Lamentaciones 2:19

19 Levántense durante la noche y clamen.
Desahoguen el corazón como agua delante del Señor.
Levanten a él sus manos en oración,
y rueguen por sus hijos
porque en cada calle
desfallecen de hambre.

Lamentaciones 2:19 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 2:19

Arise, cry out in the night
That is, O daughter of Zion, or congregation of Israel, as the Targum; who are addressed and called upon by the prophet to arise from their beds, and shake off their sleep, and sloth, and stupidity, and cry to God in the night season; and be earnest and importunate with him for help and assistance. Aben Ezra rightly observes, that the word used signifies a lifting up of the voice both in singing and in lamentation; here it is used in the latter sense; and denotes great vehemency and earnestness in crying unto God, arising from deep distress and sorrow, which prevents sleep: in the beginning of the watches;
either at the first of them; so Broughton renders it, "at the first watch"; which began at the time of going to bed: or at the beginning of each of them; for with the ancient Jews there were three of them; in later times four: or in the beginning of the morning watch, as the Targum; very early in the morning, before sun rising; as they are called upon to pray late at night, so betimes in the mottling: pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord;
use the utmost freedom with him; tell him, in the fullest manner, thy whole case, fit thy complaints; unbosom thyself to him; keep nothing from him; speak out freely all lily soul needs; do all this publicly, and in the most affectionate way and manner, thy soul melted in floods of tears, under a sense of sin, and pressing evils for it. The Targum is,

``pour out as water the perverseness of thine heart, and return by repentance, and pray in the house of the congregation (or synagogue) before the face of the Lord:''

lift up thine hands towards him;
in prayer, as the Targum adds; for this is a prayer gesture, as in ( Lamentations 3:41 ) ( 1 Timothy 2:8 ) ; for the life of thy young children that faint for hunger in the top of
every street;
pray for them, that they might have food and sustenance, to preserve them alive; who, for want of it, were ready to swoon and die the public streets; in the top of them, where they met, and where was the greatest concourse of people, and yet none able to relieve them.

Lamentaciones 2:19 In-Context

17 Sin embargo, es el Señor
quien hizo exactamente lo que se había propuesto;
cumplió las promesas de calamidad
que hizo hace mucho tiempo.
Destruyó a Jerusalén sin misericordia;
hizo que sus enemigos se regodearan de ella
y sobre ella les dio poder.

18 ¡Lloren a viva voz
delante del Señor,
oh murallas de la bella Jerusalén!
Que sus lágrimas corran como un río,
de día y de noche.
No se den descanso;
no les den alivio a sus ojos.

19 Levántense durante la noche y clamen.
Desahoguen el corazón como agua delante del Señor.
Levanten a él sus manos en oración,
y rueguen por sus hijos
porque en cada calle
desfallecen de hambre.

20 «¡Oh Señor
, piensa en esto!
¿Debieras tratar a tu propio pueblo de semejante manera?
¿Habrán de comerse las madres a sus propios hijos,
a quienes mecieron en sus rodillas?
¿Habrán de ser asesinados los sacerdotes y los profetas
dentro del templo del Señor?

21 »Mira cómo yacen en las calles,
jóvenes y viejos,
niños y niñas,
muertos por la espada del enemigo.
Los mataste en tu enojo,
los masacraste sin misericordia.