Lamentations 2:2-12

2 The Lord has 1swallowed up; He has not spared All the habitations of Jacob. In His wrath He has 2thrown down The strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has 3brought them down to the ground; He has 4profaned the kingdom and its princes.
3 In fierce anger He has cut off All the 5strength of Israel; He has 6drawn back His right hand From before the enemy. And He has 7burned in Jacob like a flaming fire Consuming round about.
4 He has bent His 8bow like an enemy; He has set His right hand like an adversary And slain all that were 9pleasant to the eye; In the tent of the daughter of Zion He has 10poured out His wrath like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an 11enemy. He has 12swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all its 13palaces, He has destroyed its strongholds And 14multiplied in the daughter of Judah Mourning and moaning.
6 And He has violently treated His tabernacle like a garden booth; He has 15destroyed His appointed meeting place. The LORD has 16caused to be forgotten The appointed feast and sabbath in Zion, And He has 17despised king and priest In the indignation of His anger.
7 The Lord has 18rejected His altar, He has abandoned His sanctuary; He 19has delivered into the hand of the enemy The walls of her palaces. They have made a 20noise in the house of the LORD As in the day of an appointed feast.
8 The LORD determined to destroy The wall of the daughter of Zion. He has 21stretched out a line, He has not restrained His hand from destroying, And He has 22caused rampart and wall to lament; They have languished together.
9 Her 23gates have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; The 24law is no more. Also, her prophets find 25No vision from the LORD.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion 26Sit on the ground, they 27are silent. They have thrown 28dust on their heads; They have girded themselves with 29sackcloth. The 30virgins of Jerusalem Have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My 31eyes fail because of tears, My 32spirit is greatly troubled; My 33heart is poured out on the earth 34Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, When 35little ones and infants faint In the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers, "36Where is grain and wine?" As they faint like a wounded man In the streets of the city, As their 37life is poured out On their mothers' bosom.

Lamentations 2:2-12 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.

Cross References 37

  • 1. Psalms 21:9; Lamentations 3:43
  • 2. Lamentations 2:5; Micah 5:11, 14
  • 3. Isaiah 25:12; Isaiah 26:5
  • 4. Psalms 89:39, 40; Isaiah 43:28
  • 5. Psalms 75:5, 10; Jeremiah 48:25
  • 6. Psalms 74:11; Jeremiah 21:4, 5
  • 7. Isaiah 42:25; Jeremiah 21:14
  • 8. Job 6:4; Job 16:13; Lamentations 3:12, 13
  • 9. Ezekiel 24:25
  • 10. Isaiah 42:25; Jeremiah 7:20
  • 11. Jeremiah 30:14
  • 12. Lamentations 2:2
  • 13. Jeremiah 52:13; Lamentations 2:2
  • 14. Jeremiah 9:17-20
  • 15. Jeremiah 52:13
  • 16. Jeremiah 17:27; Lamentations 1:4; Zephaniah 3:18
  • 17. Lamentations 4:16
  • 18. Psalms 78:59-61; Isaiah 64:11; Ezekiel 7:20-22
  • 19. Jeremiah 33:4, 5; Jeremiah 52:13
  • 20. Psalms 74:3-8
  • 21. 2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 34:11; Amos 7:7-9
  • 22. Isaiah 3:26; Jeremiah 14:2
  • 23. Nehemiah 1:3
  • 24. Hosea 3:4
  • 25. Jeremiah 14:14; Jeremiah 23:16; Ezekiel 7:26
  • 26. Job 2:13; Isaiah 3:26; Isaiah 47:1
  • 27. Amos 8:3
  • 28. Job 2:12; Ezekiel 27:30
  • 29. Isaiah 15:3; Jonah 3:6-8
  • 30. Lamentations 1:4
  • 31. Lamentations 1:16; Lamentations 3:48, 51
  • 32. Jeremiah 4:19
  • 33. Job 16:13
  • 34. Isaiah 22:4; Lamentations 4:10
  • 35. Jeremiah 44:7; Lamentations 2:19
  • 36. Jeremiah 5:17
  • 37. Job 30:16; Psalms 42:4; Psalms 62:8

Footnotes 8

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