Lamentations 2 - English Standard Version (ESV)

The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity

2 How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion (A)under a cloud!
(B)He has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered (C)his footstool
in the day of his anger.

2 The Lord (D)has swallowed up (E)without mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath (F)he has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought (G)down to the ground (H)in dishonor
the kingdom (I)and its rulers.

3 He has cut down in (J)fierce anger
all (K)the might of Israel;
(L)he has withdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
(M)he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.

4 (N)He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set (O)like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.

5 (P)The Lord has become like an enemy;
(Q)he has swallowed up Israel;
(R)he has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
(S)mourning and lamentation.

6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins (T)his meeting place;
(U)the Lord has made Zion forget
festival and (V)Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

7 (W)The Lord has scorned his altar,
(X)disowned his sanctuary;
(Y)he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
(Z)they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on the day of festival.

8 (AA)The Lord determined to lay in ruins
(AB)the wall of the daughter of Zion;
(AC)he stretched out the measuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
(AD)he caused rampart and wall to lament;
(AE)they languished together.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
(AF)he has ruined (AG)and broken her bars;
(AH)her king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and (AI)her prophets find
no vision from the Lord.

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

11 (AN)My eyes are spent with weeping;
(AO)my stomach churns;
(AP)my bile is poured out to the ground
(AQ)because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
(AR)because infants and babies (AS)faint
in the streets of the city.

12 They cry to their mothers,
(AT)“Where is bread and wine?”
(AU)as they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers' bosom.

13 What can I say for you, (AV)to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
(AW)What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
(AX)For your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?

14 (AY)Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
(AZ)they have not exposed your iniquity
to (BA)restore your fortunes,
(BB)but have seen for you (BC)oracles
that are false and misleading.

15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
(BD)they hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
(BE)the perfection of beauty,
(BF)the joy of all the earth?”

16 (BG)All your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We (BH)have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; (BI)we see it!”

17 The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out (BJ)his word,
which he commanded (BK)long ago;
(BL)he has thrown down (BM)without pity;
(BN)he has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the (BO)might of your foes.

18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
O (BP)wall of the daughter of Zion,
(BQ)let tears stream down like a torrent
(BR)day and night!
(BS)Give yourself no rest,
(BT)your eyes no respite!

19 “Arise, (BU)cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
(BV)Pour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
(BW)Lift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
(BX)who faint for hunger
at the head of every street.”

20 Look, O Lord, and see!
(BY)With whom have you dealt thus?
(BZ)Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of (CA)their tender care?
Should (CB)priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 In the dust of the streets
(CC)lie the young and the old;
(CD)my young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
(CE)you have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering (CF)without pity.

22 You summoned as if to (CG)a festival day
(CH)my terrors on every side,
(CI)and on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
(CJ)those whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.

