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Lamentations 2:1-19
Legacy Standard Bible
Lamentations 2:1-19
Legacy Standard Bible
The Anger of Yahweh
Aleph
2 How the Lord has (A)covered the daughter of Zion
With a cloud in His anger!
He has (B)cast from heaven to earth
The (C)beauty of Israel,
And has not remembered the (D)footstool of His feet
In the day of His anger.
Beth
2 The Lord has (E)swallowed up; He has not spared
All the habitations of Jacob.
In His wrath He has (F)pulled down
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
He has (G)brought them down to the ground;
He has (H)profaned the kingdom and its princes.
Gimel
3 In [a]hot anger He has cut in pieces
[b]All the (I)strength of Israel;
He has (J)turned back His right hand
From before the enemy.
And He has (K)burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
Devouring round about.
Daleth
4 He has bent His (L)bow like an enemy;
He has set His right hand like an adversary
And killed all that were (M)desirable to the eye;
In the tent of the daughter of Zion
He has (N)poured out His wrath like fire.
He
5 The Lord has become like an (O)enemy.
He has (P)swallowed up Israel;
He has swallowed up all its (Q)palaces;
He has brought its strongholds to ruin
And (R)multiplied in the daughter of Judah
Mourning and moaning.
Vav
6 And He has violently treated His [c]tabernacle like a garden booth;
He has (S)brought His appointed [d]meeting place to ruin.
Yahweh has (T)caused to be forgotten
The appointed time and sabbath in Zion,
And He has (U)spurned king and priest
In the indignation of His anger.
Zayin
7 The Lord has (V)rejected His altar;
He has abandoned His sanctuary;
He (W)has delivered into the hand of the enemy
The walls of her palaces.
They have made a (X)noise in the house of Yahweh
As in the day of an appointed time.
Heth
8 Yahweh [e]determined to bring to ruin
The wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has (Y)stretched out a line;
He has not turned His hand back from swallowing up,
And He has (Z)caused rampart and wall to mourn;
They have languished together.
Teth
9 Her (AA)gates have sunk into the ground;
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her princes are among the nations;
The (AB)law is no more.
Also, her prophets find
(AC)No vision from Yahweh.
Yodh
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
(AD)Sit on the ground; they (AE)are silent.
They have thrown (AF)dust up on their heads;
They have girded themselves with (AG)sackcloth.
The (AH)virgins of Jerusalem
Have bowed their heads down to the ground.
Kaph
11 My (AI)eyes fail because of tears;
My [f](AJ)inmost being is greatly disturbed;
My [g](AK)heart is poured out on the earth
(AL)Because of the [h]destruction of the daughter of my people,
When (AM)infants and nursing babies faint
In the open squares of the city.
Lamedh
12 They say to their mothers,
“(AN)Where is grain and wine?”
As they faint like a wounded man
In the open squares of the city,
As their (AO)life is poured out
On their mothers’ bosom.
Mem
13 What shall I testify about you?
To what (AP)shall I equate you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
To what shall I liken you as I comfort you,
O (AQ)virgin daughter of Zion?
For your [i]destruction is as vast as the sea;
Who can (AR)heal you?
Nun
14 Your (AS)prophets have beheld for you
Worthless and ineffective visions;
And they have not (AT)uncovered your iniquity
So as to [j]return you from captivity,
But they have (AU)beheld for you worthless and misleading [k]oracles.
Samekh
15 All who pass along the way
(AV)Clap their hands in derision at you;
They (AW)hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem,
“Is this the city of which they said,
‘(AX)The perfection of beauty,
(AY)The joy of the whole earth’?”
Pe
16 All (AZ)your enemies
Have opened their mouths wide against you;
They hiss and (BA)gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have (BB)swallowed her up!
Surely this is the (BC)day for which we have hoped;
We have found it, we have seen it.”
Ayin
17 Yahweh has (BD)done what He purposed;
He has completed His word
Which He commanded from days of old.
He has pulled down (BE)without sparing,
And He has caused the enemy to (BF)be glad over you;
He has (BG)exalted the [l]might of your adversaries.
Tsadhe
18 Their (BH)heart cried out to the Lord,
“O (BI)wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let your (BJ)tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Let [m]your eyes not be still.
Qoph
19 Arise, cry aloud in the (BK)night
At the head of the night watches;
(BL)Pour out your heart like water
Before the presence of the Lord;
Lift up your hands to Him
For the (BM)life of your infants
Who are (BN)faint because of hunger
At the head of every street.”
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:3 Lit burning
- Lamentations 2:3 Lit Every horn
- Lamentations 2:6 Lit booth
- Lamentations 2:6 Or time, cf. 2:6b, 7
- Lamentations 2:8 Lit thought
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit inward parts are in ferment
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit liver
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit breaking
- Lamentations 2:13 Lit breaking
- Lamentations 2:14 Or restore
- Lamentations 2:14 Lit burdens
- Lamentations 2:17 Lit horn
- Lamentations 2:18 Lit the daughter of your eye
Lamentations 2:1-19
New International Version
Lamentations 2:1-19
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)
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.
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