THEIR HEART CRIED TO THE LORD
Key verse: 18a
NIV
2 [a]How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
with the cloud of his anger[b]!(A)
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel
from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool(B)
in the day of his anger.(C)
2 Without pity(D) the Lord has swallowed(E) up
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
the strongholds(F) of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
down to the ground(G) in dishonor.
3 In fierce anger he has cut off
every horn[c][d](H) of Israel.
He has withdrawn his right hand(I)
at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything around it.(J)
4 Like an enemy he has strung his bow;(K)
his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
all who were pleasing to the eye;(L)
he has poured out his wrath(M) like fire(N)
on the tent(O) of Daughter Zion.
5 The Lord is like an enemy;(P)
he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and destroyed her strongholds.(Q)
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation(R)
for Daughter Judah.(S)
6 He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
he has destroyed(T) his place of meeting.(U)
The Lord has made Zion forget
her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;(V)
in his fierce anger he has spurned
both king and priest.(W)
7 The Lord has rejected his altar
and abandoned his sanctuary.(X)
He has given the walls of her palaces(Y)
into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed festival.(Z)
8 The Lord determined to tear down
the wall around Daughter Zion.(AA)
He stretched out a measuring line(AB)
and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts(AC) and walls lament;
together they wasted away.(AD)
9 Her gates(AE) have sunk into the ground;
their bars(AF) he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled(AG) among the nations,
the law(AH) is no more,
and her prophets(AI) no longer find
visions(AJ) from the Lord.
10 The elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence;(AK)
they have sprinkled dust(AL) on their heads(AM)
and put on sackcloth.(AN)
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.(AO)
11 My eyes fail from weeping,(AP)
I am in torment within(AQ);
my heart(AR) is poured out(AS) on the ground
because my people are destroyed,(AT)
because children and infants faint(AU)
in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”(AV)
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away(AW)
in their mothers’ arms.(AX)
13 What can I say for you?(AY)
With what can I compare you,
Daughter(AZ) Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
that I may comfort you,
Virgin Daughter Zion?(BA)
Your wound is as deep as the sea.(BB)
Who can heal you?
14 The visions of your prophets
were false(BC) and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
to ward off your captivity.(BD)
The prophecies they gave you
were false and misleading.(BE)
15 All who pass your way
clap their hands at you;(BF)
they scoff(BG) and shake their heads(BH)
at Daughter Jerusalem:(BI)
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,(BJ)
the joy of the whole earth?”(BK)
16 All your enemies open their mouths
wide against you;(BL)
they scoff and gnash their teeth(BM)
and say, “We have swallowed her up.(BN)
This is the day we have waited for;
we have lived to see it.”(BO)
17 The Lord has done what he planned;
he has fulfilled(BP) his word,
which he decreed long ago.(BQ)
He has overthrown you without pity,(BR)
he has let the enemy gloat over you,(BS)
he has exalted the horn[e] of your foes.(BT)
18 The hearts of the people
cry out to the Lord.(BU)
You walls of Daughter Zion,(BV)
let your tears(BW) flow like a river
day and night;(BX)
give yourself no relief,
your eyes no rest.(BY)
19 Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart(BZ) like water
in the presence of the Lord.(CA)
Lift up your hands(CB) to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint(CC) from hunger
at every street corner.
20 “Look, Lord, and consider:
Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,(CD)
the children they have cared for?(CE)
Should priest and prophet be killed(CF)
in the sanctuary of the Lord?(CG)
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
- Lamentations 2:1 Or How the Lord in his anger / has treated Daughter Zion with contempt
- Lamentations 2:3 Or off / all the strength; or every king
- Lamentations 2:3 Horn here symbolizes strength.
- Lamentations 2:17 Horn here symbolizes strength.
