Lamentations 2
2
The Lord Was Like an Enemy
The Prophet Speaks:
1The Lord was angry!
So he disgraced#2.1 disgraced: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. Zion
though it was Israel's pride
and his own place of rest.
In his anger he threw Zion down
from heaven to earth.
2The Lord had no mercy!
He destroyed the homes
of Jacob's descendants.
In his anger he tore down
every walled city in Judah;
he toppled the nation
together with its leaders,
leaving them in shame.
3The Lord was so furiously angry
that he wiped out
the whole army#2.3 army: The Hebrew text has “horn,” which refers to the horn of a bull, one of the most powerful animals in ancient Palestine. of Israel
by not supporting them
when the enemy attacked.
He was like a raging fire
that swallowed up
the descendants of Jacob.
4He attacked like an enemy
with a bow and arrows,
killing our loved ones.
He has burned to the ground
the homes on Mount Zion.#2.4 the homes on Mount Zion: Or “the temple on Mount Zion.”
5The Lord was like an enemy!
He left Israel in ruins
with its palaces
and fortresses destroyed,
and with everyone in Judah
moaning and weeping.
6He shattered his temple
like a hut in a garden;#2.6 He … garden: Or “He shattered the temple walls, as if they were the walls of a garden.”
he completely wiped out
his meeting place,
and did away with festivals
and Sabbaths
in the city of Zion.
In his fierce anger he rejected
our king and priests.
7The Lord abandoned his altar
and his temple;
he let Zion's enemies
capture her fortresses.
Noisy shouts were heard
from the temple,
as if it were a time
of celebration.
8The Lord had decided
to tear down the walls of Zion
stone by stone.
So he started destroying
and did not stop
until walls and fortresses
mourned and trembled.
9Zion's gates have fallen
facedown on the ground;
the bars that locked the gates
are smashed to pieces.
Her king and royal family
are prisoners
in foreign lands.
Her priests don't teach,
and her prophets don't have
a message from the Lord.
10Zion's leaders are silent.
They just sit on the ground,
tossing dirt on their heads
and wearing sackcloth.
Her young women can do nothing
but stare at the ground.
11My eyes are red from crying,
my stomach is in knots,
and I feel sick all over.
My people are being wiped out,
and children lie helpless
in the streets of the city.
12A child begs its mother
for food and drink,
then blacks out
like a wounded soldier
lying in the street.
The child slowly dies
in its mother's arms.
13Zion, how can I comfort you?
How great is your pain?#2.13 How great … pain: Or “What are you really like?” or “What can I say about you?”
Lovely city of Jerusalem,
how can I heal your wounds,
gaping as wide as the sea?
14Your prophets deceived you
with false visions
and lying messages—
they should have warned you
to leave your sins
and be saved from disaster.
15Those who pass by
shake their heads and sneer
as they make fun and shout,
“What a lovely city you were,
the happiest on earth,
but look at you now!”
16Zion, your enemies curse you
and snarl like wild animals,
while shouting,
“This is the day
we've waited for!
At last, we've got you!”
17The Lord has done everything
that he had planned
and threatened long ago.
He destroyed you without mercy
and let your enemies boast
about their powerful forces.#2.17 powerful forces: The Hebrew text has “horn,” which refers to the horn of a bull, one of the most powerful animals in ancient Palestine.
18Zion, deep in your heart
you cried out to the Lord.
Now let your tears overflow
your walls day and night.
Don't ever lose hope
or let your tears stop.
19Get up and pray for help
all through the night.
Pour out your feelings
to the Lord,
as you would pour water
out of a jug.
Beg him to save your people,
who are starving to death
at every street crossing.
Jerusalem Speaks:
20Think about it, Lord!
Have you ever been this cruel
to anyone before?
Is it right for mothers
to eat their children,
or for priests and prophets
to be killed in your temple?
21My people, both young and old,
lie dead in the streets.
Because you were angry,
my young men and women
were brutally slaughtered.
22When you were angry, Lord,
you invited my enemies
like guests for a party.
No one survived that day;
enemies killed my children,
my own little ones.
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Lamentations 2: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Lamentations 2
2
God’s Anger with Jerusalem
1How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion
With a #(Lam. 3:44)cloud in His anger!
#Matt. 11:23He cast down from heaven to the earth
#2 Sam. 1:19The beauty of Israel,
And did not remember #1 Chr. 28:2; Ps. 99:5; Ezek. 43:7His footstool
In the day of His anger.
2The Lord has swallowed up and has #Ps. 21:9; Lam. 3:43not pitied
All the dwelling places of Jacob.
