Ekhah 2:5

5 Adonoi was like an oyev; He hath swallowed up Yisroel, He hath swallowed up all her armonot (palaces); He hath destroyed His strongholds, and hath increased in Bat Yehudah mourning and lamentation.

Ekhah 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.

Ekhah 2:5 In-Context

3 He hath cut off in His fierce anger kol keren Yisroel; He hath drawn back His right hand from before the oyev, and He burned against Ya’akov like a flaming eish, which devoureth all around.

4 He hath bent His keshet (bow) like an oyev; He took His stand with His right hand as an adversary, and slaughtered all that were pleasant to the eye in the ohel Bat Tziyon; He poured out His fury like eish.

5 Adonoi was like an oyev; He hath swallowed up Yisroel, He hath swallowed up all her armonot (palaces); He hath destroyed His strongholds, and hath increased in Bat Yehudah mourning and lamentation.

6 And He hath violently destroyed His sukkah, as if it were of a gan (garden); He hath laid waste His Mo’ed; Hashem hath caused Mo’ed and Shabbos to be forgotten in Tziyon, and in the indignation of His anger hath spurned Melech and Kohen.

7 Adonoi hath cast off His Mizbe’ach, He hath disowned His Mikdash, He hath given up into the yad oyev the chomot armonot of hers; they have raised shouts in the Beis Hashem, as in the Yom Mo’ed.