Lamentations 2:5-15

5 ¹The Lord has become like an enemy; ²he has swallowed up Israel; ³he has swallowed up all its palaces; he has laid in ruins its strongholds, and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah ⁴mourning and lamentation.

6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden, laid in ruins ⁵his meeting place; ⁶the LORD has made Zion forget festival and ⁷Sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

7 ⁸The Lord has scorned his altar, ⁹disowned his sanctuary; ¹⁰he has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; ¹¹they raised a clamor in the house of the LORD as on the day of festival.

8 ¹²The LORD determined to lay in ruins ¹³the wall of the daughter of Zion; ¹⁴he stretched out the measuring line; he did not restrain his hand from destroying; ¹⁵he caused rampart and wall to lament; ¹⁶they languished together.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; ¹⁷he has ruined ¹⁸and broken her bars; ¹⁹her king and princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and ²⁰her prophets find no vision from the LORD.

10 The elders of the daughter of Zion ²¹sit on the ground ²²in silence; ²³they have thrown dust on their heads and ²⁴put on sackcloth; the young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.

11 ²⁵My eyes are spent with weeping; ²⁶my stomach churns; ²⁷my bile is poured out to the ground ²⁸because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, ²⁹because infants and babies ³⁰faint in the streets of the city.

12 They cry to their mothers, ³¹"Where is bread and wine?" ³²as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers' bosom.

13 What can I say for you, ³³to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? ³⁴What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? ³⁵For your ruin is vast as the sea; who can heal you?

14 ³⁶Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; ³⁷they have not exposed your iniquity to ³⁸restore your fortunes, ³⁹but have seen for you ⁴⁰oracles that are false and misleading.

15 All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; ⁴¹they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called ⁴²the perfection of beauty, ⁴³the joy of all the earth?"

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Lamentations 2:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 2

This chapter contains another alphabet, in which the Prophet Jeremiah, or those he represents, lament the sad condition of Jerusalem; the destruction of the city and temple, and of all persons and things relative to them, and to its civil or church state; and that as being from the hand of the Lord himself, who is represented all along as the author thereof, because of their sins, La 2:1-9; and then the elders and virgins of Zion are represented as in great distress, and weeping for those desolations; which were very much owing to the false prophets, that had deceived them, La 2:10-14; and all this occasioned great rejoicing in the enemies of Zion, La 2:15-17; but sorrow of heart to Zion herself, who is called to weeping, La 2:18,19; and the chapter is concluded with an address to the Lord, to take this her sorrowful case into consideration, and show pity and compassion, La 2:20-22.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 43

1. [See ver. 4 above]
2. ver. 16; [Psalms 35:25; Psalms 56:2; Ezekiel 36:3]
3. [2 Kings 25:9]
4. Isaiah 29:2
5. Lamentations 1:4; Isaiah 1:13; Zephaniah 3:18
6. Lamentations 1:4; Isaiah 1:13; Zephaniah 3:18
7. Isaiah 1:13
8. [Psalms 89:38]
9. [Ezekiel 24:21]
10. Deuteronomy 32:30
11. Psalms 74:4
12. [Jeremiah 5:10]
13. ver. 18
14. See 2 Kings 21:13
15. Jeremiah 14:2
16. Jeremiah 14:2
17. Jeremiah 51:30; Nahum 3:13
18. Jeremiah 51:30; Nahum 3:13
19. [Hosea 3:4]
20. Psalms 74:9
21. Lamentations 1:1; Lamentations 3:28; Isaiah 3:26
22. Ezekiel 3:15
23. See Joshua 7:6
24. Jeremiah 48:37; Ezekiel 7:18; Amos 8:10; See Jeremiah 4:8
25. [ver. 18; Lamentations 5:17; Psalms 6:7]
26. See Lamentations 1:20
27. [Job 16:13]
28. Lamentations 3:48
29. [Lamentations 4:4; Jeremiah 44:7]
30. ver. 19; [Isaiah 51:20]
31. See Lamentations 1:11
32. [See ver. 11 above]
33. [Lamentations 1:12]
34. [Lamentations 1:12]
35. 2 Samuel 5:20; [Ezekiel 26:3]
36. See Jeremiah 5:31
37. [Isaiah 58:1]
38. See Jeremiah 30:3
39. See Jeremiah 5:31
40. [Jeremiah 23:33, 34]
41. See 2 Chronicles 29:8
42. Psalms 48:2; Ezekiel 16:14
43. Psalms 48:2; Ezekiel 16:14

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.

Lamentations 2:5-15

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Lamentations 2:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 2

Cross References 43