20 “Look, Lord, and consider:
    Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,(A)
    the children they have cared for?(B)
Should priest and prophet be killed(C)
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?(D)

21 “Young and old lie together
    in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
    have fallen by the sword.(E)
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
    you have slaughtered them without pity.(F)

22 “As you summon to a feast day,
    so you summoned against me terrors(G) on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
    no one escaped(H) or survived;
those I cared for and reared(I)
    my enemy has destroyed.”

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ר Resh

20 Lord, look and consider
who You have done this to.
Should women eat their own children,(A)
the infants they have nurtured?[a]
Should priests and prophets
be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary?

שׁ Shin

21 Both young and old
are lying on the ground in the streets.
My young men and women
have fallen by the sword.
You have killed them in the day of Your anger,
slaughtering without compassion.(B)

ת Tav

22 You summoned my attackers[b] on every side,(C)
as if for an appointed festival day;
on the day of the Lord’s anger
no one escaped or survived.
My enemy has destroyed
those I nurtured[c] and reared.

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 2:20 Or infants in a healthy condition; Hb obscure
  2. Lamentations 2:22 Or terrors
  3. Lamentations 2:22 Or I bore healthy; Hb obscure