Lamentations 2:5

5 My Lord has become like an enemy. He devoured Israel; he devoured all her palaces; he made ruins of her city walls. In Daughter Judah he multiplied mourning along with more mourning!

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 In his burning rage, he cut off each of Israel's horns; right in front of the enemy, he withdrew his strong hand; he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire that ate up everything nearby.

4 He bent his bow as an enemy would; his strong hand was poised like an adversary. He killed every precious thing in sight; he poured out his wrath like fire on Daughter Zion's tent.

5 My Lord has become like an enemy. He devoured Israel; he devoured all her palaces; he made ruins of her city walls. In Daughter Judah he multiplied mourning along with more mourning!

6 He wrecked his own booth like a garden; he destroyed his place for festivals. The LORD made Zion forget both festival and sabbath; in his fierce rage, he scorned both monarch and priest.

7 My Lord rejected his altar, he abandoned his sanctuary; he handed Zion's palace walls over to enemies. They shouted in the LORD's own house as if it were a festival day.