Cross references

  1. Lamentations 2:1 : [ch. 3:44]
  2. Lamentations 2:1 : [Matt. 11:23]; See Isa. 14:15
  3. Lamentations 2:1 : 1 Chr. 28:2
  4. Lamentations 2:2 : ver. 16; [Ps. 35:25; 56:2; Ezek. 36:3]
  5. Lamentations 2:2 : ver. 17, 21; ch. 3:43; [Ezek. 9:5, 10]
  6. Lamentations 2:2 : Ps. 89:40
  7. Lamentations 2:2 : Ps. 74:7
  8. Lamentations 2:2 : Ps. 74:7
  9. Lamentations 2:2 : Isa. 43:28
  10. Lamentations 2:3 : See Jer. 12:13
  11. Lamentations 2:3 : 1 Sam. 2:1
  12. Lamentations 2:3 : Ps. 74:11
  13. Lamentations 2:3 : Ps. 79:5; 89:46
  14. Lamentations 2:4 : ch. 3:12
  15. Lamentations 2:4 : See Jer. 30:14
  16. Lamentations 2:5 : [See ver. 4 above]; See Jer. 30:14
  17. Lamentations 2:5 : ver. 16; [Ps. 35:25; 56:2; Ezek. 36:3]
  18. Lamentations 2:5 : [2 Kgs. 25:9]
  19. Lamentations 2:5 : Isa. 29:2
  20. Lamentations 2:6 : ch. 1:4; Isa. 1:13; Zeph. 3:18
  21. Lamentations 2:6 : ch. 1:4; Isa. 1:13; Zeph. 3:18
  22. Lamentations 2:6 : Isa. 1:13
  23. Lamentations 2:7 : [Ps. 89:38]
  24. Lamentations 2:7 : [Ezek. 24:21]
  25. Lamentations 2:7 : Deut. 32:30
  26. Lamentations 2:7 : Ps. 74:4
  27. Lamentations 2:8 : [Jer. 5:10]
  28. Lamentations 2:8 : ver. 18
  29. Lamentations 2:8 : See 2 Kgs. 21:13
  30. Lamentations 2:8 : Jer. 14:2
  31. Lamentations 2:8 : Jer. 14:2
  32. Lamentations 2:9 : Jer. 51:30; Nah. 3:13
  33. Lamentations 2:9 : Jer. 51:30; Nah. 3:13
  34. Lamentations 2:9 : [Hos. 3:4]
  35. Lamentations 2:9 : Ps. 74:9
  36. Lamentations 2:10 : ch. 1:1; 3:28; Isa. 3:26
  37. Lamentations 2:10 : Ezek. 3:15
  38. Lamentations 2:10 : See Josh. 7:6
  39. Lamentations 2:10 : Jer. 48:37; Ezek. 7:18; Amos 8:10; See Jer. 4:8
  40. Lamentations 2:11 : [ver. 18; ch. 5:17; Ps. 6:7]
  41. Lamentations 2:11 : See ch. 1:20
  42. Lamentations 2:11 : [Job 16:13]
  43. Lamentations 2:11 : ch. 3:48
  44. Lamentations 2:11 : [ch. 4:4; Jer. 44:7]
  45. Lamentations 2:11 : ver. 19; [Isa. 51:20]
  46. Lamentations 2:12 : See ch. 1:11
  47. Lamentations 2:12 : [See ver. 11 above]; ver. 19; [Isa. 51:20]
  48. Lamentations 2:13 : [ch. 1:12]
  49. Lamentations 2:13 : [ch. 1:12]
  50. Lamentations 2:13 : 2 Sam. 5:20; [Ezek. 26:3]
  51. Lamentations 2:14 : See Jer. 5:31
  52. Lamentations 2:14 : [Isa. 58:1]
  53. Lamentations 2:14 : See Jer. 30:3
  54. Lamentations 2:14 : See Jer. 5:31
  55. Lamentations 2:14 : [Jer. 23:33, 34]
  56. Lamentations 2:15 : See 2 Chr. 29:8
  57. Lamentations 2:15 : Ps. 48:2; Ezek. 16:14
  58. Lamentations 2:15 : Ps. 48:2; Ezek. 16:14
  59. Lamentations 2:16 : ch. 3:46; [Job 16:9, 10]
  60. Lamentations 2:16 : See ver. 2
  61. Lamentations 2:16 : [Ps. 35:21]
  62. Lamentations 2:17 : See Lev. 26:14-45; Deut. 28:15-68
  63. Lamentations 2:17 : ch. 1:7; Jer. 46:26
  64. Lamentations 2:17 : See ver. 2
  65. Lamentations 2:17 : ver. 2, 21
  66. Lamentations 2:17 : [Ps. 38:16; 89:42]
  67. Lamentations 2:17 : [ver. 3]
  68. Lamentations 2:18 : ver. 8
  69. Lamentations 2:18 : See ver. 11
  70. Lamentations 2:18 : Ps. 32:4; 42:3
  71. Lamentations 2:18 : Ps. 77:2
  72. Lamentations 2:18 : Ps. 17:8
  73. Lamentations 2:19 : Ps. 119:147, 148
  74. Lamentations 2:19 : Ps. 62:8; [1 Sam. 7:6]
  75. Lamentations 2:19 : [1 Tim. 2:8]
  76. Lamentations 2:19 : See ver. 11, 12
  77. Lamentations 2:20 : ch. 1:22
  78. Lamentations 2:20 : ch. 4:10; See Jer. 19:9
  79. Lamentations 2:20 : ver. 22
  80. Lamentations 2:20 : [ch. 4:13]
  81. Lamentations 2:21 : [2 Chr. 36:17]
  82. Lamentations 2:21 : [2 Chr. 36:17]
  83. Lamentations 2:21 : ch. 3:43
  84. Lamentations 2:21 : ver. 2, 17
  85. Lamentations 2:22 : [ver. 6]
  86. Lamentations 2:22 : See Jer. 6:25
  87. Lamentations 2:22 : [Jer. 42:17; 44:14]
  88. Lamentations 2:22 : ver. 20

