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Lamentations 2
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Lamentations 2
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 2
The Lord’s Wrath and Zion’s Ruin[a]
1 How the Lord in his wrath
has abhorred daughter Zion,
Casting down from heaven to earth
the glory of Israel,[b]
Not remembering his footstool
on the day of his wrath!
2 The Lord has devoured without pity
all of Jacob’s dwellings;
In his fury he has razed
daughter Judah’s defenses,
Has brought to the ground in dishonor
a kingdom and its princes.
3 In blazing wrath, he cut down entirely
the horn[c] of Israel;
He withdrew the support of his right hand
when the enemy approached;
He burned against Jacob like a blazing fire
that consumes everything in its path.
4 He bent his bow like an enemy;
the arrow in his right hand
Like a foe, he killed
all those held precious;
On the tent of daughter Zion
he poured out his wrath like fire.
5 The Lord has become the enemy,
he has devoured Israel:
Devoured all its strongholds,
destroyed its defenses,
Multiplied moaning and groaning
throughout daughter Judah.
6 He laid waste his booth like a garden,
destroyed his shrine;[d]
The Lord has blotted out in Zion
feast day and sabbath,
Has scorned in fierce wrath
king and priest.(A)
7 The Lord has rejected his altar,
spurned his sanctuary;
He has handed over to the enemy
the walls of its strongholds.
They shout in the house of the Lord
as on a feast day.(B)
8 The Lord was bent on destroying
the wall of daughter Zion:
He stretched out the measuring line;[e]
did not hesitate to devour,
Brought grief on rampart and wall
till both succumbed.(C)
9 Her gates sank into the ground;
he smashed her bars to bits.
Her king and her princes are among the nations;
instruction is wanting,
Even her prophets do not obtain
any vision from the Lord.(D)
10 The elders of daughter Zion
sit silently on the ground;
They cast dust[f] on their heads
and dress in sackcloth;
The young women of Jerusalem
bow their heads to the ground.(E)
11 My eyes are spent with tears,
my stomach churns;[g]
My bile is poured out on the ground
at the brokenness of the daughter of my people,
As children and infants collapse
in the streets of the town.(F)
12 They cry out to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
As they faint away like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
in their mothers’ arms.
13 To what can I compare you[h]—to what can I liken you—
O daughter Jerusalem?
What example can I give in order to comfort you,
virgin daughter Zion?
For your breach is vast as the sea;
who could heal you?(G)
14 Your prophets provided you visions
of whitewashed illusion;
They did not lay bare your guilt,
in order to restore your fortunes;
They saw for you only oracles
of empty deceit.(H)
15 All who pass by on the road,
clap their hands at you;
They hiss and wag their heads
over daughter Jerusalem:
“Is this the city they used to call
perfect in beauty and joy of all the earth?”(I)
16 They open their mouths against you,
all your enemies;
They hiss and gnash their teeth,
saying, “We have devoured her!
How we have waited for this day—
we have lived to see it!”(J)
17 The Lord has done what he planned.
He has fulfilled the threat
Decreed from days of old,
destroying without pity!
He let the enemy gloat over you
and exalted the horn of your foes.(K)
18 Cry out to the Lord from your heart,
wall of daughter Zion!
Let your tears flow like a torrent
day and night;
Give yourself no rest,
no relief for your eyes.
19 Rise up! Wail in the night,
at the start of every watch;
Pour out your heart like water
before the Lord;
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
Who collapse from hunger
at the corner of every street.[i]
20 “Look, O Lord, and pay attention:
to whom have you been so ruthless?
Must women eat their own offspring,[j]
the very children they have borne?
Are priest and prophet to be slain
in the sanctuary of the Lord?(L)
21 They lie on the ground in the streets,
young and old alike;
Both my young women and young men
are cut down by the sword;
You killed them on the day of your wrath,
slaughtered without pity.(M)
22 You summoned as to a feast day
terrors on every side;
On the day of the Lord’s wrath,
none survived or escaped.
Those I have borne and nurtured,
my enemy has utterly destroyed.”(N)
Footnotes
- 2:1–22 This chapter continues to move between the voice of the poet (vv. 1–20) and that of personified Zion (vv. 20–22). The persona of the poet, first portrayed in chap. 1 as a detached observer recounting both the desolation as well as the sins of the city, becomes in this chapter an advocate for Zion in her appeal to the Lord and never once mentions her sins.
- 2:1 The glory of Israel: the Temple. His footstool: the ark of the covenant (1 Chr 28:2; Ps 99:5; 132:7); or again, the Temple (Ez 43:7).
- 2:3 Horn: a symbol of power and strength; cf. v. 17; 1 Sm 2:1, 10; Ps 89:18, 25; 92:11; 112:9.
- 2:6 Booth…shrine: synonyms for the Temple; cf. Ps 27:5; 74:4, 8. The term for “shrine” in Hebrew (mo‘ed) figures prominently in the pentateuchal expression “tent of meeting” (’ohel mo‘ed).
- 2:8 The measuring line: normally used for building, here employed ironically as an instrument of destruction; cf. Is 34:11; 2 Kgs 21:13.
- 2:10 They cast dust: as a sign of mourning; cf. Jos 7:6; Jb 2:12; Ez 27:30.
- 2:11 My eyes are spent with tears, my stomach churns: the poet appropriates the emotional language used by Zion in 1:16 and 1:20 to express a progressively stronger commitment to her cause. After describing the systematic dismantling of the city in vv. 5–9, the poet turns to the plight of the inhabitants in vv. 10–12. It is the description of children dying in the streets that finally brings about the poet’s emotional breakdown, even as it did for Zion in 1:16.
- 2:13 To what can I compare you…?: the author calls attention to the poetic task: to find language that speaks adequately of the atrocities and incomparable suffering experienced by Zion, and thus to attempt to offer comfort.
- 2:19 The poet urges Zion to appeal to the Lord once more on behalf of her dying children. The image of Zion’s children effectively condenses the metaphorical sense of all residents of the city (young and old alike) into the more poignant picture of actual children at the point of death. It was precisely this image, no doubt well known to survivors of besieged cities, that led to the emotional breakdown of both Zion (1:16) and the poet (2:11). The hope is that the Lord will be similarly affected by such a poignant image and respond with mercy.
- 2:20 Must women eat their own offspring: extreme famine in a besieged city sometimes led to cannibalism; this becomes a stereotypical way of expressing the nearly unthinkable horrors of war; cf. Lam 4:10; Dt 28:53; 2 Kgs 6:28–29; Bar 2:3; Ez 5:10.
Lamentations 2
New Catholic Bible
Lamentations 2
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 2
The Judgment of the Lord
1 Behold how the Lord in his anger
has enveloped in darkness the daughter of Zion.
He has hurled down from heaven to earth
the glory of Israel,
without any sign of regard for his footstool
on the day of his anger.
2 Without mercy, the Lord has destroyed
all the dwellings of Jacob.
In his wrath he has torn down
the fortresses of the daughter of Judah.
He has thrown to the ground in dishonor
the kingdom and its rulers.
3 In his fierce anger he broke off
all the strength of Israel.
He withdrew the protection of his right hand
at the approach of the enemy.
He blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything in its path.
4 Like an enemy he bent his bow,
with his right hand prepared for action.
Like a foe he slew all those
in whom he once took great pride.
He poured forth his fury like fire
over the tent of the daughter of Zion.
5 The Lord has become an enemy;[a]
he has annihilated Israel.
He has destroyed all its palaces
and left all its strongholds in ruins.
For the daughter of Judah
he has multiplied mourning and lamentation.
6 He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden
and destroyed his tabernacle.
The Lord has erased in Zion
every memory of festivals and Sabbaths.
In his fierce anger he has treated with contempt
king and priest alike.
7 The Lord has rejected his altar
and abandoned his sanctuary.
He has delivered the walls of her palaces
into the power of the enemy
who raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on a festival day.
8 The Lord was determined to destroy
the walls of the daughter of Zion.
He marked off its boundaries with a measuring line
and did not relent in his purpose.
He caused both wall and rampart to lament;
together they crumbled to the ground.
9 The bars of her gates have been shattered,
and the gates themselves have sunk into the ground.
Her king and her princes are in exile among the Gentiles;
there is no instruction any longer from priests,
and her prophets have not received
any vision from the Lord.[b]
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
sit on the ground in silence.
They have strewn dust on their heads
and wrapped themselves in sackcloth.
The maidens of Jerusalem
bow their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes are exhausted from weeping,
and torment afflicts my innermost being.
My gall is poured out on the earth
because of the destruction of my people,
as children and infants faint
in the streets of the city.
12 They keep crying out to their mothers,
“Where is there bread and something to drink?”
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
and breathe their last
in their mothers’ arms.
13 To what can I liken you or compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I do to rescue and comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
Your ruin is as vast as the sea.
Who can heal you?
14 The visions that your prophets revealed to you
were false and worthless.
They did not lay bare your guilt
so that you might reverse your fortunes.
The visions they proclaimed to you
were erroneous and deceptive.[c]
15 All those who pass by
clap their hands at you.
They hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem,
“Is this the city once described as perfect in beauty,
the joy of the whole world?”
16 All your enemies do not hesitate
to open their mouths against you.
They hiss and gnash their teeth;
they cry out, “We have devoured her!
This is the day we longed for;
at last we have seen it.”
17 The Lord has done what he planned;
he has carried out his threat.
As he decreed from days of old,
he has destroyed without pity.
He has permitted the enemy to rejoice over you
and exalted the strength of your foes.
18 Cry out to the Lord,
O wall of the daughter of Zion.
Let your tears flow like a torrent
both day and night.
Allow yourself no respite;
give your eyes no rest.
19 Arise and cry out during the night
at the beginning of every watch.[d]
Pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your children
who are fainting from hunger
at the corner of every street.
20 Look, O Lord, and consider:
whom have you ever treated in this fashion?
Should women eat their little ones,
the children to whom they gave birth?
Should priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 The young and the old are lying dead
on the ground in the streets.
My young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword.
On the day of your anger you have slain them,
slaughtering them without pity.
22 As if it were for a day of festival,
you summoned my enemies from every side.
On the day of the Lord’s anger
no one escaped and no one survived.
All those whom I bore and reared
my enemy has completely annihilated.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:5 The Lord has become an enemy: the one who had been their best friend had turned against them and left them powerless against their foes.
- Lamentations 2:9 God had blessed his people with priests and prophets, but because they had persecuted them and denounced their visions, the people would be without prophets and visions.
- Lamentations 2:14 How to distinguish between true and false prophets is necessary to grow in the spiritual life (see 1 Jn 4:1-6). It’s easy to listen to those who say what we want to hear, but much better to gain the wisdom of true prophets who challenge and question our actions and motives.
- Lamentations 2:19 Watch: there were three each night.
Lamentations 2
New King James Version
Lamentations 2
New King James Version
God’s Anger with Jerusalem
2 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion
With a (A)cloud in His anger!
(B)He cast down from heaven to the earth
(C)The beauty of Israel,
And did not remember (D)His footstool
In the day of His anger.
2 The Lord has swallowed up and has (E)not pitied
All the dwelling places of Jacob.
He has thrown down in His wrath
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
He has brought them down to the ground;
(F)He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
3 He has cut off in fierce anger
Every [a]horn of Israel;
(G)He has drawn back His right hand
From before the enemy.
(H)He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
Devouring all around.
4 (I)Standing like an enemy, He has bent His bow;
With His right hand, like an adversary,
He has slain (J)all who were pleasing to His eye;
On the tent of the daughter of Zion,
He has poured out His fury like fire.
5 (K)The Lord was like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel,
He has swallowed up all her palaces;
(L)He has destroyed her strongholds,
And has increased mourning and lamentation
In the daughter of Judah.
6 He has done violence (M)to His [b]tabernacle,
(N)As if it were a garden;
He has destroyed His place of assembly;
The Lord has caused
The appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion.
In His burning indignation He has (O)spurned the king and the priest.
7 The Lord has spurned His altar,
He has (P)abandoned His sanctuary;
He has [c]given up the walls of her palaces
Into the hand of the enemy.
(Q)They have made a noise in the house of the Lord
As on the day of a set feast.
8 The Lord has [d]purposed to destroy
The (R)wall of the daughter of Zion.
(S)He has stretched out a line;
He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying;
Therefore He has caused the rampart and wall to lament;
They languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
He has destroyed and (T)broken her bars.
(U)Her king and her princes are among the [e]nations;
(V)The Law is no more,
And her (W)prophets find no [f]vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
(X)Sit on the ground and keep silence;
[g]They (Y)throw dust on their heads
And (Z)gird themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem
Bow their heads to the ground.
