Lamentations 2

God’s Anger over Israel

1How the Lord has 1covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He has 2cast from heaven to earth The 3glory of Israel, And has not remembered His 4footstool In the day of His anger.2The Lord has 5swallowed up; He has not spared All the habitations of Jacob. In His wrath He has 6thrown down The strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has 7brought them down to the ground; He has 8profaned the kingdom and its princes.3In fierce anger He has cut off 9All the 10strength of Israel; He has 11drawn back His right hand From before the enemy. And He has 12burned in Jacob like a flaming fire Consuming round about.4He has bent His 13bow like an enemy; He has set His right hand like an adversary And slain all that were 14pleasant to the eye; In the tent of the daughter of Zion He has 15poured out His wrath like fire.5The Lord has become like an 16enemy. He has 17swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all its 18palaces, He has destroyed its strongholds And 19multiplied in the daughter of Judah Mourning and moaning.6And He has violently treated His 20tabernacle like a garden booth; He has 21destroyed His appointed 22meeting place. The Lord has 23caused to be forgotten The appointed feast and sabbath in Zion, And He has 24despised king and priest In the indignation of His anger.7The Lord has 25rejected His altar, He has abandoned His sanctuary; He 26has delivered into the hand of the enemy The walls of her palaces. They have made a 27noise in the house of the Lord As in the day of an appointed feast.8The Lord 28determined to destroy The wall of the daughter of Zion. He has 29stretched out a line, He has not restrained His hand from 30destroying, And He has 31caused rampart and wall to lament; They have languished together.9Her 32gates have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; The 33law is no more. Also, her prophets find 34No vision from the Lord.10The elders of the daughter of Zion 35Sit on the ground, they 36are silent. They have thrown 37dust on their heads; They have girded themselves with 38sackcloth. The 39virgins of Jerusalem Have bowed their heads to the ground.11My 40eyes fail because of tears, My 4142spirit is greatly troubled; My 4344heart is poured out on the earth 45Because of the 46destruction of the daughter of my people, When 47little ones and infants faint In the streets of the city.12They say to their mothers, “48Where is grain and wine?” As they faint like a wounded man In the streets of the city, As their 49life is poured out On their mothers’ bosom.13How shall I admonish you? To what 50shall I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I liken you as I comfort you, O 51virgin daughter of Zion? For your 52ruin is as vast as the sea; Who can 53heal you?14Your 54prophets have seen for you False and foolish visions; And they have not 55exposed your iniquity So as to restore you from captivity, But they have 56seen for you false and misleading 57oracles.15All who pass along the way 58Clap their hands in derision at you; They 59hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem, “Is this the city of which they said, ‘60The perfection of beauty, 61A joy to all the earth’?”16All 62your enemies Have opened their mouths wide against you; They hiss and 63gnash their teeth. They say, “We have 64swallowed her up! Surely this is the 65day for which we waited; We have reached it, we have seen it.”17The Lord has 66done what He purposed; He has accomplished His word Which He commanded from days of old. He has thrown down 67without sparing, And He has caused the enemy to 68rejoice over you; He has 69exalted the 70might of your adversaries.18Their 71heart cried out to the Lord, “O 72wall of the daughter of Zion, Let your 73tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief, Let 74your eyes have no rest.19Arise, cry aloud in the 75night At the beginning of the night watches; 76Pour out your heart like water Before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him For the 77life of your little ones Who are 78faint because of hunger At the head of every street.”20See, O Lord, and look! With 79whom have You dealt thus? Should women 80eat their 81offspring, The little ones who were 82born healthy? Should 83priest and prophet be slain In the sanctuary of the Lord?21On the ground in the streets Lie 84young and old; My 85virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered, 86not sparing.22You called as in the day of an appointed feast My 87terrors on every side; And there was 88no one who escaped or survived In the day of the Lord’s anger. Those 89whom I 90bore and reared, My enemy annihilated them.