Lamentations 2:4

4 He bent his bow like an enemy, with his right hand set like a foe. He killed all who were pleasant to see. In the tent of the daughter of Tziyon, he poured out his fury like fire.

Lamentations 2:4 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 2:4

He hath bent his bow like an enemy
God sometimes appears as if he was an enemy to his people, when he is not, by his conduct and behaviour; by the dispensations of his providence they take him to be so, as Job did, ( Job 16:9 Job 16:10 Job 16:13 Job 16:14 ) ; he bends his bow, or treads it, for the bending or stretching the bow was done by the foot; and as the Targum,

``and threw his arrows at me:''

he stood with his right hand as an adversary;
with arrows in it, to put into his bow or with his sword drawn, as an adversary does. The Targum is,

``he stood at the right hand of Nebuchadnezzar and helped him, when he distressed his people Israel:''

and slew all [that were] pleasant to the eye;
princes and priests, husbands and wives, parents and children, young men and maids; desirable to their friends and relations, and to the commonwealth: in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion he poured out his fury like
fire;
that is, either in the temple, or in the city of Jerusalem, or both, which were burnt with fire, as the effect of divine wrath and fury; and which itself is comparable to fire; like a burning lamp of fire, as the Targum; or rather like a burning furnace or mountain; see ( Nahum 1:6 ) .

Lamentations 2:4 In-Context

2 Without pity Adonai swallowed up all the dwellings of Ya'akov. In his wrath he broke down the strongholds of the daughter of Y'hudah, brought them down to the ground, thus profaning the kingdom and its rulers.

3 In his fierce anger he cut off all the power of Isra'el, withdrew his protecting right hand at the approach of the enemy, and blazed up in Ya'akov like a flaming fire devouring everything around it.

4 He bent his bow like an enemy, with his right hand set like a foe. He killed all who were pleasant to see. In the tent of the daughter of Tziyon, he poured out his fury like fire.

5 Adonai became like an enemy; he swallowed up Isra'el, swallowed up all its palaces, and destroyed all its strongholds. For the daughter of Y'hudah he has multiplied mourning and moaning.

6 He wrecked his tabernacle as easily as a garden, destroyed his place of assembly. ADONAI caused Isra'el to forget designated times and Shabbats. In the heat of his anger he rejected both king and cohen.