Cross references
- Lamentations 2:1 : La 3:44
- Lamentations 2:1 : Ps 99:5; 132:7
- Lamentations 2:1 : S Jer 12:7
- Lamentations 2:2 : ver 17; La 3:43
- Lamentations 2:2 : Ps 21:9
- Lamentations 2:2 : Ps 89:39-40; Mic 5:11
- Lamentations 2:2 : S Isa 25:12
- Lamentations 2:3 : Ps 75:5, 10
- Lamentations 2:3 : Ps 74:11
- Lamentations 2:3 : S Isa 42:25; Jer 21:4-5, 14
- Lamentations 2:4 : S Job 3:23; 16:13; La 3:12-13
- Lamentations 2:4 : S Ps 48:2; Eze 24:16, 25
- Lamentations 2:4 : S 2Ch 34:21; Eze 20:34
- Lamentations 2:4 : Isa 42:25; S Jer 7:20
- Lamentations 2:4 : S Jer 4:20
- Lamentations 2:5 : S Job 13:24
- Lamentations 2:5 : ver 2
- Lamentations 2:5 : S Isa 29:2
- Lamentations 2:5 : S Jer 7:20; 9:17-20
- Lamentations 2:6 : 2Ch 36:19
- Lamentations 2:6 : S Jer 52:13
- Lamentations 2:6 : Zep 3:18
- Lamentations 2:6 : Isa 43:28; S Jer 7:14; La 4:16; 5:12
- Lamentations 2:7 : S Lev 26:31; S Eze 7:24
- Lamentations 2:7 : Ps 74:7-8; S Isa 64:11; Jer 33:4-5; Eze 7:21-22
- Lamentations 2:7 : Jer 21:4; 52:13
- Lamentations 2:8 : ver 18
- Lamentations 2:8 : S 2Ki 21:13
- Lamentations 2:8 : S Ps 48:13
- Lamentations 2:8 : Isa 3:26; S Jer 39:8; S 52:14
- Lamentations 2:9 : S Ne 1:3
- Lamentations 2:9 : S Isa 45:2; Hos 11:6
- Lamentations 2:9 : Dt 28:36; S 2Ki 24:15; Jer 16:13; Hos 3:4
- Lamentations 2:9 : S 2Ch 15:3
- Lamentations 2:9 : S 1Sa 3:1
- Lamentations 2:9 : S Jer 14:14
- Lamentations 2:10 : La 3:28
- Lamentations 2:10 : S Jos 7:6
- Lamentations 2:10 : Job 2:12
- Lamentations 2:10 : S Isa 3:24
- Lamentations 2:10 : S Job 2:13; S Isa 3:26; Eze 27:30-31
- Lamentations 2:11 : S Ps 119:82; S Isa 15:3; S La 1:16; 3:48-51
- Lamentations 2:11 : S Job 30:27; La 1:20
- Lamentations 2:11 : S Isa 1:5
- Lamentations 2:11 : ver 19; Ps 22:14
- Lamentations 2:11 : S Jer 9:1
- Lamentations 2:11 : La 4:4
- Lamentations 2:12 : Isa 24:11
- Lamentations 2:12 : S Job 3:24
- Lamentations 2:12 : La 4:4
- Lamentations 2:13 : S Isa 1:6
- Lamentations 2:13 : S 2Ki 19:21
- Lamentations 2:13 : Isa 37:22
- Lamentations 2:13 : Jer 14:17; 30:12-15; La 1:12
- Lamentations 2:14 : S Jer 28:15
- Lamentations 2:14 : Jer 8:11
- Lamentations 2:14 : Jer 2:8; S 20:6; 23:25-32, 33-40; S 29:9; Eze 13:3; 22:28
- Lamentations 2:15 : S Nu 24:10; Eze 25:6
- Lamentations 2:15 : S Dt 28:37; S Isa 28:22; Jer 19:8; S Na 3:19
- Lamentations 2:15 : S Job 16:4
- Lamentations 2:15 : S La 1:21
- Lamentations 2:15 : Ps 45:11; S 48:2; 50:2; Eze 16:14
- Lamentations 2:15 : Ps 48:2
- Lamentations 2:16 : Ps 22:13; La 3:46
- Lamentations 2:16 : S Job 16:9
- Lamentations 2:16 : S Ps 35:25
- Lamentations 2:16 : Eze 36:3; Mic 4:11
- Lamentations 2:17 : S Jer 39:16
- Lamentations 2:17 : Dt 28:15-45
- Lamentations 2:17 : S ver 2; Eze 5:11; 7:9; 8:18
- Lamentations 2:17 : S Ps 22:17
- Lamentations 2:17 : Ps 89:42; S Isa 44:26; S La 1:5; Zec 1:6
- Lamentations 2:18 : S Ps 119:145
- Lamentations 2:18 : ver 8
- Lamentations 2:18 : S La 1:16
- Lamentations 2:18 : S Jer 9:1
- Lamentations 2:18 : La 3:49
- Lamentations 2:19 : 1Sa 1:15
- Lamentations 2:19 : S ver 11; Isa 26:9
- Lamentations 2:19 : S Ps 28:2
- Lamentations 2:19 : S Isa 51:20
- Lamentations 2:20 : S Dt 28:53; Jer 19:9; Eze 5:10
- Lamentations 2:20 : La 4:10
- Lamentations 2:20 : Ps 78:64; S Jer 14:15; 23:11-12
- Lamentations 2:20 : S La 1:19
- Lamentations 2:21 : S Dt 32:25; S 2Ch 36:17; Ps 78:62-63; Jer 6:11
- Lamentations 2:21 : S Jer 13:14; La 3:43; Zec 11:6
- Lamentations 2:22 : S Ps 31:13; S Jer 20:10
- Lamentations 2:22 : S Jer 11:11
- Lamentations 2:22 : Job 27:14; Hos 9:13
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Source: BibleGateway
ESV
The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity
2 How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion (A)under a cloud!
(B)He has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered (C)his footstool
in the day of his anger.
