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.
• English Standard Version (ESV)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.
• 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

2Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of Daughter Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor. 3In fierce anger he has cut off every horn of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it. 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. 5The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for Daughter Judah. 6He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting. The Lord has made Zion forget her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned both 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 is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for Daughter Judah.
• Lamentations 3:3indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
• Job 6:4The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me.
• Job 16:12All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target;
• Isaiah 63:10Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.
• Jeremiah 21:5I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm in furious anger and in great wrath.
• Jeremiah 30:14All your allies have forgotten you; they care nothing for you. I have struck you as an enemy would and punished you as would the cruel, because your guilt is so great and your sins so many.
• Ezekiel 24:25“And you, son of man, on the day I take away their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes, their heart’s desire, and their sons and daughters as well—
• Lamentations 4:1How the gold has lost its luster, the fine gold become dull! The sacred gems are scattered at every street corner.
• 2 Chronicles 34:21“Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the Lord; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.”
• Isaiah 42:25So he poured out on them his burning anger, the violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.
• Isaiah 51:17Awake, awake! Rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes people stagger.
• Isaiah 63:6I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.”
• Jeremiah 4:4Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done— burn with no one to quench it.
• Jeremiah 7:20“ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.
• Jeremiah 36:7Perhaps they will bring their petition before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord are great.”

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