Lamentations 2:4-14

4 He has bent His 1bow like an enemy; He has set His right hand like an adversary And slain all that were 2pleasant to the eye; In the tent of the daughter of Zion He has 3poured out His wrath like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an 4enemy. He has 5swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all its 6palaces, He has destroyed its strongholds And 7multiplied in the daughter of Judah Mourning and moaning.
6 And He has violently treated His tabernacle like a garden booth; He has 8destroyed His appointed meeting place. The LORD has 9caused to be forgotten The appointed feast and sabbath in Zion, And He has 10despised king and priest In the indignation of His anger.
7 The Lord has 11rejected His altar, He has abandoned His sanctuary; He 12has delivered into the hand of the enemy The walls of her palaces. They have made a 13noise 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 14stretched out a line, He has not restrained His hand from destroying, And He has 15caused rampart and wall to lament; They have languished together.
9 Her 16gates have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; The 17law is no more. Also, her prophets find 18No vision from the LORD.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion 19Sit on the ground, they 20are silent. They have thrown 21dust on their heads; They have girded themselves with 22sackcloth. The 23virgins of Jerusalem Have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My 24eyes fail because of tears, My 25spirit is greatly troubled; My 26heart is poured out on the earth 27Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, When 28little ones and infants faint In the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers, "29Where is grain and wine?" As they faint like a wounded man In the streets of the city, As their 30life is poured out On their mothers' bosom.
13 How shall I admonish you? To what 31shall I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I liken you as I comfort you, O 32virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is as vast as the sea; Who can 33heal you?
14 Your 34prophets have seen for you False and foolish visions; And they have not 35exposed your iniquity So as to restore you from captivity, But they have 36seen for you false and misleading oracles.

Lamentations 2:4-14 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 36

  • 1. Job 6:4; Job 16:13; Lamentations 3:12, 13
  • 2. Ezekiel 24:25
  • 3. Isaiah 42:25; Jeremiah 7:20
  • 4. Jeremiah 30:14
  • 5. Lamentations 2:2
  • 6. Jeremiah 52:13; Lamentations 2:2
  • 7. Jeremiah 9:17-20
  • 8. Jeremiah 52:13
  • 9. Jeremiah 17:27; Lamentations 1:4; Zephaniah 3:18
  • 10. Lamentations 4:16
  • 11. Psalms 78:59-61; Isaiah 64:11; Ezekiel 7:20-22
  • 12. Jeremiah 33:4, 5; Jeremiah 52:13
  • 13. Psalms 74:3-8
  • 14. 2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 34:11; Amos 7:7-9
  • 15. Isaiah 3:26; Jeremiah 14:2
  • 16. Nehemiah 1:3
  • 17. Hosea 3:4
  • 18. Jeremiah 14:14; Jeremiah 23:16; Ezekiel 7:26
  • 19. Job 2:13; Isaiah 3:26; Isaiah 47:1
  • 20. Amos 8:3
  • 21. Job 2:12; Ezekiel 27:30
  • 22. Isaiah 15:3; Jonah 3:6-8
  • 23. Lamentations 1:4
  • 24. Lamentations 1:16; Lamentations 3:48, 51
  • 25. Jeremiah 4:19
  • 26. Job 16:13
  • 27. Isaiah 22:4; Lamentations 4:10
  • 28. Jeremiah 44:7; Lamentations 2:19
  • 29. Jeremiah 5:17
  • 30. Job 30:16; Psalms 42:4; Psalms 62:8
  • 31. Lamentations 1:12
  • 32. Isaiah 37:22
  • 33. Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 30:12-15
  • 34. Jeremiah 23:25-29; Jeremiah 29:8, 9
  • 35. Isaiah 58:1; Ezekiel 23:36; Micah 3:8
  • 36. Jeremiah 23:36; Ezekiel 22:25, 28

Footnotes 9

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