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The Condition of Israel

How the Lord in his wrath
    shamed[a] cherished[b] Zion!
He cast down from heaven to earth
    the glory of Israel,
He did not remember his footstool[c]
    in the time of his anger.

The Lord swallowed up without pity
    all of Jacob’s habitations.
In his wrath he tore down
    the strongholds of fair Judah.[d]
He cast to the ground in dishonor
    both her kingdom and its rulers.

In his fierce wrath he cut off
    all the strength[e] of Israel.
He withdrew his protection[f]
    as the enemy approached.[g]
He burned Jacob like a blazing fire
    consumes everything around it.

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 2:1 Or enveloped
  2. Lamentations 2:1 Lit. the daughter of
  3. Lamentations 2:1 I.e. the Temple
  4. Lamentations 2:2 Lit. of the daughter of Judah
  5. Lamentations 2:3 Lit. every horn
  6. Lamentations 2:3 Lit. his right hand
  7. Lamentations 2:3 Lit. in front of the enemy

[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)

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.

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He has withdrawn his right hand(I)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)

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 2:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
  2. Lamentations 2:1 Or How the Lord in his anger / has treated Daughter Zion with contempt
  3. Lamentations 2:3 Or off / all the strength; or every king
  4. Lamentations 2:3 Horn here symbolizes strength.