You Might Also Like:

Lamentations 2 - Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

2 How doth the Lord cloud in His anger the daughter of Zion, He hath cast from heaven [to] earth the beauty of Israel, And hath not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger. 2 Swallowed up hath the Lord, He hath not pitied any of the pleasant places of Jacob, He hath broken down in His wrath...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - Wycliffe Bible (WYC)

2 How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with darkness in his strong vengeance? he hath cast down from heaven into earth the noble city of Israel; and bethought not on the stool of his feet, in the day of his strong vengeance. (How the Lord hath covered the daughter of Zion with darkness in ...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - World English Bible (WEB)

2 How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has cast the beauty of Israel down from heaven to the earth, and hasn’t remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. 2 The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob without pity.He has thrown down in his wrath ...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - The Voice (VOICE)

2 Aaghh! How could the Lord surround Zion in a cloud of His anger as if He has cast the beauty of Israel down from heaven to earth?Majestic Israel, God’s footstool, is debased by God’s anger in a moment of wrath. 2 Buried beneath the dust, Jacob’s houses have been swallowed.The Lord did this without...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Lament for Zion2 How my Lord has clouded overthe daughter of Zion in His anger!He hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth.He has not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger.2 My Lord has mercilessly swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob.He threw down the strongholds of the...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

God’s Warnings Fulfilled2 How the Lord in his angerhas set the daughter of Zion under a cloud!He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel;he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. 2 The Lord has destroyed without mercy all the habitations of Jacob;in his wrath he ...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

God’s Warnings Fulfilled2 How the Lord in his anger has humiliated[a] daughter Zion!He has thrown down from heaven to earth the splendour of Israel;he has not remembered his footstool on the day of his anger. 2 The Lord has destroyed without mercy all the dwellings of Jacob;in his wrath he has broke...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

God’s Warnings Fulfilled2 How the Lord in his anger has humiliated[a] daughter Zion!He has thrown down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel;he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.(A)2 The Lord has destroyed without mercy all the dwellings of Jacob;in his wrath he has brok...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - New Living Translation (NLT)

God’s Anger at Sin2 The Lord in his anger has cast a dark shadow over beautiful Jerusalem.[a]The fairest of Israel’s cities lies in the dust, thrown down from the heights of heaven.In his day of great anger, the Lord has shown no mercy even to his Temple.[b] 2 Without mercy the Lord has destroyed ev...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - New Life Version (NLV)

Jerusalem Is Punished2 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 ...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - New King James Version (NKJV)

God’s Anger with Jerusalem2 How the Lord has covered the daughter of ZionWith a (A)cloud in His anger!(B)He cast down from heaven to the earth(C)The beauty of Israel,And did not remember (D)His footstoolIn the day of His anger. 2 The Lord has swallowed up and has (E)not pitiedAll the dwelling places...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

2 [a]How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion with the cloud of his anger![b]He has hurled down the splendour of Israel from heaven to earth;he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. 2 Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob;in his wrath he has torn down th...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - New International Version (NIV)

2 [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) 2 Without pity(D) the Lord has swallowed(E) up all the dwellings of Jacob;in his wrath he ha...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

2 See how the Lord covered the city of Zion with the cloud of his anger!He threw Israel’s glory down from heaven to earth.When he was angry, he turned his back on his own city. 2 Without pity the Lord swallowed up all the homes of Jacob’s people.When he was angry, he tore down the forts of the peopl...
Read More

Lamentations 2 - New Century Version (NCV)

The Lord Destroyed Jerusalem2 Look how the Lord in his anger has brought Jerusalem to shame.He has thrown down the greatness of Israel from the sky to the earth;he did not remember the Temple, his footstool, on the day of his anger. 2 The Lord swallowed up without mercy all the houses of the people ...
Read More