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.
• 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 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 and has not pitied All the dwelling places of Jacob. He has thrown down in His wrath The strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; He has profaned the kingdom and its princes. 3He has cut off in fierce anger Every horn of Israel; He has drawn back His right hand From before the enemy. He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire Devouring all around. 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. 5The Lord was like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel, He has swallowed up all her palaces; He has destroyed her strongholds, And has increased mourning and lamentation In the daughter of Judah. 6He has done violence to His tabernacle, As if it were a garden; He has destroyed His place of assembly; The Lord has caused The appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion. In His burning indignation He has spurned the king and the 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 was like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel, He has swallowed up all her palaces; He has destroyed her strongholds, And has increased mourning and lamentation In the daughter of Judah.
• Lamentations 3:3Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day.
• Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; My spirit drinks in their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me.
• Job 16:12I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target,
• Isaiah 63:10But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; So He turned Himself against them as an enemy, And He fought against them.
• Jeremiah 21:5I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and fury and great wrath.
• Jeremiah 30:14All your lovers have forgotten you; They do not seek you; For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, With the chastisement of a cruel one, For the multitude of your iniquities, Because your sins have increased.
• Ezekiel 24:25‘And you, son of man—will it not be in the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that on which they set their minds, their sons and their daughters:
• Lamentations 4:1How the gold has become dim! How changed the fine gold! The stones of the sanctuary are 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 Judah, concerning the words of the book that is 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 42:25Therefore He has poured on him the fury of His anger And the strength of battle; It has set him on fire all around, Yet he did not know; And it burned him, Yet he did not take it to heart.
• Isaiah 51:17Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk at the hand of the Lord The cup of His fury; You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, And drained it out.
• Isaiah 63:6I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, Made them drunk in My fury, And brought down their strength to the earth.”
• Jeremiah 4:4Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, And take away the foreskins of your hearts, You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury come forth like fire, And burn so that no one can quench it, Because of the evil of your doings.”
• Jeremiah 7:20Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”
• Jeremiah 36:7It may be that they will present their supplication before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury 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