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 has torn down
the strongholds(F) of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
down to the ground(G) in dishonor.

3 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He has withdrawn his right hand(I)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)

4 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.

5 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)

6 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)

7 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)

8 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)

9 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.

Cross references

  1. Lamentations 2:1 : La 3:44
  2. Lamentations 2:1 : Ps 99:5; 132:7
  3. Lamentations 2:1 : S Jer 12:7
  4. Lamentations 2:2 : ver 17; La 3:43
  5. Lamentations 2:2 : Ps 21:9
  6. Lamentations 2:2 : Ps 89:39-40; Mic 5:11
  7. Lamentations 2:2 : S Isa 25:12
  8. Lamentations 2:3 : Ps 75:5, 10
  9. Lamentations 2:3 : Ps 74:11
  10. Lamentations 2:3 : S Isa 42:25; Jer 21:4-5, 14
  11. Lamentations 2:4 : S Job 3:23; 16:13; La 3:12-13
  12. Lamentations 2:4 : S Ps 48:2; Eze 24:16, 25
  13. Lamentations 2:4 : S 2Ch 34:21; Eze 20:34
  14. Lamentations 2:4 : Isa 42:25; S Jer 7:20
  15. Lamentations 2:4 : S Jer 4:20
  16. Lamentations 2:5 : S Job 13:24
  17. Lamentations 2:5 : ver 2
  18. Lamentations 2:5 : S Isa 29:2
  19. Lamentations 2:5 : S Jer 7:20; 9:17-20
  20. Lamentations 2:6 : 2Ch 36:19
  21. Lamentations 2:6 : S Jer 52:13
  22. Lamentations 2:6 : Zep 3:18
  23. Lamentations 2:6 : Isa 43:28; S Jer 7:14; La 4:16; 5:12
  24. Lamentations 2:7 : S Lev 26:31; S Eze 7:24
  25. Lamentations 2:7 : Ps 74:7-8; S Isa 64:11; Jer 33:4-5; Eze 7:21-22
  26. Lamentations 2:7 : Jer 21:4; 52:13
  27. Lamentations 2:8 : ver 18
  28. Lamentations 2:8 : S 2Ki 21:13
  29. Lamentations 2:8 : S Ps 48:13
  30. Lamentations 2:8 : Isa 3:26; S Jer 39:8; S 52:14
  31. Lamentations 2:9 : S Ne 1:3
  32. Lamentations 2:9 : S Isa 45:2; Hos 11:6
  33. Lamentations 2:9 : Dt 28:36; S 2Ki 24:15; Jer 16:13; Hos 3:4
  34. Lamentations 2:9 : S 2Ch 15:3
  35. Lamentations 2:9 : S 1Sa 3:1
  36. Lamentations 2:9 : S Jer 14:14
  37. Lamentations 2:10 : La 3:28
  38. Lamentations 2:10 : S Jos 7:6
  39. Lamentations 2:10 : Job 2:12
  40. Lamentations 2:10 : S Isa 3:24
  41. Lamentations 2:10 : S Job 2:13; S Isa 3:26; Eze 27:30-31
  42. Lamentations 2:11 : S Ps 119:82; S Isa 15:3; S La 1:16; 3:48-51
  43. Lamentations 2:11 : S Job 30:27; La 1:20
  44. Lamentations 2:11 : S Isa 1:5
  45. Lamentations 2:11 : ver 19; Ps 22:14
  46. Lamentations 2:11 : S Jer 9:1
  47. Lamentations 2:11 : La 4:4
  48. Lamentations 2:12 : Isa 24:11
  49. Lamentations 2:12 : S Job 3:24
  50. Lamentations 2:12 : La 4:4
  51. Lamentations 2:13 : S Isa 1:6
  52. Lamentations 2:13 : S 2Ki 19:21
  53. Lamentations 2:13 : Isa 37:22
  54. Lamentations 2:13 : Jer 14:17; 30:12-15; La 1:12
  55. Lamentations 2:14 : S Jer 28:15
  56. Lamentations 2:14 : Jer 8:11
  57. Lamentations 2:14 : Jer 2:8; S 20:6; 23:25-32, 33-40; S 29:9; Eze 13:3; 22:28
  58. Lamentations 2:15 : S Nu 24:10; Eze 25:6
  59. Lamentations 2:15 : S Dt 28:37; S Isa 28:22; Jer 19:8; S Na 3:19
  60. Lamentations 2:15 : S Job 16:4
  61. Lamentations 2:15 : S La 1:21
  62. Lamentations 2:15 : Ps 45:11; S 48:2; 50:2; Eze 16:14
  63. Lamentations 2:15 : Ps 48:2
  64. Lamentations 2:16 : Ps 22:13; La 3:46
  65. Lamentations 2:16 : S Job 16:9
  66. Lamentations 2:16 : S Ps 35:25
  67. Lamentations 2:16 : Eze 36:3; Mic 4:11
  68. Lamentations 2:17 : S Jer 39:16
  69. Lamentations 2:17 : Dt 28:15-45
  70. Lamentations 2:17 : S ver 2; Eze 5:11; 7:9; 8:18
  71. Lamentations 2:17 : S Ps 22:17
  72. Lamentations 2:17 : Ps 89:42; S Isa 44:26; S La 1:5; Zec 1:6
  73. Lamentations 2:18 : S Ps 119:145
  74. Lamentations 2:18 : ver 8
  75. Lamentations 2:18 : S La 1:16
  76. Lamentations 2:18 : S Jer 9:1
  77. Lamentations 2:18 : La 3:49
  78. Lamentations 2:19 : 1Sa 1:15
  79. Lamentations 2:19 : S ver 11; Isa 26:9
  80. Lamentations 2:19 : S Ps 28:2
  81. Lamentations 2:19 : S Isa 51:20
  82. Lamentations 2:20 : S Dt 28:53; Jer 19:9; Eze 5:10
  83. Lamentations 2:20 : La 4:10
  84. Lamentations 2:20 : Ps 78:64; S Jer 14:15; 23:11-12
  85. Lamentations 2:20 : S La 1:19
  86. Lamentations 2:21 : S Dt 32:25; S 2Ch 36:17; Ps 78:62-63; Jer 6:11
  87. Lamentations 2:21 : S Jer 13:14; La 3:43; Zec 11:6
  88. Lamentations 2:22 : S Ps 31:13; S Jer 20:10
  89. Lamentations 2:22 : S Jer 11:11
  90. Lamentations 2:22 : Job 27:14; Hos 9:13

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