Lamentations 2
2
The Lord Destroyed Jerusalem
1Look how the Lord has covered daughter Zion#2:1 daughter Zion The city of Jerusalem pictured as a young woman. Similar language is used in verses 8, 13, 15, and 18. See “Zion” in the Word List.
with the cloud of his anger.
He has thrown her, the glory of Israel,
from the sky to the ground.
In his anger he showed no care even for the Temple
where he rests his feet.#2:1 Temple … feet Literally, “the footstool of his feet,” meaning the place God lived among his people.
2The Lord destroyed the houses of Jacob.
He destroyed them without mercy.
In his anger he destroyed the fortresses of Daughter Judah.
He threw the kingdom of Judah and its rulers to the ground.
He ruined the kingdom of Judah.
3He was angry, and he destroyed
all the strength of Israel.
He took away his right hand from Israel.
He did this when the enemy came.
He burned like a flaming fire in Jacob.
He was like a fire that burns all around.
4He bent his bow like an enemy.
He held his sword in his right hand.
He killed all the good-looking men of Judah.
He killed them as if they were the enemy.
He poured out his anger
like a fire on the tents of Zion.
5The Lord has become like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and all her fortresses.
He has made much sadness and crying
for the dead in Daughter Judah.
6He pulled up his own tent#2:6 his own tent This is a reference to the Temple in Jerusalem.
as if it were a garden.
He has ruined the place where the people
came together to worship him.
The Lord has made people forget
the special assemblies and special days of rest#2:6 special days of rest Or “Sabbaths.” This might mean Saturday (see “Sabbath” in the Word List) or all the special days when the people were not supposed to work. in Zion.
He rejected the king and the priests.
He was angry and rejected them.
7He rejected his altar,
and he left his holy place of worship.
He let the enemy pull down the walls
of the palaces of Jerusalem.
The enemy shouted with joy in the Lord’s Temple.
They made noise as though it were a festival.
8The Lord planned to destroy
the wall of Daughter Zion.
He marked the wall with a measuring line.
He didn’t stop himself from destroying it.
He made all the walls cry out in sadness.
Together they wasted away.
9Jerusalem’s gates have sunk into the ground.
The bars on her gates are completely destroyed.
Her king and princes have been taken to other nations.
The teaching of the law has stopped.
And her prophets no longer receive
visions from the Lord.
10The elders of Zion sit on the ground.
They sit on the ground and are quiet.
They pour dust on their heads.
They put on sackcloth.
The young women of Jerusalem
bow their heads to the ground in sorrow.
11My eyes are worn out with tears,
and my insides are upset.
My heart feels like it has been poured on the ground;
I feel this way because of the destruction of my people.
Children and babies are fainting
in the public squares of the city.
12They ask their mothers,
“Where is the bread and wine?”
as they pour out their life in their mother’s laps.
13My dear Jerusalem, what can I say about you?
What can I compare you to?
What can I say you are like?
How can I comfort you, city of Zion?
You have been hurt much too badly
for anyone to heal.
14Your prophets saw visions for you,
but their visions were only worthless lies.
They didn’t speak against your sins.
They didn’t try to make things better.
They spoke messages for you,
but they were false messages that fooled you.
15Those who pass by on the road
clap their hands and laugh at you.
They make fun of Jerusalem,
shaking their heads at the sight of her.
They ask, “Is this the city that people called
‘The Most Beautiful City’
and ‘The Joy of all the Earth’?”
16All your enemies laugh at you.
They whistle and grind their teeth at you.
They say, “We have swallowed them up!
This is the day we were hoping for.
We have finally seen this happen!”
17The Lord did what he planned to do.
He did what he said he would do.
He did what he commanded a long time ago.
He destroyed, and he had no pity.
He made your enemies happy because of what happened to you.
He made your enemies strong.
18Cry out with all your heart#2:18 Cry out … heart Or “Their hearts cried out.” to the Lord!
Jerusalem, let tears roll down your walls.
Let your tears flow like a stream day and night.
Don’t stop crying
or let your eyes dry.
19Get up throughout the night and cry for help.
Let your sorrow pour out before the Lord like water.
Lift up your hands in prayer to him.
Ask him to let your children live.
They are starving to death on every street corner.
20Look at us, Lord!
Have you ever treated anyone else so badly?
Is it right for women to eat their own babies,
the children they have cared for?
Should priests and prophets be killed
in the Temple of the Lord?
21Young men and old men
lie on the ground in the streets of the city.
