Lamentations 2
Christian Standard Bible
Judgment on Jerusalem
א Aleph
2 How the Lord has overshadowed
Daughter Zion with his anger!
He has thrown down Israel’s glory
from heaven to earth.
He did not acknowledge his footstool(A)
in the day of his anger.(B)
ב Beth
2 Without compassion(C) the Lord has swallowed up
all the dwellings of Jacob.
In his wrath he has demolished
the fortified cities(D) of Daughter Judah.
He brought them to the ground
and defiled the kingdom and its leaders.(E)
ג Gimel
3 He has cut off every horn(F) of Israel
in his burning anger
and withdrawn his right hand(G)
in the presence of the enemy.
He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything.(H)
ד Daleth
4 He has strung his bow like an enemy;(I)
his right hand is positioned like an adversary.
He has killed everyone who was the delight to the eye,(J)
pouring out his wrath like fire
on the tent of Daughter Zion.
ה He
5 The Lord is like an enemy;
he has swallowed up Israel.
He swallowed up all its palaces
and destroyed its fortified cities.
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation
within Daughter Judah.(K)
ו Waw
6 He has wrecked his temple[a]
as if it were merely a shack in a field,[b]
destroying his place of meeting.(L)
The Lord has abolished
appointed festivals and Sabbaths in Zion.
He has despised king and priest
in his fierce anger.
ז Zayin
7 The Lord has rejected his altar,
repudiated his sanctuary;(M)
he has handed the walls of her palaces
over to the enemy.
They have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed festival.
ח Cheth
8 The Lord determined to destroy
the wall of Daughter Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line(N)
and did not restrain himself from destroying.
He made the ramparts and walls grieve;
together they waste away.
ט Teth
9 Zion’s gates have fallen to the ground;(O)
he has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates.
Her king and her leaders live among the nations,
instruction[c] is no more,
and even her prophets receive
no vision from the Lord.(P)
י Yod
10 The elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence.
They have thrown dust on their heads(Q)
and put on sackcloth.
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.(R)
כ Kaph
11 My eyes are worn out from weeping;(S)
I am churning within.
My heart is poured out in grief[d](T)
because of the destruction of my dear people,(U)
because infants and nursing babies faint
in the streets of the city.(V)
ל Lamed
12 They cry out to their mothers,
“Where is the grain and wine?” (W)
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their life pours out
in the arms of their mothers.
מ Mem
13 What can I say on your behalf?
What can I compare you to, Daughter Jerusalem?
What can I liken you to,
so that I may console you, Virgin Daughter Zion?
For your ruin is as vast as the sea.
Who can heal you?(X)
נ Nun
14 Your prophets saw visions for you
that were empty and deceptive;[e](Y)
they did not reveal your iniquity
and so restore your fortunes.(Z)
They saw pronouncements for you
that were empty and misleading.
ס Samek
15 All who pass by
scornfully clap their hands(AA) at you.
They hiss(AB) and shake their heads(AC)
at Daughter Jerusalem:
Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,(AD)
the joy of the whole earth?(AE)
פ Pe
16 All your enemies
open their mouths against you.(AF)
They hiss and gnash their teeth,(AG)
saying, “We have swallowed her up.(AH)
This is the day we have waited for!
We have lived to see it.”
ע Ayin
17 The Lord has done what he planned;
he has accomplished his decree,
which he ordained in days of old.
He has demolished without compassion,(AI)
letting the enemy gloat over you
and exalting the horn of your adversaries.
צ Tsade
18 The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord.
Wall of Daughter Zion,(AJ)
let your tears run down like a river
day and night.(AK)
Give yourself no relief
and your[f] eyes no rest.
ק Qoph
19 Arise, cry out in the night
from the first watch of the night.
Pour out your heart like water
before the Lord’s presence.(AL)
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your children
who are fainting from hunger
at the head of every street.(AM)
ר Resh
20 Lord, look and consider
to whom you have done this.
