all its (Q)palaces,
He has destroyed its strongholds
And (R)caused great mourning and grieving in the daughter of Judah.
6 And He has treated His [d]tabernacle violently, like a despised garden;
He has (S)destroyed His appointed [e]meeting place.
The Lord has (T)caused
The appointed feast and Sabbath in Zion to be forgotten,
And He has (U)despised king and priest
In the indignation of His anger.
7 The Lord has (V)rejected His altar,
He has [f]repudiated His sanctuary;
He (W)has handed over
The walls of her palaces to the enemy.
They have made a (X)noise in the house of the Lord
As on the day of an appointed feast.
8 The Lord determined to destroy
The wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has (Y)stretched out a line,
He has not restrained His hand from [g]destroying,
And He has (Z)caused rampart and wall to mourn;
They have languished together.
9 Her (AA)gates have sunk into the ground,
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her leaders are among the nations;
The (AB)Law is gone.
Her prophets, too, find
(AC)No vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
(AD)Sit on the ground and [h](AE)are silent.
They have thrown (AF)dust on their heads;
They have put on (AG)sackcloth.
The (AH)virgins of Jerusalem
Have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My (AI)eyes fail because of tears,
My [i](AJ)spirit is greatly troubled;
My [j](AK)heart is poured out on the earth
(AL)Because of the [k]destruction of the daughter of my people,
When (AM)little ones and infants languish
In the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“(AN)Where is grain and wine?”
As they faint like a wounded person
In the streets of the city,
As their (AO)lives are poured out
[l]In their mothers’ arms.
13 How shall I admonish you?
What (AP)shall I compare to you,
Daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I liken to you as I comfort you,
(AQ)Virgin daughter of Zion?
For your collapse is as vast as the sea;
Who can (AR)heal you?
14 Your (AS)prophets have seen for you
Worthless and deceptive visions;
And they have not (AT)exposed your wrongdoing
So as to restore you from captivity,
But they have (AU)seen for you worthless and misleading pronouncements.
15 All who pass along the way
(AV)Clap their hands in ridicule at you;
They (AW)[m]hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city of which they said,
‘(AX)Perfect in beauty,
(AY)A joy to all the earth’?”
16 All (AZ)your enemies
Have opened their mouths wide against you;
They [n]hiss and (BA)gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have (BB)engulfed her!
This certainly is the (BC)day which we awaited;
We have reached it, we have seen it!”
17 The Lord has (BD)done what He determined;
He has accomplished His word
Which He commanded from days of old.
He has torn down (BE)without sparing,
And He has helped the enemy to (BF)rejoice over you;
He has (BG)exalted the [o]might of your adversaries.
18 Their (BH)heart cried out to the Lord:
“You (BI)wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let your (BJ)tears stream down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief,
Let [p]your eyes have no rest.
19 Arise, whimper in the (BK)night
At the beginning of the night watches;
(BL)Pour out your heart like water
Before the presence of the Lord;
Raise your hands to Him
For the (BM)life of your little ones
Who (BN)languish because of hunger
At the head of every street.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:1 Or scorned...Zion in His anger
- Lamentations 2:2 Lit engulfed
- Lamentations 2:3 Lit Every horn
- Lamentations 2:6 Or booth
- Lamentations 2:6 Or feast
- Lamentations 2:7 I.e., scornfully rejected
- Lamentations 2:8 Lit engulfing
- Lamentations 2:10 Another reading is wail
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit inward parts are in ferment
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit liver
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit breaking
- Lamentations 2:12 Lit on...breast
- Lamentations 2:15 Or whistle
- Lamentations 2:16 Or whistle
- Lamentations 2:17 Lit horn
- Lamentations 2:18 Lit the daughter of your eye
Lamentations 2:1-19
New Living Translation
God’s Anger at Sin
2 The Lord in his anger
has cast a dark shadow over beautiful Jerusalem.[a]
The fairest of Israel’s cities lies in the dust,
thrown down from the heights of heaven.
In his day of great anger,
the Lord has shown no mercy even to his Temple.[b]
2 Without mercy the Lord has destroyed
every home in Israel.[c]
In his anger he has broken down
the fortress walls of beautiful Jerusalem.[d]
He has brought them to the ground,
dishonoring the kingdom and its rulers.
3 All the strength of Israel
vanishes beneath his fierce anger.
The Lord has withdrawn his protection
as the enemy attacks.
He consumes the whole land of Israel
like a raging fire.
4 He bends his bow against his people,
as though he were their enemy.
His strength is used against them
to kill their finest youth.
His fury is poured out like fire
on beautiful Jerusalem.[e]
5 Yes, the Lord has vanquished Israel
like an enemy.
He has destroyed her palaces
and demolished her fortresses.
He has brought unending sorrow and tears
upon beautiful Jerusalem.
6 He has broken down his Temple
as though it were merely a garden shelter.
The Lord has blotted out all memory
of the holy festivals and Sabbath days.
Kings and priests fall together
before his fierce anger.
7 The Lord has rejected his own altar;
he despises his own sanctuary.
He has given Jerusalem’s palaces
to her enemies.
They shout in the Lord’s Temple
as though it were a day of celebration.
8 The Lord was determined
to destroy the walls of beautiful Jerusalem.
He made careful plans for their destruction,
then did what he had planned.
Therefore, the ramparts and walls
have fallen down before him.
9 Jerusalem’s gates have sunk into the ground.
He has smashed their locks and bars.
Her kings and princes have been exiled to distant lands;
her law has ceased to exist.
Her prophets receive
no more visions from the Lord.
10 The leaders of beautiful Jerusalem
sit on the ground in silence.
They are clothed in burlap
and throw dust on their heads.
The young women of Jerusalem
hang their heads in shame.
11 I have cried until the tears no longer come;
my heart is broken.
My spirit is poured out in agony
as I see the desperate plight of my people.
Little children and tiny babies
are fainting and dying in the streets.
12 They cry out to their mothers,
“We need food and drink!”
Their lives ebb away in the streets
like the life of a warrior wounded in battle.
They gasp for life
as they collapse in their mothers’ arms.
13 What can I say about you?
Who has ever seen such sorrow?
O daughter of Jerusalem,
to what can I compare your anguish?
O virgin daughter of Zion,
how can I comfort you?
For your wound is as deep as the sea.
Who can heal you?
14 Your prophets have said
so many foolish things, false to the core.
They did not save you from exile
by pointing out your sins.
Instead, they painted false pictures,
filling you with false hope.
15 All who pass by jeer at you.
They scoff and insult beautiful Jerusalem,[f] saying,
“Is this the city called ‘Most Beautiful in All the World’
and ‘Joy of All the Earth’?”
16 All your enemies mock you.
They scoff and snarl and say,
“We have destroyed her at last!
We have long waited for this day,
and it is finally here!”
17 But it is the Lord who did just as he planned.
He has fulfilled the promises of disaster
he made long ago.
He has destroyed Jerusalem without mercy.
He has caused her enemies to gloat over her
and has given them power over her.
18 Cry aloud[g] before the Lord,
O walls of beautiful Jerusalem!
Let your tears flow like a river
day and night.
Give yourselves no rest;
give your eyes no relief.
19 Rise during the night and cry out.
Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him in prayer,
pleading for your children,
for in every street
they are faint with hunger.
Footnotes
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
