Lamentations 2:4

Lamentations 2:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)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.
• New International Version (NIV)Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready. Like a foe he has slain all who were pleasing to the eye; he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Standing like an enemy, He has bent His bow; With His right hand, like an adversary, He has slain all who were pleasing to His eye; On the tent of the daughter of Zion, He has poured out His fury like fire.
• New Living Translation (NLT)He bends his bow against his people, as though he were their enemy. His strength is used against them to kill their finest youth. His fury is poured out like fire on beautiful Jerusalem.

Context of Lamentations 2:4

2The Lord has swallowed up without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers. 3He has cut down in fierce anger all the might of Israel; he has withdrawn from them his right hand in the face of the enemy; he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob, consuming all around. He has bent his bow like an enemy, with his right hand set 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. 5The Lord has become like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all its palaces; he has laid in ruins its strongholds, and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. 6He has laid waste his booth like a garden, laid in ruins his meeting place; the Lord has made Zion forget festival and Sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

Lamentations 2:4 word by word

דָּרַ֨ךְ קַשְׁתּ֜וֹ כְּאוֹיֵ֗ב נִצָּ֤ב יְמִינוֹ֙ כְּצָ֔ר וַֽיַּהֲרֹ֔ג כֹּ֖ל מַחֲמַדֵּי־עָ֑יִן בְּאֹ֙הֶל֙ בַּת־צִיּ֔וֹן שָׁפַ֥ךְ כָּאֵ֖שׁ חֲמָתֽוֹ׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• He hath bentדָּרַךְdârak · to treadH1869
• his bowקֶ֫שֶׁתqesheth · bowH7198
• like an enemyאֹיֵב'ôyêb 'ôyêb · enemyH341
• he stoodנָצַבnâtsab · to standH5324
• with his right handיָמִיןyâmîyn · rightH3225
• as an adversaryצַרtsar tsâr · enemyH6862
• and slewהָרַגhârag · to killH2026
• pleasantמַחְמָדmachmâd · desireH4261
• to the eyeעַ֫יִן‛ayin · eyeH5869
• in the tabernacleאֹ֫הֶל'ôhel · tentH168
• of the daughterבַּתbath · daughterH1323
• of Zionצִיּוֹןtsîyôn · ZionH6726
• he poured outשָׁפַךְshâphak · to pour: pourH8210
• his furyחֵמָהchêmâh chêmâ' · rageH2534
• like fireאֵשׁ'êsh · fireH784

Cross-references for Lamentations 2:4

• Lamentations 2:5The Lord has become like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all its palaces; he has laid in ruins its strongholds, and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
• Lamentations 3:3surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long.
• Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
• Job 16:12I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target;
• Isaiah 63:10But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.
• Jeremiah 21:5I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger and in fury and in great wrath.
• Jeremiah 30:14All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant.
• Ezekiel 24:25"As for you, son of man, surely on the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their soul's desire, and also their sons and daughters,
• Lamentations 4:1How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street.
• 2 Chronicles 34:21"Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book."
• Isaiah 42:25So he poured on him the heat of his anger and the might of battle; it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand; it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.
• Isaiah 51:17Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.
• Isaiah 63:6I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth."
• Jeremiah 4:4Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds."
• Jeremiah 7:20Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched."
• Jeremiah 36:7It may be that their plea for mercy will come before the Lord, and that every one will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people."

Commentaries on Lamentations 2:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4He hath bent his bow - he stood with his right hand - This is the attitude of the archer. He first bends his bow; then sets his arrow upon the string; and, lastly, placing his right hand on the lower end of the arrow, in connection with the string, takes his aim, and prepares to let fly.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4He stood with his right hand … - i. e. that right hand so often stretched out to help now grasped a weapon ready for Judah‘s destruction. Were pleasant - Or, was “pleasant.” Put full stop after “eye.” Begin the third distich thus: In the tabernacle - (or, tent) of the daughter of Zion.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-4bent His bow: In the past, the Lord had been a powerful warrior for Israel (see Exodus 14:13–15:21; Joshua 23:9–11; Judges 7; 2 Kings 19:32–35). Now he waged war against Jerusalem (see Isaiah 63:10; Ezekiel 24:25).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. (Is 63:10). stood with ... right hand--He took His stand so as to use His right hand as an adversary. Henderson makes the image to be that of an archer steadying his right hand to take aim. Not only did He withdraw His help, but also took arms against Israel. all ... pleasant to ... eye--(Eze 24:25). All that were conspicuous for youth, beauty, and rank. in ... tabernacle--the dwellings of Jerusalem. He.Read the comment

Topics related to Lamentations 2:4

• Bow

In the dictionaries

• Bosom
• Cord
• Poetry
• Acrostic
• Alphabet
• Lamentations, Book of
• Poetry, Hebrew
• Proverbs, the Book of
• bow and arrow, a bow

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