2 The Lord (D)has swallowed up (E)without mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath (F)he has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought (G)down to the ground (H)in dishonor
the kingdom (I)and its rulers.
3 He has cut down in (J)fierce anger
all (K)the might of Israel;
(L)he has withdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
(M)he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.
4 (N)He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set (O)like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.
5 (P)The Lord has become like an enemy;
(Q)he has swallowed up Israel;
(R)he has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
(S)mourning and lamentation.
6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins (T)his meeting place;
(U)the Lord has made Zion forget
festival and (V)Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
7 (W)The Lord has scorned his altar,
(X)disowned his sanctuary;
(Y)he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
(Z)they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on the day of festival.
8 (AA)The Lord determined to lay in ruins
(AB)the wall of the daughter of Zion;
(AC)he stretched out the measuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
(AD)he caused rampart and wall to lament;
(AE)they languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
(AF)he has ruined (AG)and broken her bars;
(AH)her king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and (AI)her prophets find
no vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
(AJ)sit on the ground (AK)in silence;
(AL)they have thrown dust on their heads
and (AM)put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 (AN)My eyes are spent with weeping;
(AO)my stomach churns;
(AP)my bile is poured out to the ground
(AQ)because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
(AR)because infants and babies (AS)faint
in the streets of the city.
12 They cry to their mothers,
(AT)“Where is bread and wine?”
(AU)as they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers' bosom.
13 What can I say for you, (AV)to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
(AW)What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
(AX)For your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
14 (AY)Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
(AZ)they have not exposed your iniquity
to (BA)restore your fortunes,
(BB)but have seen for you (BC)oracles
that are false and misleading.
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
(BD)they hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
(BE)the perfection of beauty,
(BF)the joy of all the earth?”
16 (BG)All your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We (BH)have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; (BI)we see it!”
17 The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out (BJ)his word,
which he commanded (BK)long ago;
(BL)he has thrown down (BM)without pity;
(BN)he has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the (BO)might of your foes.
18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
O (BP)wall of the daughter of Zion,
(BQ)let tears stream down like a torrent
(BR)day and night!
(BS)Give yourself no rest,
(BT)your eyes no respite!
19 “Arise, (BU)cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
(BV)Pour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
(BW)Lift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
(BX)who faint for hunger
at the head of every street.”
20 Look, O Lord, and see!
(BY)With whom have you dealt thus?
(BZ)Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of (CA)their tender care?
Should (CB)priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 In the dust of the streets
(CC)lie the young and the old;
(CD)my young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
(CE)you have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering (CF)without pity.
22 You summoned as if to (CG)a festival day
(CH)my terrors on every side,
(CI)and on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
(CJ)those whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.
Cross references
- Lamentations 2:1 : [ch. 3:44]
- Lamentations 2:1 : [Matt. 11:23]; See Isa. 14:15
- Lamentations 2:1 : 1 Chr. 28:2
- Lamentations 2:2 : ver. 16; [Ps. 35:25; 56:2; Ezek. 36:3]
- Lamentations 2:2 : ver. 17, 21; ch. 3:43; [Ezek. 9:5, 10]
- Lamentations 2:2 : Ps. 89:40
