Lamentations 2
Evangelical Heritage Version
Under the Wrath of the Lord[a]
2 How the Lord, in his anger, has covered the daughter of Zion with a dark cloud!
He threw down the beauty of Israel from heaven to earth.
He did not remember his footstool[b] in the day of his anger.
2 The Lord swallowed up and did not spare the pastures[c] of Jacob.
In his fury he tore down the fortifications of the daughter of Judah.
He brought them down to the ground. He brought dishonor to the kingdom and its officials.
3 He completely chopped off the horn[d] of Israel in burning anger.
He withdrew his right hand in the presence of the enemy.
He burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, which consumed all around.
4 He bent his bow like an enemy. His right hand was ready like a foe,
and he killed everyone who was precious in his eyes.
On the tent of the daughter of Zion, he poured out his wrath like fire.
5 The Lord was like an enemy. He swallowed up Israel.
He swallowed up all her citadels. He left her fortresses in ruins.
He increased mourning and lamenting for the daughter of Judah.
6 He dealt violently with his shelter like a shed in a garden.[e] He ruined his meeting place.
The Lord has caused the appointed assembly and the Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion.
In his indignation and anger he showed contempt for king and priest.
7 The Lord rejected his altar. He abandoned his holy place.
He delivered her walls and palaces into the hand of the enemy.
They gave a shout in the House of the Lord,
like that on the day of an appointed assembly.
8 The Lord had in mind to ruin the wall of the daughter of Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line. He did not restrain his hand from swallowing her up.
He made its rampart and wall mourn. Together they became weak.
9 Her gates have sunk down to the ground. He destroyed and shattered her bars.
Her king and her officials are exiled among the nations. There is no law.
Even her prophets have not received a vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground and are silent.
They throw dust on their heads and put on sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes are worn out with tears. I am troubled in my heart.
I am emotionally drained[f] over the breaking of the daughter of my people,
while children and infants grow weak in the public squares of the city.
12 They ask their mothers, “Where are the grain and wine?”
while they faint in the public squares of the city, like someone wounded,
while they take their last breath in their mothers’ laps.
13 What testimony can I give on your behalf?
What can I compare to you, daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I place next to you, so that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion?
Your wound is as wide as the sea. Who can heal you?
14 Your prophets saw visions for you, but they were empty and worthless.
They did not reveal your guilt, in order to turn away your captivity.
They saw oracles for you that were empty and misleading.
15 All who passed by clapped their hands over you.
They hissed and shook their head over the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was said to be the perfection of beauty,
the joy of the whole earth?”
16 All your enemies opened their mouth against you.
They hissed and gnashed their teeth. They said, “We swallowed her up.
Yes, this is the day we were waiting for. We found it. We saw it.”
17 The Lord has done what he planned. He carried out his word,
which he commanded long ago. He tore down and did not spare.
He let the enemy rejoice over you. He raised up the horn of your foes.
18 Their heart cried out to the Lord.
O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let your tears flow like a torrent, day and night.
Do not let yourself become numb. Do not let your eye stop crying.
19 Get up! Shout out during the night, as the night watches begin!
Pour out your heart like water before the Lord’s face.
Lift up your hands to him to pray for the life of your children,
who are faint with hunger at every street corner.
20 Look, Lord, and see! With whom have you dealt so harshly?
Should women eat the children they produced,
the children they played with on their knee?
Should priest and prophet be killed in the Lord’s holy place?
21 In the streets young and old lie dead on the ground.
My virgins and my best young men have fallen by the sword.
You killed them on the day of your anger. You slaughtered and did not spare.
22 As you do on a day of assembly, you summoned from every side the things I dread.
On the day of the Lord’s anger, there was no one who escaped or survived.
The enemy destroyed the children I played with on my knee and raised.[g]
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:1 This chapter is an alphabetic acrostic. The 22 successive verses begin with the 22 successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
- Lamentations 2:1 That is, the Ark of the Covenant
- Lamentations 2:2 Or dwelling places
- Lamentations 2:3 The horn is a symbol of power and often refers to the king.
- Lamentations 2:6 Literally like a garden
- Lamentations 2:11 The Hebrew reads my liver is poured out to the ground.
- Lamentations 2:22 The verse is difficult.
Lamentations 2
King James Version
2 How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!
2 The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.
3 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
4 He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.
5 The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
6 And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.
7 The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.
8 The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.
9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.
13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.
15 All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.
17 The Lord hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.
18 Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.
19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.
20 Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.
22 Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the Lord's anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.