Lamentations 2
Legacy Standard Bible
The Anger of Yahweh
Aleph
2 How the Lord has (A)covered the daughter of Zion
With a cloud in His anger!
He has (B)cast from heaven to earth
The (C)beauty of Israel,
And has not remembered the (D)footstool of His feet
In the day of His anger.
Beth
2 The Lord has (E)swallowed up; He has not spared
All the habitations of Jacob.
In His wrath He has (F)pulled down
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
He has (G)brought them down to the ground;
He has (H)profaned the kingdom and its princes.
Gimel
3 In [a]hot anger He has cut in pieces
[b]All the (I)strength of Israel;
He has (J)turned back His right hand
From before the enemy.
And He has (K)burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
Devouring round about.
Daleth
4 He has bent His (L)bow like an enemy;
He has set His right hand like an adversary
And killed all that were (M)desirable to the eye;
In the tent of the daughter of Zion
He has (N)poured out His wrath like fire.
He
5 The Lord has become like an (O)enemy.
He has (P)swallowed up Israel;
He has swallowed up all its (Q)palaces;
He has brought its strongholds to ruin
And (R)multiplied in the daughter of Judah
Mourning and moaning.
Vav
6 And He has violently treated His [c]tabernacle like a garden booth;
He has (S)brought His appointed [d]meeting place to ruin.
Yahweh has (T)caused to be forgotten
The appointed time and sabbath in Zion,
And He has (U)spurned king and priest
In the indignation of His anger.
Zayin
7 The Lord has (V)rejected His altar;
He has abandoned His sanctuary;
He (W)has delivered into the hand of the enemy
The walls of her palaces.
They have made a (X)noise in the house of Yahweh
As in the day of an appointed time.
Heth
8 Yahweh [e]determined to bring to ruin
The wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has (Y)stretched out a line;
He has not turned His hand back from swallowing up,
And He has (Z)caused rampart and wall to mourn;
They have languished together.
Teth
9 Her (AA)gates have sunk into the ground;
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her princes are among the nations;
The (AB)law is no more.
Also, her prophets find
(AC)No vision from Yahweh.
Yodh
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
(AD)Sit on the ground; they (AE)are silent.
They have thrown (AF)dust up on their heads;
They have girded themselves with (AG)sackcloth.
The (AH)virgins of Jerusalem
Have bowed their heads down to the ground.
Kaph
11 My (AI)eyes fail because of tears;
My [f](AJ)inmost being is greatly disturbed;
My [g](AK)heart is poured out on the earth
(AL)Because of the [h]destruction of the daughter of my people,
When (AM)infants and nursing babies faint
In the open squares of the city.
Lamedh
12 They say to their mothers,
“(AN)Where is grain and wine?”
As they faint like a wounded man
In the open squares of the city,
As their (AO)life is poured out
On their mothers’ bosom.
Mem
13 What shall I testify about you?
To what (AP)shall I equate you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
To what shall I liken you as I comfort you,
O (AQ)virgin daughter of Zion?
For your [i]destruction is as vast as the sea;
Who can (AR)heal you?
Nun
14 Your (AS)prophets have beheld for you
Worthless and ineffective visions;
And they have not (AT)uncovered your iniquity
So as to [j]return you from captivity,
But they have (AU)beheld for you worthless and misleading [k]oracles.
Samekh
15 All who pass along the way
(AV)Clap their hands in derision at you;
They (AW)hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem,
“Is this the city of which they said,
‘(AX)The perfection of beauty,
(AY)The joy of the whole earth’?”
Pe
16 All (AZ)your enemies
Have opened their mouths wide against you;
They hiss and (BA)gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have (BB)swallowed her up!
Surely this is the (BC)day for which we have hoped;
We have found it, we have seen it.”
Ayin
17 Yahweh has (BD)done what He purposed;
He has completed His word
Which He commanded from days of old.
He has pulled down (BE)without sparing,
And He has caused the enemy to (BF)be glad over you;
He has (BG)exalted the [l]might of your adversaries.
Tsadhe
18 Their (BH)heart cried out to the Lord,
“O (BI)wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let your (BJ)tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Let [m]your eyes not be still.
Qoph
19 Arise, cry aloud in the (BK)night
At the head of the night watches;
(BL)Pour out your heart like water
Before the presence of the Lord;
Lift up your hands to Him
For the (BM)life of your infants
Who are (BN)faint because of hunger
At the head of every street.”
Resh
20 See, O Yahweh, and look!
With (BO)whom have You dealt thus?
Should women (BP)eat their [n]offspring,
The infants who were [o]born healthy?
Should (BQ)priest and prophet be killed
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
Shin
21 On the ground in the streets
Lie (BR)young and old;
My (BS)virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the sword.
You have killed them in the day of Your anger;
You have slaughtered, (BT)not sparing.
Tav
22 You called as in the day of an appointed time
My (BU)terrors on every side;
And there was (BV)no one who escaped or survived
In the day of Yahweh’s anger.
Those (BW)whom I [p]gave birth to and reared,
My enemy consumed them.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:3 Lit burning
- Lamentations 2:3 Lit Every horn
- Lamentations 2:6 Lit booth
- Lamentations 2:6 Or time, cf. 2:6b, 7
- Lamentations 2:8 Lit thought
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit inward parts are in ferment
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit liver
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit breaking
- Lamentations 2:13 Lit breaking
- Lamentations 2:14 Or restore
- Lamentations 2:14 Lit burdens
- Lamentations 2:17 Lit horn
- Lamentations 2:18 Lit the daughter of your eye
- Lamentations 2:20 Lit fruit
- Lamentations 2:20 Or tenderly cared for
- Lamentations 2:22 Lit bore healthy, tenderly cared for
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
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