Lamentaciones 2:21

21 Yacen por tierra en las calles jóvenes y viejos; mis vírgenes y mis mancebos han caído a espada. Has matado en el día de tu ira, has hecho matanza, no has perdonado.

Lamentaciones 2:21 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 2:21

The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets
Young men and old men, virgins and aged women; these promiscuously lay on the ground in the public streets, fainting and dying for want of food; or lay killed there by the sword of the enemy; the Chaldeans sparing neither age nor sex. The Targum interprets it of their sleeping on the ground,

``young men slept on the ground in the villages, and old men who used to lie on pillows of fine wool, and on beds of ivory;''

but the former sense is confirmed by what follows: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword;
by the sword of the Chaldeans, when they entered the city: thou hast slain [them] in the day of thine anger: thou hast killed,
[and] not pitied;
the Chaldeans were only instruments; it was the Lord's doing; it was according to his will; it was what he had purposed and decreed; what he had solemnly declared and threatened; and now in his providence brought about, for the sins of the Jews, by which he was provoked to anger; and so gave them up into the hands of their enemies, to slay them without mercy; and which is here owned; the church takes notice of the hand of God in all this.

Lamentaciones 2:21 In-Context

19 Levántate, da voces en la noche al comenzar las vigilias; derrama como agua tu corazón ante la presencia del Señor; alza hacia El tus manos por la vida de tus pequeños, que desfallecen de hambre en las esquinas de todas las calles.

20 Mira, oh SEÑOR, y observa: ¿a quién has tratado así? ¿Habían de comer las mujeres el fruto de sus entrañas, a los pequeños criados con cariño? ¿Habían de ser muertos en el santuario del Señor el sacerdote y el profeta?

21 Yacen por tierra en las calles jóvenes y viejos; mis vírgenes y mis mancebos han caído a espada. Has matado en el día de tu ira, has hecho matanza, no has perdonado.

22 Como en día de fiesta solemne convocaste mis terrores de todas partes; y no hubo en el día de la ira del SEÑOR quien escapara ni sobreviviera. A los que crié y mantuve, mi enemigo los exterminó.