My young women and young men
have been killed by the sword.
You killed them on the day of your anger.
You killed them without mercy!
22You invited terror to come to me from all around.
You invited terror as though you were inviting it to a festival.
No one escaped on the day of the Lord’s anger.
My enemy killed the people who I raised and brought up.
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Lamentations 2: ERV
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Lamentations 2
2
The Lord is Angry
1How, in his anger,#Literally “in his nose”
the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion in a cloud!
He has thrown down from heavens to earth
the splendor of Israel,
and he has not remembered his footstool
in the day of his anger.#Literally “his nose”
2The Lord has devoured; he has not shown mercy
to all the dwellings of Jacob;
he has broken down in his wrath
the fortifications of the daughter of Judah;
he has leveled to the ground, he has dishonored
the kingdom and its commanders.#Or “her commanders”
3He has cut down in fierce anger#Literally “in a fierce nose”
all the might of Israel;
he has withdrawn his right hand
from the faces of the enemy,
and he has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire,
it has consumed all around.
4He has bent his bow like an enemy;
he has set his right hand
like a foe, and he has slain
all the treasures of the eye;#NRSV translates “all in whom we took pride”
in the tent of the daughter of Zion,
he has poured out his anger like fire.
5The Lord has become like an enemy;
he has destroyed Israel;
he has destroyed all its citadel fortresses;#Or “her citadel fortresses”
he has ruined all its fortifications
and multiplied lamentation and mourning
in the daughter of Judah.
6He has broken down his dwelling#Literally “his booth”; or “his tabernacle” place like the garden;
he has ruined his appointed feasts;
Yahweh has made them forget in Zion
festival#Literally “appointed time” and Sabbath,
and he has despised in his anger
king and priest.
7The Lord has rejected his altar;
he has rejected his sanctuary;
he has delivered into the hands of the enemy
the walls of its citadel fortresses.#Or “her citadel fortress”
They have cried out in the house of Yahweh
like a day of an appointed feast.
8Yahweh has planned to destroy
the wall of the daughter of Zion.
He measured with a line; he has not restrained
his hand from destroying;
he caused rampart and wall to mourn;
together they have languished away.
9Her gates have sunk into the earth;
he has ruined and broken her bars,
her kings and its princes are among the nations;
there is no more law.#Hebrew torah
Also, her prophets have not found
a revelation from Yahweh.
10They sit on the ground,
the elders of the daughter of Zion are silent.
They cast dust on their head,
they have put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their head down to the ground.
11My eyes have spent all their tears;#Literally “finished with the weeping”
my stomach#Literally “my inward parts” is in torment,
my heart#Literally “my liver” is poured out on the earth
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because child and babe faint
in the public squares of a city.
12To their mothers they say,
“Where is the bread and wine?”
as they faint like the wounded
in the public squares of a city,
as their life is being poured out
onto the bosom of their mothers.
13What can I say for you? What can I compare to you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you so that I can comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your destruction is as vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
14Your prophets had a vision for you,
false and worthless;
they have not exposed your sin,
to restore your fortune;
they have seen oracles for you,
false and misleading.
15They clap hands over you,
all who pass along the way;
they hiss and they shake their head,
at the daughter of Jerusalem.
Is this the city of which it is said,
“A perfection of beauty, a joy for all the earth?”
16They have opened their mouths against you,
all your enemies.
They hiss and gnash a tooth,
and they say, “We have destroyed her!
Surely this is the day we have hoped for;
we have found it, we have seen it!”
17Yahweh has done what he has planned;
he has fulfilled his promise
that he ordained from the days of old;
he has demolished and not shown mercy;
he has made an enemy rejoice over you,
he has exalted the might#Literally “horn” of your foes.
18Their heart cried to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let tears stream down like a river;
day and night,
do not give yourself relief,
do not give your eyes rest.
19“Arise, cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches;
pour out your heart like water,
before the face of the Lord.
Lift to him your hands,
for the life of your children,
who faint in starvation,
at the head of all streets.”
20See, Yahweh, and take note!
With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women eat their young
children of tender care?
Should priest and prophet be slain
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21They lie in the soil of the streets,
young and old;
my young women#Or “my virgins” and young men,
they have fallen by the sword;
you have slain on the day of your anger,#Literally “your nose”
you have slaughtered and not shown mercy.
22You have summoned my horror from all around,
as if for a feast day;
no one on the day of Yahweh’s anger
is a fugitive and a survivor;
whoever I have cared for and reared,
my enemy has destroyed.
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