Lamentations 2:1-8
New International Version
2 [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)
2 Without pity(D) the Lord has swallowed(E) up
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
the strongholds(F) of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
down to the ground(G) in dishonor.
3 In fierce anger he has cut off
every horn[c][d](H) of Israel.
He has withdrawn his right hand(I)
at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything around it.(J)
4 Like an enemy he has strung his bow;(K)
his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
all who were pleasing to the eye;(L)
he has poured out his wrath(M) like fire(N)
on the tent(O) of Daughter Zion.
5 The Lord is like an enemy;(P)
he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and destroyed her strongholds.(Q)
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation(R)
for Daughter Judah.(S)
6 He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
he has destroyed(T) his place of meeting.(U)
The Lord has made Zion forget
her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;(V)
in his fierce anger he has spurned
both king and priest.(W)
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
- Lamentations 2:1 Or How the Lord in his anger / has treated Daughter Zion with contempt
- Lamentations 2:3 Or off / all the strength; or every king
- Lamentations 2:3 Horn here symbolizes strength.
Lamentations 2:17-22
New International Version
17 The Lord has done what he planned;
he has fulfilled(A) his word,
which he decreed long ago.(B)
He has overthrown you without pity,(C)
he has let the enemy gloat over you,(D)
he has exalted the horn[a] of your foes.(E)
18 The hearts of the people
cry out to the Lord.(F)
You walls of Daughter Zion,(G)
let your tears(H) flow like a river
day and night;(I)
give yourself no relief,
your eyes no rest.(J)
19 Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart(K) like water
in the presence of the Lord.(L)
Lift up your hands(M) to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint(N) from hunger
at every street corner.
20 “Look, Lord, and consider:
Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,(O)
the children they have cared for?(P)
Should priest and prophet be killed(Q)
in the sanctuary of the Lord?(R)
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:17 Horn here symbolizes strength.
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