Lamentations - Chapter 2

Lamentations 2.1 How hath the LORD covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger! Lamentations 2.2 The LORD hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof. Lamentations 2.3 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about. Lamentations 2.4 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. Lamentations 2.5 The LORD was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. Lamentations 2.6 And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest. Lamentations 2.7 The LORD hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast. Lamentations 2.8 The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together. Lamentations 2.9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD. Lamentations 2.10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground. Lamentations 2.11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. Lamentations 2.12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom. Lamentations 2.13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee? Lamentations 2.14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment. Lamentations 2.15 All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? Lamentations 2.16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it. Lamentations 2.17 The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries. Lamentations 2.18 Their 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 rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease. Lamentations 2.19 Arise, cry out in the night: in 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 in the top of every street. Lamentations 2.20 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? Lamentations 2.21 The young and the old 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 killed, and not pitied. Lamentations 2.22 Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD’s anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.

Lamentations : Chapter 2

The Lamentation for Jerusalem in Chapter 2 of Lamentations

Chapter 2 of Lamentations delves deeper into the pain and lamentation over Jerusalem. This poignant text depicts God's wrath toward the city, illustrating Jerusalem's destruction as an act of divine judgment. Throughout its verses, we discover themes of desolation, famine, and the collapse of social and religious structures.

A Cry for Mercy

This chapter not only describes the tragedy; it also includes a desperate plea for God's mercy. In this spirit, we invite you to meditate on five biblical passages that shed light on the themes of judgment and supplication present in this intense chapter.

Revealing Bible Passages

Isaiah 51:17: "Awake, awake! Arise, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the Lord's hand the cup of his wrath, you who have drunk to the last drop of the cup that makes men stumble." This verse reflects the theme of God's wrath against Jerusalem, at the heart of Lamentations 2.

Micah 2:4: "In that day they will mock you; they will lament with derision, saying, 'We are utterly destroyed; the wealth of my people is divided. He has taken it from me; he has given our land to traitors.'" This passage echoes the lamentations and mockery described in Lamentations 2.

Jeremiah 14:17: "Say to them this word: 'Let my eyes weep night and day without ceasing, for the virgin daughter of my people has suffered a great destruction, a terrible and crushing blow.'" Jeremiah's lamentations over the destruction of his people reflect the tone and content of Lamentations 2.

Psalms 89:38-40: "But you have rejected him and refused him, and you have been angry with your anointed. You have broken the covenant with your servant and cast his crown to the ground. You have demolished all his walls and laid his fortifications in ruins." This psalm expresses themes similar to those of Lamentations 2, such as divine rejection and the destruction of Jerusalem.

Amos 5:2: "Virgin Israel fell, never to rise again; she lay helpless in her land, there was none to raise her up." The personification of Israel as a fallen virgin echoes the language and themes of Lamentations 2.

Conclusion

Through these passages, we are called to reflect on the gravity of Jerusalem's situation and the need to turn to God with a humble and repentant heart. May these meditations inspire us to seek God's mercy and understand the depth of His love, even in times of judgment.