Lamentations 2
New Life Version
Jerusalem Is Punished
2 How the Lord has covered Zion with a cloud in His anger! He has thrown the shining-greatness of Israel from heaven to earth. In the day of His anger He has not remembered the place where He rests His feet. 2 The Lord has destroyed all the places of Jacob. In His anger He has broken down the strong-places of Judah. He has brought the nation and its leaders down to the ground in shame. 3 In burning anger He has cut off all the strength of Israel. He would not help us fight against those who hate us. He has burned like a hot fire in Jacob, destroying everything around it. 4 He has pulled back His bow string like one who fights against us. He has set His right hand like one who hates us, and has killed all that we liked to see. He has poured out His anger like fire on the tent of Zion. 5 The Lord has become like one who hates us. He has destroyed Israel. He has destroyed all its beautiful houses. He has destroyed its strong-places, and has caused much sorrow and crying for the people of Judah. 6 He has broken down His house like a garden tent. He has destroyed His chosen meeting place. The Lord has caused the special suppers and Day of Rest to be forgotten in Zion. And He has hated the king and the religious leader in His anger. 7 The Lord has had nothing to do with His altar. He has left His holy place. He has given the walls of her beautiful houses over to those who hate us. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord as on the day of a special supper. 8 The Lord plans to destroy the wall of the people of Zion. He marked how long it was, and has not kept His hand from destroying. He has caused tower and wall to cry in sorrow. They suffer together. 9 Her gates have gone down into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her iron pieces. Her king and leaders have been sent among the nations. The Law is no more. And her men who spoke for God have no more special dreams from the Lord. 10 The leaders of the people of Zion sit quietly on the ground. They have thrown dust on their heads, and have dressed themselves in cloth made from hair. The pure young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. 11 My eyes become weak from crying. My spirit is very troubled. My heart is poured out in sorrow, because my people have been destroyed, and because children and babies fall down weak in the city streets. 12 They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they fall down weak in the city streets like a man hurt in battle, and as they die in their mothers’ arms. 13 What can I say for you? What can I compare you with, O people of Jerusalem? What can I compare you with, that I may comfort you, O pure daughter of Zion? For you have been destroyed as much as the sea is large. And who can heal you? 14 Your men who speak in God’s name have given you false and foolish dreams. They have not made your sin known, so you could return from where you are held. But they have told you false dreams that have led you the wrong way. 15 All who pass by clap their hands at you. They make fun of you and shake their heads at the people of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city which was called perfect in beauty, the joy of all the earth?” 16 All who hate you have opened their mouths wide against you. They make fun of you and grind their teeth and say, “We have destroyed her! For sure this is the day we have waited for! We have lived to see it!” 17 The Lord has done what He planned. He has done what He had said He would do long ago. He has destroyed without pity. He has caused those who hate you to have joy over you. He has given strength to those who fight against you. 18 Let your heart cry out to the Lord. O wall of the people of Zion, let your tears flow down like a river day and night. Give yourself no rest. Do not let your eyes stop crying. 19 Get up and cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night hours. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are weak with hunger on every street.” 20 See, O Lord, and look! To whom have You done this? Should women eat their children, the little ones they have cared for? Should religious leaders and men of God be killed in the Lord’s holy place? 21 The young and the old lie in the dust of the streets. My pure young women and young men have been killed by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger. You have killed without pity. 22 As people are asked to come to a special supper, You have sent trouble on every side. And no one got away or stayed alive in the day of the Lord’s anger. Those I have cared for and brought up have been destroyed by those who hate me.
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.
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