Lamentations 2:13

Lamentations 2:13 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)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?
• New International Version (NIV)What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?
• English Standard Version (ESV)What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is vast as the sea; who can heal you?
• New King James Version (NKJV)How shall I console you? To what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is spread wide as the sea; Who can heal you?

Context of Lamentations 2:13

11I have cried so much that my eyes are red now. Even the parts inside my body hurt, because my people are dying. I feel ill because I am so sad. The children and babies fall in the city's streets because they are so weak. 12‘Where has all the food and drink gone?’ the hungry children ask their mothers. Then they fall down in pain on the streets of the city. They die in their mothers' arms. I want to help you people of Jerusalem, but there is nothing that I can say to you. I do not know about anything like what has happened to you. God has destroyed Zion completely! I do not know anyone who can make you people better. 14Your prophets have promised you many good things. Those good things will not happen. They should have told you that you should not do wrong things. If they had told you that, none of these troubles would have happened. The prophets do not tell you true messages from God and their dreams are false. 15Everyone who goes by laughs at you. They are happy because you are sad. They see how the enemy has destroyed everything in Jerusalem. ‘Surely this cannot be the city that men called most beautiful,’ they say. ‘People have said that this city is the best city on earth.’

Lamentations 2:13 word by word

מָֽה־אֲעִידֵ֞ךְ מָ֣ה אֲדַמֶּה־לָּ֗ךְ הַבַּת֙ יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם מָ֤ה אַשְׁוֶה־לָּךְ֙ וַאֲנַֽחֲמֵ֔ךְ בְּתוּלַ֖ת בַּת־צִיּ֑וֹן כִּֽי־גָד֥וֹל כַּיָּ֛ם שִׁבְרֵ֖ךְ מִ֥י יִרְפָּא־לָֽךְ׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• What thing shall I take to witnessעוּד‛ûd · to testifyH5749
• for thee? what thingמָהmâh mah mâ ma meh · what?H4100
• shall I likenדָּמָהdâmâh · to resembleH1819
• to thee, O daughterבַּתbath · daughterH1323
• of Jerusalemיְרוּשָׁלִַ֫ם, יְרוּשְׁלֵםyerûshâlaim yerûshâlayim · JerusalemH3389
• what shall I equalשָׁוָהshâvâh · be likeH7737
• to thee, that I may comfortנָחַםnâcham · to be sorry: comfortH5162
• thee, O virginבְּתוּלָהbethûlâh · virginH1330
• of Zionצִיּוֹןtsîyôn · ZionH6726
• for thy breachשֶׁ֫בֶרsheber shêber · breakingH7667
• greatגָּדוֹלgâdôl gâdôl · great: largeH1419
• like the seaיָםyâm · seaH3220
• who can healרָפָאrâphâ' râphâh · to healH7495

Cross-references for Lamentations 2:13

• Lamentations 1:12‘Come and really look at me! All you people who pass me do not show any interest in me. But you have never seen anything as sad as I am. The Lord was very angry with me. So it was the Lord who did this to me.
• Daniel 9:12So you have done what you promised to do to us and to our rulers. You have caused us to have terrible trouble. You have punished Jerusalem with more trouble than has ever happened to any other city.
• 2 Samuel 5:20So David went to Baal Perazim. He won the fight against the Philistines in that place. He said, ‘The Lord has swept away my enemy like a flood of water.’ So they called that place ‘Baal Perazim’.
• Psalms 60:2You made the ground shake and you tore it open. Now mend the holes, or everything will fall down.
• Jeremiah 14:17Say this to the people, Jeremiah: “Tears pour from my eyes all the time. I weep through each day and each night. I am sad about my own dear people. A great trouble has knocked them to the ground. They have received a very bad wound.
• Ezekiel 26:3So this is what the Almighty Lord says: Listen! I have become your enemy, Tyre. I will bring many nations to attack you. They will be like the waves of the sea as they hit you.
• Jeremiah 8:22Surely there is a medicine in Gilead. There is a doctor there who can make my dear people better. But my people are still ill. Why are they not better?
• Jeremiah 30:12The Lord says this to Zion's people: ‘You have received very bad wounds. Nobody can make you well again.
• Jeremiah 51:8But now Babylon will quickly fall. An enemy will destroy it, so weep for it! Find some medicine that will make its wounds better. Perhaps it will become well again.

Commentaries on Lamentations 2:13

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 13What thing shall I take - Or, rather, as Dr. Blayney, "What shall I urge to thee?" How shall I comfort thee? Thy breach is great like the sea - Thou hast a flood of afflictions, a sea of troubles, an ocean of miseries.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 13Equal - i. e. “compare.” Zion‘s breach, i. e. her destruction, is measureless, like the ocean.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 10-22Verses 10-22 Causes for lamentation are described. Multitudes perished by famine. Even little children were slain by their mother's hands, and eaten, according to the threatening, Deut. 28:53. Multitudes fell by the sword. Their false prophets deceived them. And their neighbours laughed at them. It is a great sin to jest at others' miseries, and adds much affliction to the afflicted. Their enemies triumphed over them. The enemies of the church are apt to…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 13Who can ever heal you?: There was no one left who could bring healing. The prophets and healers who were trusted by the people had spoken lies and given false hope (Jeremiah 6:13–14).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1313. What thing shall I take to witness--What can I bring forward as a witness, or instance, to prove that others have sustained as grievous ills as thou? I cannot console thee as mourners are often consoled by showing that thy lot is only what others, too, suffer. The "sea" affords the only suitable emblem of thy woes, by its boundless extent and depth (La 1:12; Da 9:12). Nun.Read the comment

Topics related to Lamentations 2:13

• Famine

In the dictionaries

• Jerusalem
• the sea, the Great Sea, the western sea
• Bosom
• Cord
• Poetry
• Acrostic
• Alphabet
• Breach
• Lamentations, Book of
• Poetry, Hebrew

Commentaries on Lamentations 2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings