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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He has withdrawn his right hand(I)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.
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 Living Translation
Lamentations 2
New Living Translation
God’s Anger at Sin
2 The Lord in his anger
has cast a dark shadow over beautiful Jerusalem.[a]
The fairest of Israel’s cities lies in the dust,
thrown down from the heights of heaven.
In his day of great anger,
the Lord has shown no mercy even to his Temple.[b]
2 Without mercy the Lord has destroyed
every home in Israel.[c]
In his anger he has broken down
the fortress walls of beautiful Jerusalem.[d]
He has brought them to the ground,
dishonoring the kingdom and its rulers.
3 All the strength of Israel
vanishes beneath his fierce anger.
The Lord has withdrawn his protection
as the enemy attacks.
He consumes the whole land of Israel
like a raging fire.
4 He bends his bow against his people,
as though he were their enemy.
His strength is used against them
to kill their finest youth.
His fury is poured out like fire
on beautiful Jerusalem.[e]
5 Yes, the Lord has vanquished Israel
like an enemy.
He has destroyed her palaces
and demolished her fortresses.
He has brought unending sorrow and tears
upon beautiful Jerusalem.
6 He has broken down his Temple
as though it were merely a garden shelter.
The Lord has blotted out all memory
of the holy festivals and Sabbath days.
Kings and priests fall together
before his fierce anger.
7 The Lord has rejected his own altar;
he despises his own sanctuary.
He has given Jerusalem’s palaces
to her enemies.
They shout in the Lord’s Temple
as though it were a day of celebration.
8 The Lord was determined
to destroy the walls of beautiful Jerusalem.
He made careful plans for their destruction,
then did what he had planned.
Therefore, the ramparts and walls
have fallen down before him.
9 Jerusalem’s gates have sunk into the ground.
He has smashed their locks and bars.
Her kings and princes have been exiled to distant lands;
her law has ceased to exist.
Her prophets receive
no more visions from the Lord.
10 The leaders of beautiful Jerusalem
sit on the ground in silence.
They are clothed in burlap
and throw dust on their heads.
The young women of Jerusalem
hang their heads in shame.
11 I have cried until the tears no longer come;
my heart is broken.
My spirit is poured out in agony
as I see the desperate plight of my people.
Little children and tiny babies
are fainting and dying in the streets.
12 They cry out to their mothers,
“We need food and drink!”
Their lives ebb away in the streets
like the life of a warrior wounded in battle.
They gasp for life
as they collapse in their mothers’ arms.
13 What can I say about you?
Who has ever seen such sorrow?
O daughter of Jerusalem,
to what can I compare your anguish?
O virgin daughter of Zion,
how can I comfort you?
For your wound is as deep as the sea.
Who can heal you?
14 Your prophets have said
so many foolish things, false to the core.
They did not save you from exile
by pointing out your sins.
Instead, they painted false pictures,
filling you with false hope.
15 All who pass by jeer at you.
They scoff and insult beautiful Jerusalem,[f] saying,
“Is this the city called ‘Most Beautiful in All the World’
and ‘Joy of All the Earth’?”
16 All your enemies mock you.
They scoff and snarl and say,
“We have destroyed her at last!
We have long waited for this day,
and it is finally here!”
17 But it is the Lord who did just as he planned.
He has fulfilled the promises of disaster
he made long ago.
He has destroyed Jerusalem without mercy.
He has caused her enemies to gloat over her
and has given them power over her.
18 Cry aloud[g] before the Lord,
O walls of beautiful Jerusalem!
Let your tears flow like a river
day and night.
Give yourselves no rest;
give your eyes no relief.
19 Rise during the night and cry out.
Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him in prayer,
pleading for your children,
for in every street
they are faint with hunger.
20 “O Lord, think about this!
Should you treat your own people this way?
Should mothers eat their own children,
those they once bounced on their knees?
Should priests and prophets be killed
within the Lord’s Temple?
21 “See them lying in the streets—
young and old,
boys and girls,
killed by the swords of the enemy.
You have killed them in your anger,
slaughtering them without mercy.
22 “You have invited terrors from all around,
as though you were calling them to a day of feasting.
In the day of the Lord’s anger,
no one has escaped or survived.
The enemy has killed all the children
whom I carried and raised.”
Footnotes
Lamentations 2
Good News Translation
Lamentations 2
Good News Translation
The Lord's Punishment of Jerusalem
2 The Lord in his anger has covered Zion with darkness.
Its heavenly splendor he has turned into ruins.
On the day of his anger he abandoned even his Temple.
2 The Lord destroyed without mercy every village in Judah
And tore down the forts that defended the land.
He brought disgrace on the kingdom and its rulers.
3 In his fury he shattered the strength of Israel;
He refused to help us when the enemy came.
He raged against us like fire, destroying everything.
4 He aimed his arrows at us like an enemy;
He killed all those who were our joy and delight.
Here in Jerusalem we felt his burning anger.
5 Like an enemy, the Lord has destroyed Israel;
He has left her forts and palaces in ruins.
He has brought on the people of Judah unending sorrow.
6 He smashed to pieces the Temple where we worshiped him;
He has put an end to holy days and Sabbaths.
King and priest alike have felt the force of his anger.
7 The Lord rejected his altar and deserted his holy Temple;
He allowed the enemy to tear down its walls.
They shouted in victory where once we had worshiped in joy.