He has thrown down in His wrath
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
He has brought them down to the ground;
#Ps. 89:39, 40; Is. 43:28He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
3He has cut off in fierce anger
Every horn of Israel;
#Ps. 74:11; Jer. 21:4, 5He has drawn back His right hand
From before the enemy.
#Ps. 89:46He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
Devouring all around.
4#Is. 63:10Standing like an enemy, He has bent His bow;
With His right hand, like an adversary,
He has slain #Ezek. 24:25all who were pleasing to His eye;
On the tent of the daughter of Zion,
He has poured out His fury like fire.
5#Jer. 30:14The Lord was like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel,
He has swallowed up all her palaces;
#2 Kin. 25:9; Jer. 52:13; Lam. 2:2He has destroyed her strongholds,
And has increased mourning and lamentation
In the daughter of Judah.
6He has done violence #Ps. 80:12; 89:40; Is. 5:5; Jer. 7:14to His tabernacle,
#Is. 1:8; Jer. 52:13As if it were a garden;
He has destroyed His place of assembly;
The Lord has caused
The appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion.
In His burning indignation He has #Is. 43:28spurned the king and the priest.
7The Lord has spurned His altar,
He has #Ezek. 24:21abandoned His sanctuary;
He has given up the walls of her palaces
Into the hand of the enemy.
#Ps. 74:3–8They have made a noise in the house of the Lord
As on the day of a set feast.
8The Lord has purposed to destroy
The #Jer. 52:14wall of the daughter of Zion.
#(2 Kin. 21:13; Is. 34:11; Amos 7:7–9)He has stretched out a line;
He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying;
Therefore He has caused the rampart and wall to lament;
They languished together.
9Her gates have sunk into the ground;
He has destroyed and #Jer. 51:30broken her bars.
#Deut. 28:36; 2 Kin. 24:15; 25:7; Lam. 1:3; 4:20Her king and her princes are among the nations;
#2 Chr. 15:3The Law is no more,
And her #Ps. 74:9; Mic. 3:6prophets find no vision from the Lord.
10The elders of the daughter of Zion
#Job 2:13; Is. 3:26Sit on the ground and keep silence;
They #Job 2:12; Ezek. 27:30throw dust on their heads
And #Is. 15:3; Jon. 3:6–8gird themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem
Bow their heads to the ground.
11#Ps. 6:7; Lam. 3:48My eyes fail with tears,
My heart is troubled;
#Job 16:13; Ps. 22:14My bile is poured on the ground
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because #Lam. 4:4the children and the infants
Faint in the streets of the city.
12They say to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
As they swoon like the wounded
In the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
In their mothers’ bosom.
13How shall I #Lam. 1:12; Dan. 9:12console you?
To what shall I liken you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea;
Who can heal you?
14Your #Jer. 2:8; 23:25–29; 29:8, 9; 37:19; Ezek. 13:2prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not #Is. 58:1; Ezek. 23:36; Mic. 3:8uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false #Jer. 23:33–36; Ezek. 22:25, 28prophecies and delusions.
15All who pass by #1 Kin. 9:8; Job 27:23; Jer. 18:16; Ezek. 25:6; Nah. 3:19clap their hands at you;
They hiss #2 Kin. 19:21; Ps. 44:14and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that is called
#(Ps. 48:2; 50:2); Ezek. 16:14‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”
16#Job 16:9, 10; Ps. 22:13; Lam. 3:46All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, #Ps. 56:2; 124:3; Jer. 51:34“We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the #Lam. 1:21; (Obad. 12–15)day we have waited for;
We have found it, #Ps. 35:21we have seen it!”
17The Lord has done what He #Lev. 26:16purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to #Ps. 38:16rejoice over you;
He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.
18Their heart cried out to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
#Jer. 14:17; Lam. 1:16Let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Give your eyes no rest.
19“Arise, #Ps. 119:147cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
#1 Sam. 1:15; Ps. 42:4; 62:8Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger #Is. 51:20at the head of every street.”
20“See, O Lord, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
#Lev. 26:29; Deut. 28:53; Jer. 19:9; Lam. 4:10; Ezek. 5:10Should the women eat their offspring,
The children they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
21“Young#2 Chr. 36:17; Jer. 6:11 and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the #Jer. 18:21sword;
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered and not pitied.
22“You have invited as to a feast day
#Ps. 31:13; Is. 24:17; Jer. 6:25The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
#Hos. 9:12Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have #Jer. 16:2–4; 44:7destroyed.”
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.