Lamentations 4:11

Kaf

11 The Lord has exhausted His wrath, poured out His burning anger; He has ignited a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.^[a]

Lamentations 4:11 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 4:11

The Lord hath accomplished his fury
Which rose up in his mind, and which he purposed in himself to bring upon the sinful people of the Jews: he hath poured out his fierce anger;
the vials of his wrath in great abundance, even all he meant to pour out upon them: and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations
thereof:
not in the strong hold of Zion only, but in the whole city of Jerusalem, which was set on fire by the Chaldeans, as instruments, according to the will of God; and which not only consumed the houses of it, but even the foundations of them; so that it looked as if there was no hope of its ever being rebuilt. Aben Ezra interprets this fire of the famine.

Lamentations 4:11 In-Context

9 Those slain by the sword are better off than those slain by hunger, who waste away, pierced [with pain] because the fields lack produce.

10 The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became their food during the destruction of my dear people.

11 The Lord has exhausted His wrath, poured out His burning anger; He has ignited a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.

12 The kings of the earth and all the world's inhabitants did not believe that an enemy or adversary could enter Jerusalem's gates.

13 [Yet it happened] because of the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous within her.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lm 2:3-4