Lamentations 2:2

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2 Without compassion[a] the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In His wrath He has demolished the fortified cities[b] of Daughter Judah. He brought [them] to the ground and defiled the kingdom and its leaders.[c]

Lamentations 2:2 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 2:2

The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and
hath not pitied
As he regarded not his own habitation the temple, nor the ark his footstool, it is no wonder he should be unconcerned about the habitations of others; as of the inhabitants of the land of Judea and of Jerusalem, particularly of the king, his nobles, and the great men; these the Lord swallowed up, or suffered to be swallowed up, as houses in an earthquake, and by an inundation, so as to be seen no more; and this he did without showing the least reluctance, pity, and compassion; being so highly incensed and provoked by their sins and transgressions: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of
Judah;
not only the dwelling houses of the people, but the most fortified places, their castles, towers, and citadels: he hath brought [them] down to the ground;
and not only battered and shook them, but beat them down, and laid them level with the ground; and all this done in the fury of his wrath, being irritated to it by the sins of his people; even the daughter of Judah, or the congregation thereof, as the Targum: he hath polluted the kingdom, and the princes thereof;
what was reckoned sacred, the kingdom of the house of David, and the kings and princes of it, the Lord's anointed; these being defiled with sin, God cast them away, as filth to the dunghill, and gave them up into the hands of the Gentiles, who were reckoned unclean; and thus they were profaned. Jarchi interprets these princes of the Israelites in common, who were called a kingdom of priests; and makes mention of a Midrash, that explains them of the princes above, or of heaven.

Lamentations 2:2 In-Context

1 How the Lord has overshadowed Daughter Zion with His anger! He has thrown down Israel's glory from heaven to earth. He has abandoned His footstool in the day of His anger.
2 Without compassion the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In His wrath He has demolished the fortified cities of Daughter Judah. He brought [them] to the ground and defiled the kingdom and its leaders.
3 He has cut off every horn of Israel in His burning anger and withdrawn His right hand in the presence of the enemy. He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything [in its path].
4 Like an enemy He has bent His bow; His right hand is positioned like an adversary. He has killed everyone who was loved, pouring out His wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion.
5 The Lord is like an enemy; He has swallowed up Israel. He swallowed up all its palaces and destroyed its fortified cities. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation within Daughter Judah.

Footnotes 3

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