Lamentations 2
Complete Jewish Bible
2 How enveloped in darkness Adonai, in his anger,
has made the daughter of Tziyon!
He has thrown down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Isra’el,
forgotten his footstool [the sanctuary]
on the day of his anger.
2 Without pity Adonai swallowed up
all the dwellings of Ya‘akov.
In his wrath he broke down the strongholds
of the daughter of Y’hudah,
brought them down to the ground,
thus profaning the kingdom and its rulers.
3 In his fierce anger he cut off
all the power of Isra’el,
withdrew his protecting right hand
at the approach of the enemy,
and blazed up in Ya‘akov like a flaming fire
devouring everything around it.
4 He bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set like a foe.
He killed all who were pleasant to see.
In the tent of the daughter of Tziyon,
he poured out his fury like fire.
5 Adonai became like an enemy;
he swallowed up Isra’el,
swallowed up all its palaces,
and destroyed all its strongholds.
For the daughter of Y’hudah
he has multiplied mourning and moaning.
6 He wrecked his tabernacle as easily as a garden,
destroyed his place of assembly.
Adonai caused Isra’el to forget
designated times and Shabbats.
In the heat of his anger
he rejected both king and cohen.
7 Adonai rejected his altar,
disowned his sanctuary,
and gave her palace walls
over to the power of the foe,
who raised such shouts in the house of Adonai
that it sounded like a festival day.
8 Adonai resolved to destroy
the wall of the daughter of Tziyon.
He measured it with his line and did not stay his hand
until it was all in ruins.
He brought grief to rampart and wall;
together they lie dejected.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
he destroyed and broke their bars.
Her king and rulers are among the Goyim,
there is no more Torah,
and her prophets do not receive
visions from Adonai.
10 The leaders of the daughter of Tziyon
sit on the ground in silence.
They throw dust on their heads;
they are wearing sackcloth.
The unmarried women of Yerushalayim
lower their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes are worn out from weeping,
everything in me is churning;
I am empty of emotion
because of the wounds to my people,
because children and infants are fainting away
in the streets of the city.
12 They keep asking their mothers,
“Where is something to eat or drink?”
as they faint away
in the streets of the city,
gasping out their last breath
in their mother’s bosom.
13 What can be said to you, what can be compared with you,
daughter of Yerushalayim?
What example can I give to comfort you,
virgin daughter of Tziyon?
For your downfall is as vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
14 The visions your prophets saw for you
were futile, just a whitewash.
They did not expose your guilt,
so as to reverse your fortunes —
no, the visions they saw for you
were alluring, but futile.
15 All who pass your way
clap their hands at you,
hissing and shaking their heads
at the daughter of Yerushalayim:
“This city was called ‘perfection in beauty’?
‘the joy of the whole earth’?”
16 All your adversaries
open their mouths to jeer at you.
They hiss, they grind their teeth;
they say, “We have swallowed her up!
This is the day we were waiting for,
and now we have lived to see it!”
17 Adonai has done what he planned,
he has fulfilled his promise,
which he decreed in ancient times.
He has destroyed without pity,
he has let the enemy gloat over you
and filled your foes with pride.
18 Their hearts cried out to Adonai,
“Wall of the daughter of Tziyon!
Let your tears stream down
like a torrent, day and night!
Give yourself no respite,
give your eyes no rest!
19 “Get up! Cry out in the night,
at the beginning of every watch!
Pour your heart out like water
before the face of Adonai!
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your babies,
who are fainting away from hunger
at every streetcorner.”
20 Adonai, look and see
who it is you have thus tormented!
Should women eat the fruit of their wombs,
the children they have held in their hands?
Should cohanim and prophets be slaughtered
in the sanctuary of Adonai?
21 Youths and old men are lying
on the ground in the streets,
my unmarried women and young men
have fallen by the sword.
You killed them on the day of your anger,
you slaughtered them without pity.
22 You have summoned my terrors from every direction,
as on a festival day.
On the day of Adonai’s anger,
not one escaped; not one survived —
the children I held in my arms and raised,
my enemy has destroyed.
Lamentations 2
1599 Geneva Bible
2 1 How hath the Lord [a]darkened the daughter of Zion in his wrath! and hath cast down from [b]heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his [c]footstool in the day of his wrath!
