Lamentations 2:5

5 The Lord was as an enemy; He hath swallowed up Israel, He hath swallowed up all her palaces. He hath destroyed his strongholds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

Lamentations 2:5 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 2:5

The Lord was as an enemy
Who formerly was on their side, their God and guardian, their protector and deliverer, but now against them; and a terrible thing it is to have God for an enemy, or even to be as one; this is repeated, as being exceeding distressing, and even intolerable. Mr. Broughton renders it, "the Lord is become a very enemy"; taking "caph" for a note of reality, and not of similitude; he hath swallowed up Israel;
the ten tribes, or the Jewish nation in general; as a lion, or any other savage beast, swallows its prey, and makes nothing of it, and leaves none behind: he hath swallowed up all her palaces:
the palaces of Zion or Jerusalem; the palaces of the king, princes, nobles, and great men; as an earthquake or inundation swallows up whole streets and cities at once; (See Gill on Lamentations 2:2); he hath destroyed his strong holds:
the fortified places of the land of Israel, the towers and castles: and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation;
exceeding great lamentation, for the destruction of its cities, towns, villages, and the inhabitants of them.

Lamentations 2:5 In-Context

3 He hath cut off in His fierce anger all the horn of Israel. He hath drawn back His right hand from before the enemy, and He burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.

4 He hath bent His bow like an enemy; He stood with His right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion; He poured out His fury like fire.

5 The Lord was as an enemy; He hath swallowed up Israel, He hath swallowed up all her palaces. He hath destroyed his strongholds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

6 And He hath violently taken away His tabernacle, as if it were of a garden; He hath destroyed His places of the assembly. The LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of His anger the king and the priest.

7 The Lord hath cast off His altar; He hath abhorred His sanctuary. He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.