20 “See, O Lord, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
(A)Should the women eat their offspring,
The children [a]they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 “Young(B) and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the (C)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
(D)The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
(E)Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have (F)destroyed.”

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 2:20 Vg. a span long

20 See, Yahweh, and take note!
    With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women eat their young
    children of tender care?
Should priest and prophet be slain
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 They lie in the soil of the streets,
    young and old;
my young women[a] and young men,
    they have fallen by the sword;
you have slain on the day of your anger,[b]
    you have slaughtered and not shown mercy.
22 You have summoned my horror from all around,
    as if for a feast day;
no one on the day of Yahweh’s anger
    is a fugitive and a survivor;
whoever I have cared for and reared,
    my enemy has destroyed.

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 2:21 Or “my virgins”
  2. Lamentations 2:21 Literally “your nose”