Lamentations 2:8

8 The LORD decided to tear down the walls around the city of Zion. He measured out what he wanted to destroy. Then he destroyed it with his powerful hand. He made even its towers and walls sing songs of sadness. All of them fell down.

Lamentations 2:8 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 2:8

The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of
Zion
Either the wall of the city, as Aben Ezra; or the wall that encompassed the temple, and all the outward courts of it, as Dr. Lightfoot ^F19 thinks; this the Lord had determined to destroy, and according to his purposes did destroy it, or suffer it to be demolished; and so all were laid open for the enemy to enter: he hath stretched out a line;
a line of destruction, to mark out how far the destruction should go, and bow much should be laid in ruins; all being as exactly done, according to the purpose and counsel of God, as if it was done by line and rule; see ( Isaiah 34:11 ) ; he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying;
till he made a full end of the city and temple, as he first designed: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament:
the "chel" and the wall; all that space between the courts of the temple and the wall that surrounded it was called the "chel"; and so the Targum, the circumference or enclosure; and these were laid waste together, and so said to lament: according to others they were two walls, a wall the son of a wall, as Jarchi interprets it; an outward and an inward wall, one higher than another; a low wall over against a high wall; which was as a rampart or bulwark, for the strength and support of it: they languished together;
or fell together, as persons in a fit faint away and full to the ground.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Prospect of the Temple, c. 17. p. 1089.

Lamentations 2:8 In-Context

6 The LORD's temple was like a garden. But he completely destroyed it. He destroyed the place where he used to meet with his people. He made Zion's people forget their appointed feasts and Sabbath days. When he was very angry, he turned his back on king and priest alike.

7 The Lord deserted his altar. He left his temple. He handed the walls of Jerusalem's palaces over to its enemies. They shouted loudly in the house of the Lord. You would have thought it was the day of an appointed feast.

8 The LORD decided to tear down the walls around the city of Zion. He measured out what he wanted to destroy. Then he destroyed it with his powerful hand. He made even its towers and walls sing songs of sadness. All of them fell down.

9 Its gates sank down into the ground. He broke their metal bars and destroyed them. Its king and princes were taken away to other nations. There is no law anymore. Jerusalem's prophets no longer receive visions from the Lord.

10 The elders of the city of Zion sit silently on the ground. They have sprinkled dust on their heads. They've put on black clothes to show how sad they are. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads toward the ground.