Lamentations 2:17

17 The LORD has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and exalted the horn ^[a] of your foes.

Lamentations 2:17 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 2:17

The Lord hath done [that] which he had devised
It was not so much the Chaldeans that did it, though they ascribed it to themselves; but it was the Lord's doing, and what he had deliberately thought of, purposed and designed within himself; all whose purposes and devices certainly come to pass: he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old;
not only by the mouth of Jeremiah, years ago, or in the times of Isaiah, long before him; but even in the days of Moses; see ( Leviticus 26:17 ) , &c. ( Deuteronomy 28:20 ) So the Targum,

``which he commanded to Moses the prophet from ancient days, that if the children of Israel would not keep the commands of the Lord, he would take vengeance on them:''

he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied;
he hath thrown down, or caused to be thrown down, without any pity, the walls of Jerusalem; and not only the houses and palaces in it, but also his own house, the temple: and he hath caused [thine] enemy to rejoice over thee;
giving thorn victory, and putting all into their hands; on which they insulted them, and gloried over them: he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries;
increased their strength and power, their kingdom and authority; and which swelled their pride, and made them more haughty and insolent.

Lamentations 2:17 In-Context

15 All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”

16 All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”

17 The LORD has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and exalted the horn of your foes.

18 The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief, and your eyes no rest.

19 Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger on the corner of every street.

Footnotes

• [a] Or the strength