Lamentations 2:3

3 In fierce anger He has cut off All the ¹strength of Israel; He has ²drawn back His right hand From before the enemy. And He has ³burned in Jacob like a flaming fire Consuming round about.

Lamentations 2:3 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 2:3

He hath cut off in [his] fierce anger all the horn of Israel,
&c.] All its power and strength, especially its kingly power, which is often signified by a horn in Scripture; see ( Daniel 7:24 ) ; this the Lord took away in his fierce anger, and left the land destitute of all relief, help, defence and protection; whether from its king and princes, or from its men of war or fortified places; all being cut off and destroyed: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy;
either his own right hand, with which he had used to fight for his people, and protect them, but now withdrawing it, left them to the mercy of their enemies; or Israel's right hand, which he so weakened, that they had no power to resist the enemy, and defend themselves: and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire [which] devoureth round
about;
that is, his wrath was like a burning flaming fire, which consumes all around, wherever it comes; thus the Lord in his anger consumed Jacob, and left neither root nor branch.

Lamentations 2:3 In-Context

1 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He has cast from heaven to earth The glory of Israel, And has not remembered His footstool In the day of His anger.

2 The Lord has swallowed up; He has not spared All the habitations of Jacob. In His wrath He has thrown down The strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.

3 In fierce anger He has cut off All the strength of Israel; He has drawn back His right hand From before the enemy. And He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire Consuming round about.

4 He has bent His bow like an enemy; He has set His right hand like an adversary And slain all that were pleasant to the eye; In the tent of the daughter of Zion He has poured out His wrath like fire.

5 The Lord has become like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all its palaces, He has destroyed its strongholds And multiplied in the daughter of Judah Mourning and moaning.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 75:5, 10; Jeremiah 48:25
• 2. Psalms 74:11; Jeremiah 21:4, 5
• 3. Isaiah 42:25; Jeremiah 21:14

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "Every horn"