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Lamentations 2

1

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.

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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.

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2
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.

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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.

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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.

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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The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.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.

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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.

2
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.

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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?

2
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?

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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.

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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.

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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?

2
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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Lamentations 2:22

“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.”

Study Summary

You invited as to a day of festival the terrors all around me; and on the day of the anger of the LORD no one escaped or survived; those whom I bore and reared my enemy has destroyed—the final verse presents an ironic reversal: what appeared to be a festival invitation was actually a gathering for destruction. This inverts the covenant's celebration of God's relationship with Israel; instead of sacred festivity, there is terror. The attribution to "my enemy" for the destruction seems to contradict earlier statements attributing destruction to God; yet the implication is that God has enabled the enemy's destruction. The personal voice of a mother grieving destroyed children closes the chapter, returning to the human cost of judgment. Theologically, the chapter ends without resolution or hope, in the depths of suffering and accusation. The question of why God would invite Israel to her own destruction, disguising it as festivity, remains unanswered. The chapter presents a crisis of faith: how can a just God act in ways indistinguishable from betrayal?

Community Reflections

1
Alice Morgan (test user)1d ago
The covenant promise — Lamentations 2

I notice the repetition here is deliberate — the author wants us to feel the emphasis, to let the truth sink deep into our hearts.. The promise here is not conditional on our strength but on His character.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. What a reminder that God's ways are not our ways. God is faithful in every circumstance.. The promise here is not conditional on our strength but on His character.. There's something deeply comforting about knowing that the same God who spoke these words is the same yesterday, today, and forever.. When we read this alongside the surrounding chapters, the narrative arc becomes clear: God is always working redemption, even in the darkest moments.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. The early church would have heard this very differently than we do today. When we…

Read the note →
1
Sarah Koenig (test user)9h ago
Trusting God's timing — Lamentations 2

God is faithful in every circumstance.. The thread of covenant runs through every book of the Bible.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. We bring nothing; He provides everything.. This is one of those passages that reads differently in every season of life. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. This is one of those passages that reads differently in every season of life. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. I think this is a call to trust beyond what we can see. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance..

Read the note →

Lamentations 2:22

“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.”

Study Summary

You invited as to a day of festival the terrors all around me; and on the day of the anger of the LORD no one escaped or survived; those whom I bore and reared my enemy has destroyed—the final verse presents an ironic reversal: what appeared to be a festival invitation was actually a gathering for destruction. This inverts the covenant's celebration of God's relationship with Israel; instead of sacred festivity, there is terror. The attribution to "my enemy" for the destruction seems to contradict earlier statements attributing destruction to God; yet the implication is that God has enabled the enemy's destruction. The personal voice of a mother grieving destroyed children closes the chapter, returning to the human cost of judgment. Theologically, the chapter ends without resolution or hope, in the depths of suffering and accusation. The question of why God would invite Israel to her own destruction, disguising it as festivity, remains unanswered. The chapter presents a crisis of faith: how can a just God act in ways indistinguishable from betrayal?

Community Reflections

1
Alice Morgan (test user)1d ago
The covenant promise — Lamentations 2

I notice the repetition here is deliberate — the author wants us to feel the emphasis, to let the truth sink deep into our hearts.. The promise here is not conditional on our strength but on His character.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. What a reminder that God's ways are not our ways. God is faithful in every circumstance.. The promise here is not conditional on our strength but on His character.. There's something deeply comforting about knowing that the same God who spoke these words is the same yesterday, today, and forever.. When we read this alongside the surrounding chapters, the narrative arc becomes clear: God is always working redemption, even in the darkest moments.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. The early church would have heard this very differently than we do today. When we…

Read the note →
1
Sarah Koenig (test user)9h ago
Trusting God's timing — Lamentations 2

God is faithful in every circumstance.. The thread of covenant runs through every book of the Bible.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. We bring nothing; He provides everything.. This is one of those passages that reads differently in every season of life. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. This is one of those passages that reads differently in every season of life. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. I think this is a call to trust beyond what we can see. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every circumstance..

Read the note →

Lamentations 2:22

You invited as to a day of festival the terrors all around me; and on the day of the anger of the LORD no one escaped or survived; those whom I bore and reared my enemy has destroyed—the final verse presents an ironic reversal: what appeared to be a festival invitation was actually a gathering for destruction. This inverts the covenant's celebration of God's relationship with Israel; instead of sacred festivity, there is terror. The attribution to "my enemy" for the destruction seems to contradict earlier statements attributing destruction to God; yet the implication is that God has enabled the enemy's destruction. The personal voice of a mother grieving destroyed children closes the chapter, returning to the human cost of judgment. Theologically, the chapter ends without resolution or hope, in the depths of suffering and accusation. The question of why God would invite Israel to her own destruction, disguising it as festivity, remains unanswered. The chapter presents a crisis of faith: how can a just God act in ways indistinguishable from betrayal?