Lamentations — Chapter 2

📖 Lamentations — Chapter 2 (KJV)

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Scripture source: Project Gutenberg KJV, ebook 10.

Lamentations 2:1 ^RHow 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!

Lam 1:1; Lam 4:1

Lamentations 2:2 The LORD hath ^Rswallowed 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 ^Tbrought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.

Lam 2:17,21; Lam 3:43

made to touch

Lamentations 2:3 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all ^Rthe 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.

Job 16:15; Ps 75:5,10

Lamentations 2:4 He hath ^Rbent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew ^Tall that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.

Lam 2:5; Lam 3:3,12-13

all the desirable of the eye

Lamentations 2:5 The LORD ^Rwas 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.

Lam 2:4; Jer 15:1

Lamentations 2:6 And ^Rhe hath violently taken away his ^Ttabernacle, 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.

Ps 80:12; Ps 89:40

hedge

Lamentations 2:7 The LORD hath ^Rcast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath ^Tgiven 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.

Lam 2:1; Lev 26:31,44

shut up

Lamentations 2:8 The LORD hath ^Rpurposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from ^Tdestroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.

Lam 2:17; Isa 5:5

swallowing up

Lamentations 2:9 Her ^Rgates 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.

Neh 1:3; Jer 39:2,8

Lamentations 2:10 The ^Relders 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.

Lam 4:5,16; Lam 5:12,14

Lamentations 2:11 Mine ^Reyes 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 ^Tswoon in the streets of the city.

Lam 1:16; Lam 3:48-51

faint

Lamentations 2:12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned ^Ras the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom.

Ezek 30:24

Lamentations 2:13 What thing ^Rshall 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?

Lam 1:12; Dan 9:12

Lamentations 2:14 Thy ^Rprophets 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.

Isa 9:15-16; Jer 2:8

Lamentations 2:15 All ^Rthat pass ^Tby 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?

Deut 29:22-28; 1 Kgs 9:7-9

by the way

Lamentations 2:16 All ^Rthine 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.

Lam 3:46; Job 16:9-10

Lamentations 2:17 The LORD hath ^Rdone 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.

Lam 2:8; Lev 26:14-46

Lamentations 2:18 Their ^Rheart 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.

Ps 119:145; Isa 26:16-17

Lamentations 2:19 Arise, ^Rcry 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.

Ps 42:8; Ps 62:8

Lamentations 2:20 Behold, O LORD, and ^Rconsider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children ^Tof a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

Exod 32:11; Deut 9:26

swaddled with their hands?

Lamentations 2:21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: ^Rmy 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.

Lam 1:15,18; Ps 78:63

Lamentations 2:22 Thou hast called as in a solemn day ^Rmy 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.

Ps 31:13; Isa 24:17-18

📚 Study This Chapter

📖 What We’re Reading

Lamentations 2:1–8 — Zion’s structures and worship are struck down

🌱 What These Verses Teach Us

The poem describes the Lord’s anger through ruined defenses, lost rulers, and disrupted worship. Temple, feasts, and walls cannot shield the city from the announced judgment.

Key Truth: Do not confuse outward institutions with guaranteed security.

Check What You Remember

📖 What We’re Reading

Lamentations 2:9–15 — Silenced leaders and hungry children

🌱 What These Verses Teach Us

Broken gates and exiled rulers accompany silent elders and devastating hunger. False prophets had not exposed iniquity, and the once-admired city becomes an object of ridicule.

Key Truth: Speak truth while caring for the most vulnerable.

Check What You Remember

📖 What We’re Reading

Lamentations 2:16–22 — Pour out the heart before the Lord

🌱 What These Verses Teach Us

Enemies celebrate, but the poem calls Zion to cry out through the night for her children’s lives. The prayer describes unbearable siege suffering and addresses God directly from within it.

Key Truth: Bring anguish honestly into prayer.

Check What You Remember

Related Scripture (KJV)

Jeremiah 8:11 — The prophet had exposed superficial healing and false peace.

This related passage is selected for its connection with this chapter. It is separate from the chapter text.

Reflect and Apply

What suffering should move you toward both prayer and practical help?

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Lamentations — Chapter 2