8 The Lord was determined that the walls of Zion should fall;
He measured them off to make sure of total destruction.
The towers and walls now lie in ruins together.
9 The gates lie buried in rubble, their bars smashed to pieces.
The king and the noblemen now are in exile.
The Law is no longer taught, and the prophets have no visions from the Lord.
10 Jerusalem's old men sit on the ground in silence,
With dust on their heads and sackcloth on their bodies.
Young women bow their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes are worn out with weeping; my soul is in anguish.
I am exhausted with grief at the destruction of my people.
Children and babies are fainting in the streets of the city.
12 Hungry and thirsty, they cry to their mothers;
They fall in the streets as though they were wounded,
And slowly die in their mothers' arms.
13 O Jerusalem, beloved Jerusalem, what can I say?
How can I comfort you? No one has ever suffered like this.
Your disaster is boundless as the ocean; there is no possible hope.
14 Your prophets had nothing to tell you but lies;
Their preaching deceived you by never exposing your sin.
They made you think you did not need to repent.
15 People passing by the city look at you in scorn.
They shake their heads and laugh at Jerusalem's ruins:
“Is this that lovely city? Is this the pride of the world?”
16 All your enemies mock you and glare at you with hate.
They curl their lips and sneer, “We have destroyed it!
This is the day we have waited for!”
17 The Lord has finally done what he threatened to do:
He has destroyed us without mercy, as he warned us long ago.
He gave our enemies victory, gave them joy at our downfall.
18 O Jerusalem, let your very walls cry out to the Lord![a]
Let your tears flow like rivers night and day;
Wear yourself out with weeping and grief
19 All through the night get up again and again to cry out to the Lord;
Pour out your heart and beg him for mercy on your children—
Children starving to death on every street corner!
20 Look, O Lord! Why are you punishing us like this?
Women are eating the bodies of the children they loved!
Priests and prophets are being killed in the Temple itself
21 Young and old alike lie dead in the streets,
Young men and women, killed by enemy swords.
You slaughtered them without mercy on the day of your anger.
22 You invited my enemies to hold a carnival of terror all around me,
And no one could escape on that day of your anger.
They murdered my children, whom I had raised and loved.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:18 Probable text O Jerusalem … Lord; Hebrew Their hearts cried out to the Lord, O wall of Jerusalem.
Lamentations 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Lamentations 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God’s Warnings Fulfilled
2 How the Lord in his anger
has humiliated[a] daughter Zion!
He has thrown down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered his footstool
in the day of his anger.(A)
2 The Lord has destroyed without mercy
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has broken down
the strongholds of daughter Judah;
he has brought down to the ground in dishonor
the kingdom and its rulers.(B)
3 He has cut down in fierce anger
all the might of Israel;
he has withdrawn his right hand from them
in the face of the enemy;
he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.(C)
4 He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set like a foe;
he has killed all those
in whom we took pride
in the tent of daughter Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.(D)
5 The Lord has become like an enemy;
he has destroyed Israel.
He has destroyed all its palaces,
laid in ruins its strongholds,
and multiplied in daughter Judah
mourning and lamentation.(E)
6 He has broken down his booth like a garden;
he has destroyed his tabernacle;
the Lord has abolished in Zion
festival and Sabbath
and in his fierce indignation has spurned
king and priest.(F)
7 The Lord has scorned his altar,
disowned his sanctuary;
he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
a clamor was raised in the house of the Lord
as on a day of festival.(G)
8 The Lord determined to lay in ruins
the wall of daughter Zion;
he stretched the line;
he did not withhold his hand from destroying;
he caused rampart and wall to lament;
they languish together.(H)
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
he has ruined and broken her bars;
her king and princes are among the nations;
guidance is no more,
and her prophets obtain
no vision from the Lord.(I)
10 The elders of daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence;
they have thrown dust on their heads;
they put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.(J)
11 My eyes are spent with weeping;
my stomach churns;
my bile is poured out on the ground
because of the destruction of my people,[b]
because infants and babes faint
in the streets of the city.(K)
12 They cry to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosoms.(L)
13 What can I say for you, to what compare you,
O daughter Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter Zion?
For vast as the sea is your ruin;
who can heal you?(M)
14 Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
they have not exposed your iniquity
to restore your fortunes
but have seen oracles for you
that are false and misleading.(N)
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
they hiss and wag their heads
at daughter Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,
the joy of all the earth?”(O)
16 All your enemies
open their mouths against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We have devoured her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
at last we have seen it!”(P)
17 The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out his threat;
as he ordained long ago,
he has demolished without pity;
he has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the might of your foes.(Q)
18 Cry aloud[c] to the Lord!
O wall of daughter Zion!
Let tears stream down like a torrent
day and night!
Give yourself no rest,
your eyes no respite!(R)
19 Arise, cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the watches!
Pour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger
at the head of every street.(S)
20 Look, O Lord, and consider!
To whom have you done this?
Should women eat their offspring,
the children they have borne?
Should priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?(T)
21 The young and the old are lying
on the ground in the streets;
my young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
in the day of your anger you have killed them,
slaughtering without mercy.(U)
22 You invited my enemies from all around
as if for a day of festival;
and on the day of the anger of the Lord,
no one escaped or survived;
those whom I bore and reared,
my enemy has destroyed.(V)
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Good News Translation (GNT) 
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.