Should women eat their own children,(AN)
the infants they have nurtured?[g]
Should priests and prophets
be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary?
שׁ Shin
21 Both young and old
are lying on the ground in the streets.
My young women and young men
have fallen by the sword.
You have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering without compassion.(AO)
ת Taw
Lamentations 2
Living Bible
2 A cloud of anger from the Lord has overcast Jerusalem; the fairest city of Israel lies in the dust of the earth, cast from the heights of heaven at his command. In his day of awesome fury he has shown no mercy even to his Temple.[a]
2 The Lord without mercy has destroyed every home in Israel. In his wrath he has broken every fortress, every wall. He has brought the kingdom to dust, with all its rulers.
3 All the strength of Israel vanishes beneath his wrath. He has withdrawn his protection as the enemy attacks. God burns across the land of Israel like a raging fire.
4 He bends his bow against his people as though he were an enemy. His strength is used against them to kill their finest youth. His fury is poured out like fire upon them.
5 Yes, the Lord has vanquished Israel like an enemy. He has destroyed her forts and palaces. Sorrows and tears are his portion for Jerusalem.
6 He has violently broken down his Temple as though it were a booth of leaves and branches in a garden! No longer can the people celebrate their holy feasts and Sabbaths. Kings and priests together fall before his wrath.
7 The Lord has rejected his own altar, for he despises the false “worship” of his people; he has given their palaces to their enemies, who carouse in the Temple as Israel used to do on days of holy feasts!
8 The Lord determined to destroy Jerusalem. He laid out an unalterable line of destruction. Therefore the ramparts and walls fell down before him.
9 Jerusalem’s gates are useless. All their locks and bars are broken, for he has crushed them. Her kings and princes are enslaved in far-off lands, without a temple, without a divine law to govern them or prophetic vision to guide them.
10 The elders of Jerusalem sit upon the ground in silence, clothed in sackcloth; they throw dust upon their heads in sorrow and despair. The virgins of Jerusalem hang their heads in shame.
11 I have cried until the tears no longer come; my heart is broken, my spirit poured out, as I see what has happened to my people; little children and tiny babies are fainting and dying in the streets.
12 “Mama, Mama, we want food,” they cry, and then collapse upon their mothers’ shrunken breasts. Their lives ebb away like those wounded in battle.
13 In all the world has there ever been such sorrow? O Jerusalem, what can I compare your anguish to? How can I comfort you? For your wound is deep as the sea. Who can heal you?
14 Your “prophets” have said so many foolish things, false to the core. They have not tried to hold you back from slavery by pointing out your sins. They lied and said that all was well.
15 All who pass by scoff and shake their heads and say, “Is this the city called ‘Most Beautiful in All the World,’ and ‘Joy of All the Earth’?”
16 All your enemies deride you. They hiss and grind their teeth and say, “We have destroyed her at last! Long have we waited for this hour, and it is finally here! With our own eyes we’ve seen her fall.”
17 But it is the Lord who did it, just as he had warned. He has fulfilled the promises of doom he made so long ago. He has destroyed Jerusalem without mercy and caused her enemies to rejoice over her and boast of their power.
18 Then the people wept before the Lord. O walls of Jerusalem, let tears fall down upon you like a river; give yourselves no rest from weeping day or night.
19 Rise in the night and cry to your God. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord; lift up your hands to him; plead for your children as they faint with hunger in the streets.
20 O Lord, think! These are your own people to whom you are doing this. Shall mothers eat their little children, those they bounced upon their knees? Shall priests and prophets die within the Temple of the Lord?
21 See them lying in the streets—old and young, boys and girls, killed by the enemies’ swords. You have killed them, Lord, in your anger; you have killed them without mercy.
22 You have deliberately called for this destruction; in the day of your anger none escaped or remained. All my little children lie dead upon the streets before the enemy.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:1 Temple, literally, “footstool.”
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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