Lamentations 2
World English Bible
2 How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger!
He has cast the beauty of Israel down from heaven to the earth,
and hasn’t remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.
2 The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob
without pity.
He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah.
He has brought them down to the ground.
He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
3 He has cut off all the horn of Israel in fierce anger.
He has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy.
He has burned up Jacob like a flaming fire,
which devours all around.
4 He has bent his bow like an enemy.
He has stood with his right hand as an adversary.
He has killed all that were pleasant to the eye.
In the tent of the daughter of Zion, he has poured out his wrath like fire.
5 The Lord has become as an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces.
He has destroyed his strongholds.
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation in the daughter of Judah.
6 He has violently taken away his tabernacle,
as if it were a garden.
He has destroyed his place of assembly.
Yahweh has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion.
In the indignation of his anger, he has despised the king and the priest.
7 The Lord has cast off his altar.
He has abhorred his sanctuary.
He has given the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy.
They have made a noise in Yahweh’s house,
as in the day of a solemn assembly.
8 Yahweh has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has stretched out the line.
He has not withdrawn his hand from destroying;
He has made the rampart and wall lament.
They languish together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground.
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not.
Yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground.
They keep silence.
They have cast up dust on their heads.
They have clothed themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes fail with tears.
My heart is troubled.
My liver is poured on the earth,
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.
12 They ask their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
when they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city,
when their soul is poured out into their mothers’ bosom.
13 What shall I testify to you?
What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare to you,
that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion?
For your breach is as big as the sea.
Who can heal you?
14 Your prophets have seen false and foolish visions for you.
They have not uncovered your iniquity,
to reverse your captivity,
but have seen for you false revelations and causes of banishment.
15 All that pass by clap their hands at you.
They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying,
“Is this the city that men called ‘The perfection of beauty,
the joy of the whole earth’?”
16 All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you.
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have swallowed her up.
Certainly this is the day that we looked for.
We have found it.
We have seen it.”
17 Yahweh has done that which he planned.
He has fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old.
He has thrown down,
and has not pitied.
He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you.
He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.
18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let tears run down like a river day and night.
Give yourself no relief.
Don’t let your eyes rest.
19 Arise, cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the watches!
Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children,
who faint for hunger at the head of every street.
20 “Look, Yahweh, and see to whom you have done thus!
Should the women eat their offspring,
the children that they held and bounced on their knees?
Should the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 “The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets.
My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword.
You have killed them in the day of your anger.
You have slaughtered, and not pitied.
22 “You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side.
There was no one that escaped or remained in the day of Yahweh’s anger.
My enemy has consumed those whom I have cared for and brought up.
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
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