The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.

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The Lord has rejected his altar
    and abandoned his sanctuary.(A)
He has given the walls of her palaces(B)
    into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of an appointed festival.(C)

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Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.

A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.

But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.

They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.

They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.

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Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins,(A)
    all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary.

Your foes roared(B) in the place where you met with us;
    they set up their standards(C) as signs.
They behaved like men wielding axes
    to cut through a thicket of trees.(D)
They smashed all the carved(E) paneling
    with their axes and hatchets.
They burned your sanctuary to the ground;
    they defiled(F) the dwelling place(G) of your Name.(H)
They said in their hearts, “We will crush(I) them completely!”
    They burned(J) every place where God was worshiped in the land.

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21 Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.

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21 Say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to desecrate my sanctuary(A)—the stronghold in which you take pride,(B) the delight of your eyes,(C) the object of your affection. The sons and daughters(D) you left behind will fall by the sword.(E)

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20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.

21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.

22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.

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20 They took pride in their beautiful jewelry
    and used it to make(A) their detestable idols.
They made it into vile images;(B)
    therefore I will make it a thing unclean for them.(C)
21 I will give their wealth as plunder(D) to foreigners
    and as loot to the wicked of the earth,
    who will defile it.(E)
22 I will turn my face(F) away from the people,
    and robbers will desecrate the place I treasure.
They will enter it
    and will defile it.(G)

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13 And burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:

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13 He set fire(A) to the temple(B) of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses(C) of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.

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59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.

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59 When God heard(A) them, he was furious;(B)
    he rejected Israel(C) completely.
60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,(D)
    the tent he had set up among humans.(E)
61 He sent the ark of his might(F) into captivity,(G)
    his splendor into the hands of the enemy.

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13 And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:

14 For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.

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13 They produced false witnesses,(A) who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place(B) and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place(C) and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”(D)

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And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

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“Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another;(A) every one will be thrown down.”

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12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

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12 Therefore because of you,
    Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,(A)
    the temple(B) hill a mound overgrown with thickets.(C)

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But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

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I will send fire(A) on Judah
    that will consume the fortresses(B) of Jerusalem.(C)

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24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.

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24 I will bring the most wicked of nations
    to take possession of their houses.
I will put an end to the pride of the mighty,
    and their sanctuaries(A) will be desecrated.(B)

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The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

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The Lord is like an enemy;(A)
    he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
    and destroyed her strongholds.(B)
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation(C)
    for Daughter Judah.(D)

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How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!

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[a]How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
    with the cloud of his anger[b]!(A)
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel
    from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool(B)
    in the day of his anger.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 2:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
  2. Lamentations 2:1 Or How the Lord in his anger / has treated Daughter Zion with contempt