Lamentations 2:20

Lamentations 2:20 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
• New International Version (NIV)“Look, Lord, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
• English Standard Version (ESV)Look, O Lord, and see! With whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat the fruit of their womb, the children of their tender care? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
• New King James Version (NKJV)“See, O Lord, and consider! To whom have You done this? Should the women eat their offspring, The children they have cuddled? Should the priest and prophet be slain In the sanctuary of the Lord?

Context of Lamentations 2:20

18Their heart cried unto the Lord: O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; give thyself no respite; let not the apple of thine eye cease. 19Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger at the top of every street. See, O LORD, and behold, to whom thou hast done thus! shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast slaughtered, and not pitied. 22Thou hast called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side, and there was none that escaped or remained in the day of the LORD’S anger: those that I have dandled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.

Lamentations 2:20 word by word

רְאֵ֤ה יְהוָה֙ וְֽהַבִּ֔יטָה לְמִ֖י עוֹלַ֣לְתָּ כֹּ֑ה אִם־תֹּאכַ֨לְנָה נָשִׁ֤ים פִּרְיָם֙ עֹלֲלֵ֣י טִפֻּחִ֔ים אִם־יֵהָרֵ֛ג בְּמִקְדַּ֥שׁ אֲדֹנָ֖י כֹּהֵ֥ן וְנָבִֽיא׃ סRead the interlinear

• Seeרָאָהrâ'âh · to see: seeH7200
• LORDיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• beholdרָאָהrâ'âh · to see: seeH7200
• whomמִיmîy · who?H4310
• thusכֹּהkôh · thusH3541
• womenאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · womanH802
• eatאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
• fruitפְּרִיperîy · fruitH6529
• childrenעוֹלֵל‛ôlêl ‛ôlâl · infantH5768
• priestכֹּהֵןkôhên · priestH3548
• prophetנָבִיאnâbîy' · prophetH5030
• slainהָרַגhârag · to killH2026
• sanctuaryמִקְדָּשׁmiqdâsh miqqedâsh · sanctuaryH4720

Cross-references for Lamentations 2:20

• Exodus 32:11And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
• Deuteronomy 9:26And I prayed unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
• Isaiah 63:16For thou art our father, though Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us: thou, O LORD, art our father; our redeemer from everlasting is thy name.
• Isaiah 64:8But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
• Jeremiah 14:20We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
• Lamentations 4:10The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children; they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
• Leviticus 26:29And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
• Deuteronomy 28:53And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters which the LORD thy God hath given thee; in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall straiten thee.
• 2 Kings 6:28And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.
• Jeremiah 19:9And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall straiten them.
• Ezekiel 5:10Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter unto all the winds.
• Lamentations 1:19I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought them meat to refresh their souls.
• Lamentations 4:13It is because of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.
• Psalms 78:64Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
• Isaiah 9:14Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm-branch and rush, in one day.
• Jeremiah 5:31the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

Commentaries on Lamentations 2:20

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20Consider to whom thou hast done this - Perhaps the best sense of this difficult verse is this: "Thou art our Father, we are thy children; wilt thou destroy thy own offspring? Was it ever heard that a mother devoured her own child, a helpless infant of a span long?" That it was foretold that there should be such distress in the siege, - that mothers should be obliged to eat their own children, is evident enough from Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20The sense is: “See, Yahweh, and look! whom hast Thou treated thus? Shall women eat their fruit - children whom they must still carry?” the swaddled child being one still needing to be nursed and borne in their arms.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. 20Jeremiah had warned that the same cannibalism (people eating human flesh during extreme hunger) that happened during the siege of Samaria (2 Kings 6:28–29) would also happen in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 19:9; see also Lamentations 4:10; Ezekiel 5:10; compare Deuteronomy 28:53–57).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2020. women eat ... fruit--as threatened (Le 26:29; De 28:53, 56, 57; Jr 19:9). children ... span long--or else, "children whom they carry in their arms" [Maurer]. Schin.Read the comment

Topics related to Lamentations 2:20

• Cannibalism
• Church
• Famine
• Measure
• Nation
• Sanctuary

In the dictionaries

• Bosom
• Cord
• Poetry
• Acrostic
• Alphabet
• Intercession
• Lamentations, Book of
• Poetry, Hebrew
• Proverbs, the Book of
• Siege

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