2 The Lord hath destroyed all the habitations of Jacob, and not spared: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah: he hath cast them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.
3 He hath cut off in his fierce wrath all the [d]horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his [e]right hand from before the enemy, and there was kindled in Jacob like a flame of fire, which devoured round about.
4 He [f]hath bent his bow like an enemy: his right hand was stretched up as an adversary, and slew all that was pleasant to the eye in the Tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his wrath like fire.
5 The Lord was as an enemy: he hath devoured Israel and consumed all his palaces: he hath destroyed his strongholds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah lamentation and mourning.
6 For he hath destroyed his Tabernacle, as a garden he hath destroyed his Congregation: the Lord hath caused the feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his wrath, the King and the Priest.
7 The Lord hath forsaken his altar: he hath abhorred his Sanctuary: he hath given into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces: they have made a [g]noise in the House of the Lord, as in the day of solemnity.
8 The Lord hath determined to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he stretched out a line: he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart, [h]and the wall to lament: they were destroyed together.
9 Her gates are sunk to the ground: he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her King and her Princes are among the Gentiles: the Law is no more, neither can her Prophets [i]receive any vision from the Lord.
10 The Elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads: they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 Mine eyes do fail with tears: my bowels swell: my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and sucklings [j]swoon in the streets of the city.
12 They have said to their mothers, Where is [k]bread and drink? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, and when they [l]gave up the ghost in their mother’s bosom.
13 [m]What thing shall I take to witness for thee? What thing shall I compare to thee, O daughter Jerusalem? what shall I liken to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
14 Thy Prophets have[n]looked out vain and foolish things for thee, and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity, but have looked out for thee false [o]prophecies, and causes of banishment.
15 All that pass by the way, clap their hands at thee: they hiss and wag their head upon the daughter Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call, The perfection of beauty, and the joy of the whole earth?
16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth, saying, Let us devour it: certainly this is the day that we looked for: we have found and seen it.
17 (A)The Lord hath done that which he had purposed: he hath fulfilled his word that he had determined of old time: he hath thrown down, and not spared: he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, and set up the horn of thine adversaries.
18 Their heart (B)cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter Zion, let tears run down like a river, day and night: take thee no rest, neither let the apple of thine eye cease.
19 Arise, cry in the night: in the beginning of the watches, pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thine hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the corners of all the streets.
20 Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done thus: shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a [p]span long? shall the Priest and the Prophet be slain in the Sanctuary of the Lord?
21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: thou hast slain them in the day of thy wrath: thou hast killed, and not spared.
22 Thou hast called as in a solemn day my [q]terrors round about, so that in the day of the Lord’s wrath none escaped nor remained: those that I have nourished and brought up, hath mine enemy consumed.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:1 That is, brought her from prosperity to adversity.
- Lamentations 2:1 Hath given her a most sore fall.
- Lamentations 2:1 Alluding to the Temple, or to the Ark of the covenant, which was called the footstool of the Lord, because they should not set their minds so low, but lift up their hearts toward the heavens.
- Lamentations 2:3 Meaning, the glory and strength, as 1 Sam. 2:1.
- Lamentations 2:3 That is, his succor which he was wont to send us, when our enemies oppressed us.
- Lamentations 2:4 Showing that there is no remedy but destruction, where God is the enemy.
- Lamentations 2:7 As the people were accustomed to praise God to the solemn feasts with a loud voice, so now the enemies blaspheme him with shouting and cry.
- Lamentations 2:8 This is a figurative speech, as that was, when he said, the ways did lament, Lam. 1:4, meaning, that this sorrow was so great, that the insensible things had their part thereof.
- Lamentations 2:9 Or, find.
- Lamentations 2:11 Or, faint.
- Lamentations 2:12 Hebrew, wheat and wine.
- Lamentations 2:12 Hebrew, poured out the soul.
- Lamentations 2:13 Meaning, that her calamity was so evident, that it needed no witnesses.
- Lamentations 2:14 Because the false prophets called themselves Seers, as the others were called, therefore he showeth that they saw amiss, because they did not reprove the people’s faults, but flattered them in their sins, which was the cause of their destruction.
- Lamentations 2:14 Or, burdens.
- Lamentations 2:20 Or, brought up in their own hands.
- Lamentations 2:22 Or, enemies, whom I feared.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
