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
International Standard Version
The Condition of Israel
2 How the Lord in his wrath
shamed[a] cherished[b] Zion!
He cast down from heaven to earth
the glory of Israel,
He did not remember his footstool[c]
in the time of his anger.
2 The Lord swallowed up without pity
all of Jacob’s habitations.
In his wrath he tore down
the strongholds of fair Judah.[d]
He cast to the ground in dishonor
both her kingdom and its rulers.
3 In his fierce wrath he cut off
all the strength[e] of Israel.
He withdrew his protection[f]
as the enemy approached.[g]
He burned Jacob like a blazing fire
consumes everything around it.
4 He bent his bow against us[h] as would an enemy,
his right hand cocked as would an adversary.
He has killed everyone in whom we took pride;
in the tent of cherished[i] Zion he poured out
his anger like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an enemy—
he has devoured Israel.
He has devoured all of her palaces,
destroying her fortresses.
He filled cherished Judah[j]
with mourning and lament.
6 He plowed under his Temple[k] like a garden,
spoiling his tent.
The Lord abolished in Zion
both festivals and Sabbaths.
In his fierce wrath he despised
both king and priest.
7 The Lord rejected his altar,
disavowing his sanctuary.
He gave up her palace walls
to the control of the enemy.
They shouted in the Lord’s Temple,
as though they were attending a day of celebration.
8 The Lord planned to destroy
the walls of cherished[l] Zion.
He measured them with his line.
He did not withhold his hand from destruction.
He made both ramparts and defensive walls mourn;
they languish together.
9 Jerusalem’s[m] gates collapsed to the ground;
he destroyed and broke the bars of her gates.[n]
Both king and prince have gone into captivity.[o]
There is no instruction,[p]
and the prophets receive
no vision from the Lord.
10 The leaders of cherished[q] Zion
sit silently on the ground;
they throw dust on their heads
and dress in mourning clothes.
The young women of Jerusalem
bow their heads in sorrow.[r]
11 My eyes are worn out from crying,
my insides are churning,
My emotions pour out in grief[s]
because my people are destroyed—
Children and infants faint
in the streets of the city.
12 They ask their mothers,
“Is there anything to eat or drink?”[t]
They faint in the streets of the city
like wounded men.
Their life ebbs away
while they lie on their mother’s bosom.
13 What can be said about you?
To what should you be compared, fair[u] Jerusalem?
To what may I liken you,
so I may comfort you, fair one[v] of Zion?
Indeed, your wound is as deep as the sea—
who can heal you?
14 Your prophets look on your behalf;
they see false and deceptive visions.
They did not expose your sins
in order to restore what had been captured.[w]
Instead, they crafted oracles for you
that are false and misleading.
15 Everyone who passes by on the road
shake their fists[x] at you.
They hiss and shake their heads
at cherished[y] Jerusalem:
“Is this the city men used to call ‘The Perfection of Beauty,’
and ‘The Joy of the Entire Earth’”?
16 All of your enemies
insult you with gaping mouths.
They hiss and grind their teeth while saying,
“We have devoured her completely.
Yes, this is the day that we anticipated!
We found it at last;[z] we have seen it!”
17 The Lord did what he planned.
He carried out his threat.
Just as he commanded long ago,
he has torn down without pity;
He let the enemy boast about you
and has exalted the power[aa] of your enemies.
18 Cry out from your heart to the Lord,
wall of fair[ab] Zion!
Let your tears run down like a river
day and night.
Allow yourself no rest,
and don’t stop crying.
19 Get up and cry aloud in the night,
at the beginning of every hour.[ac]
Pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord!
Lift up your hands toward him
for the lives of your children,
who are fainting away
at every street corner.
20 Look, Lord, and take note:
To whom have you done this?
Should women eat their offspring,
the children they have cuddled?
Should priests and prophets be slain
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 Young men and the aged
lie on the ground in the streets;
my young women and young men
have fallen by the sword.
You killed them in your anger,
slaughtering them without pity.
22 You have invited those who terrorize me to come around,
as if today were a festival.
No one has escaped or survived
the time of the Lord’s anger.
My enemy has finished off
those whom I cuddled and raised.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:1 Or enveloped
- Lamentations 2:1 Lit. the daughter of
- Lamentations 2:1 I.e. the Temple
- Lamentations 2:2 Lit. of the daughter of Judah
- Lamentations 2:3 Lit. every horn
- Lamentations 2:3 Lit. his right hand
- Lamentations 2:3 Lit. in front of the enemy
- Lamentations 2:4 The Heb. lacks against us
- Lamentations 2:4 Lit. of the daughter of
- Lamentations 2:5 Lit. the daughters of Judah
- Lamentations 2:6 Lit. tent
- Lamentations 2:8 Lit. of the daughter of
- Lamentations 2:9 Lit. Her
- Lamentations 2:9 The Heb. lacks gates
- Lamentations 2:9 Lit. into the nations
- Lamentations 2:9 Or Law; or The priests do not give their guidance
- Lamentations 2:10 Lit. of the daughter of
- Lamentations 2:10 Lit. heads to the ground
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit. my liver empties upon the ground
- Lamentations 2:12 Lit. any grain and wine
- Lamentations 2:13 Lit. daughter of
- Lamentations 2:13 Lit. virgin daughter
- Lamentations 2:14 Lit. restore your captivity
- Lamentations 2:15 Or road clap their hands
- Lamentations 2:15 Lit. at the daughter
- Lamentations 2:16 The Heb. lacks at last
- Lamentations 2:17 Lit. horn
- Lamentations 2:18 Lit. of the daughter of
- Lamentations 2:19 Lit. of the night watches
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.
