Lamentations 2

Lamentations · Chapter 2

Lamentations 2:4

1How 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!2The 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.3He 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.4He 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.5The 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.6And 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.7The 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feast.8The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.9Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed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.10The 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.11Mine 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.12They 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.13What 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?14Thy 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.15All 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?16All 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.17The 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.18Their 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.19Arise, 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.20Behold, 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?21The 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.22Thou 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.

King James Version (1769)

Other translations

VerseKJVBSBASV
4He 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.He has bent His bow like an enemy; His right hand is positioned. Like a foe He has killed all who were pleasing to the eye; He has poured out His wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion.He hath bent his bow like an enemy, he hath stood with his right hand as an adversary, And hath slain all that were pleasant to the eye: In the tent of the daughter of Zion he hath poured out his wrath like fire.

In context

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Where

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Original Hebrew words

EnglishHebrewSay itStrong'sMeaning
he has bentדָּרַ֨ךְda-RAKHH1869
to tread

דָּרַךְ (da.rakh) 1) to tread, bend, lead, march 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to tread, march, march forth 1a2) to tread on, tread upon 1a3) to tread (a press) 1a4) to tread (bend) a bow 1a5) archer, bow-benders (participle) 1b) (Hiphil) 1b1) to tread, tread down 1b2) to tread (bend with the foot) a bow 1b3) to cause to go, lead, march, tread

bow hisקַשְׁתּ֜וֹkash-TOH7198
bow

קֶ֫שֶׁת (qe.shet) 1) bow 1a) bow (for hunting, battle) 1b) bowmen, archers 1c) bow (fig. of might) 1d) rainbow

like an enemyכְּאוֹיֵ֗בke-'o-YEVH0341
enemy

אֹיֵב (o.yev) 1) (Qal) enemy 1a) personal 1b) national

[he has] taken a standנִצָּ֤בni-TZAVH5324
to stand

נָצַב (na.tsav) 1) to stand, take one's stand, stand upright, be set (over), establish 1a) (Niphal) 1a1) to station oneself, take one's stand 1a2) to stand, be stationed 1a3) to stand, take an upright position 1a4) to be stationed, be appointed 1a5) deputy, prefect, appointed, deputed (subst) 1a6) to stand firm 1b) (Hiphil) 1b1) to station, set 1b2) to set up, erect 1b3) to cause to stand erect 1b4) to fix, establish 1c) (Hophal) to be fixed, be determined, be stationary

right [hand] hisיְמִינוֹ֙ye-mi-NOH3225G
right

יָמִין (ya.min) 1) right, right hand, right side 1a) right hand 1b) right (of direction) 1c) south (the direction of the right hand when facing East) Also means: ya.min (יָמִין ": south" H3225H)

like an opponentכְּצָ֔רke-TZARH6862C
enemy

צַר (tsar) adversary, foe, enemy, oppressor

and he has killedוַֽיַּהֲרֹ֔גvai-ya-ha-ROGH2026
to kill

הָרַג (ha.rag) 1) to kill, slay, murder, destroy, murderer, slayer, out of hand 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to kill, slay 1a2) to destroy, ruin 1b) (Niphal) to be killed 1c) (Pual) to be killed, be slain

allכֹּ֖לkolH3605
all

כֹּל (kol) 1) all, the whole 1a) all, the whole of 1b) any, each, every, anything 1c) totality, everything Aramaic equivalent: kol (כֹּל "all" H3606)

[the] delights ofמַחֲמַדֵּי־ma-cha-ma-dei-H4261
desire

מַחְמָד (mach.mad) desire, desirable thing, pleasant thing

eyeעָ֑יִן'A-yinH5869A
eye

עַ֫יִן (a.yin) : eye 1) eye 1a) eye 1a1) of physical eye 1a2) as showing mental qualities 1a3) of mental and spiritual faculties (fig.)

in [the] tent ofבְּאֹ֙הֶל֙be-'O-helH0168G
tent

אֹ֫הֶל (o.hel) : tent 1) tent 1a) nomad's tent, and thus symbolic of wilderness life, transience 1b) dwelling, home, habitation 1c) the sacred tent of Jehovah (the tabernacle) Also means: o.hel (אֹ֫הֶל ": home" H0168H)

[the] daughter ofבַּת־bat-H1323G
daughter

בַּת (bat) : daughter 1) daughter 1a) daughter, girl, adopted daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, granddaughters, female child, cousin 1a1) as polite address 1a2) as designation of women of a particular place 2) young women, women 1a3) as personification 1a4) daughter-villages 1a5) description of character Also means: bat (בַּת ": village" H1323H)

Zionצִיּ֔וֹןtzi-YONH6726
Zion

צִיּוֹן (tsiy.yon) Zion = "parched place" another name for Jerusalem especially in the prophetic books Another name of ye.ru.sha.laim (יְרוּשָׁלִַ֫ם, יְרוּשְׁלֵם "Jerusalem" H3389)

he has poured outשָׁפַ֥ךְsha-FAKHH8210G
to pour: pour

שָׁפַךְ (sha.phakh) : pour 1) to pour, pour out, spill 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to pour, pour out 1a2) to shed (blood) 1a3) to pour out (anger or heart) (fig) 1b) (Niphal) to be poured out, be shed 1c) (Pual) to be poured out, be shed 1d) (Hithpael) 1d1) to be poured out 1d2) to pour out oneself

like the fireכָּאֵ֖שׁka-'ESHH0784
fire

אֵשׁ (esh) 1) fire 1a) fire, flames 1b) supernatural fire (accompanying theophany) 1c) fire (for cooking, roasting, parching) 1d) altar-fire 1e) God's anger (fig.) Aramaic equivalent: esh (אֶשָּׁא "fire" H0785)

rage hisחֲמָתֽוֹ׃ סcha-ma-TOH2534
rage

חֱמָא (che.ma) anger, rage Aramaic of che.mah (חֵמָה "rage" H2534)

Words and meanings from STEPBible data (Tyndale House, Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). The capitalized syllable is the stressed one.