- Lamentations 2:2 : Ps. 74:7
- Lamentations 2:2 : Ps. 74:7
- Lamentations 2:2 : Isa. 43:28
- Lamentations 2:3 : See Jer. 12:13
- Lamentations 2:3 : 1 Sam. 2:1
- Lamentations 2:3 : Ps. 74:11
- Lamentations 2:3 : Ps. 79:5; 89:46
- Lamentations 2:4 : ch. 3:12
- Lamentations 2:4 : See Jer. 30:14
- Lamentations 2:5 : [See ver. 4 above]; See Jer. 30:14
- Lamentations 2:5 : ver. 16; [Ps. 35:25; 56:2; Ezek. 36:3]
- Lamentations 2:5 : [2 Kgs. 25:9]
- Lamentations 2:5 : Isa. 29:2
- Lamentations 2:6 : ch. 1:4; Isa. 1:13; Zeph. 3:18
- Lamentations 2:6 : ch. 1:4; Isa. 1:13; Zeph. 3:18
- Lamentations 2:6 : Isa. 1:13
- Lamentations 2:7 : [Ps. 89:38]
- Lamentations 2:7 : [Ezek. 24:21]
- Lamentations 2:7 : Deut. 32:30
- Lamentations 2:7 : Ps. 74:4
- Lamentations 2:8 : [Jer. 5:10]
- Lamentations 2:8 : ver. 18
- Lamentations 2:8 : See 2 Kgs. 21:13
- Lamentations 2:8 : Jer. 14:2
- Lamentations 2:8 : Jer. 14:2
- Lamentations 2:9 : Jer. 51:30; Nah. 3:13
- Lamentations 2:9 : Jer. 51:30; Nah. 3:13
- Lamentations 2:9 : [Hos. 3:4]
- Lamentations 2:9 : Ps. 74:9
- Lamentations 2:10 : ch. 1:1; 3:28; Isa. 3:26
- Lamentations 2:10 : Ezek. 3:15
- Lamentations 2:10 : See Josh. 7:6
- Lamentations 2:10 : Jer. 48:37; Ezek. 7:18; Amos 8:10; See Jer. 4:8
- Lamentations 2:11 : [ver. 18; ch. 5:17; Ps. 6:7]
- Lamentations 2:11 : See ch. 1:20
- Lamentations 2:11 : [Job 16:13]
- Lamentations 2:11 : ch. 3:48
- Lamentations 2:11 : [ch. 4:4; Jer. 44:7]
- Lamentations 2:11 : ver. 19; [Isa. 51:20]
- Lamentations 2:12 : See ch. 1:11
- Lamentations 2:12 : [See ver. 11 above]; ver. 19; [Isa. 51:20]
- Lamentations 2:13 : [ch. 1:12]
- Lamentations 2:13 : [ch. 1:12]
- Lamentations 2:13 : 2 Sam. 5:20; [Ezek. 26:3]
- Lamentations 2:14 : See Jer. 5:31
- Lamentations 2:14 : [Isa. 58:1]
- Lamentations 2:14 : See Jer. 30:3
- Lamentations 2:14 : See Jer. 5:31
- Lamentations 2:14 : [Jer. 23:33, 34]
- Lamentations 2:15 : See 2 Chr. 29:8
- Lamentations 2:15 : Ps. 48:2; Ezek. 16:14
- Lamentations 2:15 : Ps. 48:2; Ezek. 16:14
- Lamentations 2:16 : ch. 3:46; [Job 16:9, 10]
- Lamentations 2:16 : See ver. 2
- Lamentations 2:16 : [Ps. 35:21]
- Lamentations 2:17 : See Lev. 26:14-45; Deut. 28:15-68
- Lamentations 2:17 : ch. 1:7; Jer. 46:26
- Lamentations 2:17 : See ver. 2
- Lamentations 2:17 : ver. 2, 21
- Lamentations 2:17 : [Ps. 38:16; 89:42]
- Lamentations 2:17 : [ver. 3]
- Lamentations 2:18 : ver. 8
- Lamentations 2:18 : See ver. 11
- Lamentations 2:18 : Ps. 32:4; 42:3
- Lamentations 2:18 : Ps. 77:2
- Lamentations 2:18 : Ps. 17:8
- Lamentations 2:19 : Ps. 119:147, 148
- Lamentations 2:19 : Ps. 62:8; [1 Sam. 7:6]
- Lamentations 2:19 : [1 Tim. 2:8]
- Lamentations 2:19 : See ver. 11, 12
- Lamentations 2:20 : ch. 1:22
- Lamentations 2:20 : ch. 4:10; See Jer. 19:9
- Lamentations 2:20 : ver. 22
- Lamentations 2:20 : [ch. 4:13]
- Lamentations 2:21 : [2 Chr. 36:17]
- Lamentations 2:21 : [2 Chr. 36:17]
- Lamentations 2:21 : ch. 3:43
- Lamentations 2:21 : ver. 2, 17
- Lamentations 2:22 : [ver. 6]
- Lamentations 2:22 : See Jer. 6:25
- Lamentations 2:22 : [Jer. 42:17; 44:14]
- Lamentations 2:22 : ver. 20
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Source: BibleGateway
Judah had once been the footstool of the Lord. Because of their sin, she became the forgotten footstool. The Lord judges sin severely. Judah’s position as a nation of God’s people did not spare her. He set his people under a cloud. He brought the once-mighty nation down with dishonor. He withdrew his protection of them from their enemies. The Lord’s fury was poured out on them like a fire. While they were once called his people, the Lord became like an enemy to them, laying ruin their strongholds. He disowned his altar and sanctuary. Such was the condition of Judah because she had forsaken the Lord.
The author’s eyes are spent weeping for his people and his nation. So much suffering! Infants faint in the streets. They cry to their mothers for food. But they became food for their own mothers! (20) Prophets and priests should be able to help them come to God and repent, but they instead gave them false and misleading visions. Their enemies gloat over their disaster. All of this was foretold long ago (Dt 28:15-68). The lamenter calls on his people to cry out in anguish to the Lord for his great mercy for his people.
Prayer: Father, we see so much sin in the world. We are heartbroken. We cry out to you for mercy. Forgive our sin.
One Word: Cry out to the Lord!