11 (AA)My eyes fail with tears,
My [h]heart is troubled;
(AB)My [i]bile is poured on the ground
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because (AC)the children and the infants
Faint in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
As they swoon like the wounded
In the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
In their mothers’ bosom.
13 How shall I (AD)console[j] you?
To what shall I liken you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea;
Who can heal you?
14 Your (AE)prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not (AF)uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false (AG)prophecies and delusions.
15 All who [k]pass by (AH)clap their hands at you;
They hiss (AI)and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that is called
(AJ)‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”
16 (AK)All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, (AL)“We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the (AM)day we have waited for;
We have found it, (AN)we have seen it!”
17 The Lord has done what He (AO)purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to (AP)rejoice over you;
He has exalted the [l]horn of your adversaries.
18 Their heart cried out to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
(AQ)Let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Give [m]your eyes no rest.
19 “Arise, (AR)cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
(AS)Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger (AT)at the head of every street.”
20 “See, O Lord, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
(AU)Should the women eat their offspring,
The children [n]they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 “Young(AV) and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the (AW)sword;
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered and not pitied.
22 “You have invited as to a feast day
(AX)The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
(AY)Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have (AZ)destroyed.”
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:3 Strength
- Lamentations 2:6 Lit. booth
- Lamentations 2:7 delivered
- Lamentations 2:8 determined
- Lamentations 2:9 Gentiles
- Lamentations 2:9 Prophetic revelation
- Lamentations 2:10 A sign of mourning
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit. inward parts
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit. liver
- Lamentations 2:13 Or bear witness to
- Lamentations 2:15 Lit. pass by this way
- Lamentations 2:17 Strength
- Lamentations 2:18 Lit. the daughter of your eye
- Lamentations 2:20 Vg. a span long
Lamentations 2
New International Version
Lamentations 2
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)
7 The Lord has rejected his altar
and abandoned his sanctuary.(X)
He has given the walls of her palaces(Y)
into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed festival.(Z)
8 The Lord determined to tear down
the wall around Daughter Zion.(AA)
He stretched out a measuring line(AB)
and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts(AC) and walls lament;
together they wasted away.(AD)
9 Her gates(AE) have sunk into the ground;
their bars(AF) he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled(AG) among the nations,
the law(AH) is no more,
and her prophets(AI) no longer find
visions(AJ) from the Lord.
10 The elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence;(AK)
they have sprinkled dust(AL) on their heads(AM)
and put on sackcloth.(AN)
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.(AO)
11 My eyes fail from weeping,(AP)
I am in torment within(AQ);
my heart(AR) is poured out(AS) on the ground
because my people are destroyed,(AT)
because children and infants faint(AU)
in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”(AV)
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away(AW)
in their mothers’ arms.(AX)
13 What can I say for you?(AY)
With what can I compare you,
Daughter(AZ) Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
that I may comfort you,
Virgin Daughter Zion?(BA)
Your wound is as deep as the sea.(BB)
Who can heal you?
14 The visions of your prophets
were false(BC) and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
to ward off your captivity.(BD)
The prophecies they gave you
were false and misleading.(BE)
15 All who pass your way
clap their hands at you;(BF)
they scoff(BG) and shake their heads(BH)
at Daughter Jerusalem:(BI)
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,(BJ)
the joy of the whole earth?”(BK)
16 All your enemies open their mouths
wide against you;(BL)
they scoff and gnash their teeth(BM)
and say, “We have swallowed her up.(BN)
This is the day we have waited for;
we have lived to see it.”(BO)
17 The Lord has done what he planned;
he has fulfilled(BP) his word,
which he decreed long ago.(BQ)
He has overthrown you without pity,(BR)
he has let the enemy gloat over you,(BS)
he has exalted the horn[e] of your foes.(BT)
18 The hearts of the people
cry out to the Lord.(BU)
You walls of Daughter Zion,(BV)
let your tears(BW) flow like a river
day and night;(BX)
give yourself no relief,
your eyes no rest.(BY)
19 Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart(BZ) like water
in the presence of the Lord.(CA)
Lift up your hands(CB) to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint(CC) from hunger
at every street corner.
20 “Look, Lord, and consider:
Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,(CD)
the children they have cared for?(CE)
Should priest and prophet be killed(CF)
in the sanctuary of the Lord?(CG)
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 Horn here symbolizes strength.
New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Nowe Przymierze (NP)
© 2011 by Ewangeliczny Instytut Biblijny
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.