Add parallel Print Page Options

The Prophet Speaks Out: The Lord Destroyed Zion

[a]“Look how Adonay has covered the people of Zion
    with the cloud of his anger!
    He has thrown down Israel’s beauty from heaven to earth.
    He didn’t even remember his footstool on the day of his anger.
Adonay swallowed up all of Jacob’s pastures without any pity.
    He tore down the fortified cities of Judah in his fury.
    He brought the kingdom of Judah and its leaders
        down to the ground in dishonor.
In his burning anger he cut off all of Israel’s strength.
    He withdrew his right hand when they faced their enemy.
    He burned like a raging fire in the land of Jacob,
        destroying everything around him.
Like an enemy he bent his bow.
    Like an opponent his right hand held the arrow steady.
    He killed all the beautiful people.
    He poured out his fury like fire on the tent of Zion’s people.
Adonay became an enemy.
    He swallowed up Israel.
    He swallowed up all of its palaces.
    He destroyed its strongholds.
    He made the people of Judah mourn and moan.
He stripped his own booth as if it were a garden
    and destroyed his own festivals.
    Yahweh wiped out the memory of festivals and days of worship in Zion.
    He expelled kings and priests because of his fierce anger.
Adonay rejected his altar and disowned his holy place.
    He handed the walls of Zion’s palaces over to its enemies.
        The enemies made noise in Yahweh’s temple
            as though it were a festival day.
Yahweh planned to destroy the wall of Zion’s people.
    He marked it off with a line.
    He didn’t take his hand away until he had swallowed it up.
    He made the towers and walls mourn.
        They are completely dejected.

The Prophet Describes Jerusalem’s Destruction

“Zion’s gates have sunk into the ground.
    The Lord destroyed and shattered the bars across its gates.
    Its king and influential people are scattered among the nations.
    There is no longer any instruction from Moses’ Teachings.
    Its prophets can find no visions from Yahweh.
10 The respected leaders of Zion’s people sit silently on the ground.
    They throw dirt on their heads and put on sackcloth.
    The young women of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes are worn out with tears.
    My stomach is churning.
    My heart is poured out on the ground
    because of the destruction of my people.
    Little children and infants faint in the city streets.
12 They’re asking their mothers for some bread and wine
    as they faint like wounded people in the city streets.
        Their lives dwindle away in their mothers’ arms.

The Prophet Speaks Out: The Lord Destroyed You

13 “What example can I give you?
    What parallel can I show you, people of Jerusalem?
    What comparison can I make that will comfort you, beloved people of Zion?
    Your wounds are as deep as the sea.
    Who can heal you?
14 Your prophets saw misleading visions about you.
    They painted a good picture of you.
    They didn’t expose your guilt in order to make things better again.
    They gave you false prophecies that misled you.
15 Everyone who walks along the road shakes a fist at you.
    They hiss and shake their heads at Jerusalem’s people:
        ‘Is this the city they used to call absolutely beautiful,
            the joy of the whole world?’
16 All your enemies gawk at you.
    They hiss and grit their teeth.
    They say, ‘We’ve swallowed it up.
        Yes, this is the day we’ve been waiting for.
            At last we have seen it!’
17 Yahweh has accomplished what he had planned to do.
    He carried out the threat he announced long ago.
    He tore you down without any pity, Jerusalem.
    He made your enemies gloat over you.
    He raised the weapons of your opponents.
18 The hearts of Jerusalem’s people
    cried out to Adonay, the wall of Zion’s people.
        Let your tears run down like a river day and night.
            Don’t let them stop.
                Don’t let your eyes rest.
19 Get up! Cry out at night, every hour on the hour.
    Pour your heart out like water in the presence of Adonay.
        Lift up your hands to him in prayer
            for the life of your little children
                who faint from hunger at every street corner.”

Zion Speaks Out: The Lord Destroyed Me

20 “O Yahweh, look and consider:
    Have you ever treated anyone like this?
        Should women eat their own children,
            the children they have nursed?
        Should priests and prophets be killed in Adonay’s holy place?
21 Young and old lie on the ground in the streets.
    My young women and men are cut down by swords.
    You killed them on the day of your anger.
    You slaughtered them without any pity.
22 You have invited those who terrorize me on every side,
    as though they were invited to a festival.
    No one escaped or survived on the day of Yahweh’s anger.
    My enemy has murdered the children I nursed and raised.”

Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 2:1 Chapter 2 is a poem in Hebrew alphabetical order.

[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)

Like an enemy he has strung his bow;(K)
    his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
    all who were pleasing to the eye;(L)
he has poured out his wrath(M) like fire(N)
    on the tent(O) of Daughter Zion.

The Lord is like an enemy;(P)
    he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
    and destroyed her strongholds.(Q)
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation(R)
    for Daughter Judah.(S)

He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
    he has destroyed(T) his place of meeting.(U)
The Lord has made Zion forget
    her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;(V)
in his fierce anger he has spurned
    both king and priest.(W)

The Lord has rejected his altar
    and abandoned his sanctuary.(X)
He has given the walls of her palaces(Y)
    into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of an appointed festival.(Z)

The Lord determined to tear down
    the wall around Daughter Zion.(AA)
He stretched out a measuring line(AB)
    and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts(AC) and walls lament;
    together they wasted away.(AD)

Her gates(AE) have sunk into the ground;
    their bars(AF) he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled(AG) among the nations,
    the law(AH) is no more,
and her prophets(AI) no longer find
    visions(AJ) from the Lord.

10 The elders of Daughter Zion
    sit on the ground in silence;(AK)
they have sprinkled dust(AL) on their heads(AM)
    and put on sackcloth.(AN)
The young women of Jerusalem
    have bowed their heads to the ground.(AO)

11 My eyes fail from weeping,(AP)
    I am in torment within(AQ);
my heart(AR) is poured out(AS) on the ground
    because my people are destroyed,(AT)
because children and infants faint(AU)
    in the streets of the city.

12 They say to their mothers,
    “Where is bread and wine?”(AV)
as they faint like the wounded
    in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away(AW)
    in their mothers’ arms.(AX)

13 What can I say for you?(AY)
    With what can I compare you,
    Daughter(AZ) Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
    that I may comfort you,
    Virgin Daughter Zion?(BA)
Your wound is as deep as the sea.(BB)
    Who can heal you?

14 The visions of your prophets
    were false(BC) and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
    to ward off your captivity.(BD)
The prophecies they gave you
    were false and misleading.(BE)

15 All who pass your way
    clap their hands at you;(BF)
they scoff(BG) and shake their heads(BH)
    at Daughter Jerusalem:(BI)
“Is this the city that was called
    the perfection of beauty,(BJ)
    the joy of the whole earth?”(BK)

16 All your enemies open their mouths
    wide against you;(BL)
they scoff and gnash their teeth(BM)
    and say, “We have swallowed her up.(BN)
This is the day we have waited for;
    we have lived to see it.”(BO)

17 The Lord has done what he planned;
    he has fulfilled(BP) his word,
    which he decreed long ago.(BQ)
He has overthrown you without pity,(BR)
    he has let the enemy gloat over you,(BS)
    he has exalted the horn[e] of your foes.(BT)

18 The hearts of the people
    cry out to the Lord.(BU)
You walls of Daughter Zion,(BV)
    let your tears(BW) flow like a river
    day and night;(BX)
give yourself no relief,
    your eyes no rest.(BY)

19 Arise, cry out in the night,
    as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart(BZ) like water
    in the presence of the Lord.(CA)
Lift up your hands(CB) to him
    for the lives of your children,
who faint(CC) from hunger
    at every street corner.

20 “Look, Lord, and consider:
    Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,(CD)
    the children they have cared for?(CE)
Should priest and prophet be killed(CF)
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?(CG)

21 “Young and old lie together
    in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
    have fallen by the sword.(CH)
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
    you have slaughtered them without pity.(CI)

22 “As you summon to a feast day,
    so you summoned against me terrors(CJ) on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
    no one escaped(CK) or survived;
those I cared for and reared(CL)
    my enemy has destroyed.”

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.
  5. Lamentations 2:17 Horn here symbolizes strength.