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Lamentations 2-3
New King James Version
Lamentations 2-3
New King James Version
God’s Anger with Jerusalem
2 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion
With a (A)cloud in His anger!
(B)He cast down from heaven to the earth
(C)The beauty of Israel,
And did not remember (D)His footstool
In the day of His anger.
2 The Lord has swallowed up and has (E)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;
(F)He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
3 He has cut off in fierce anger
Every [a]horn of Israel;
(G)He has drawn back His right hand
From before the enemy.
(H)He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
Devouring all around.
4 (I)Standing like an enemy, He has bent His bow;
With His right hand, like an adversary,
He has slain (J)all who were pleasing to His eye;
On the tent of the daughter of Zion,
He has poured out His fury like fire.
5 (K)The Lord was like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel,
He has swallowed up all her palaces;
(L)He has destroyed her strongholds,
And has increased mourning and lamentation
In the daughter of Judah.
6 He has done violence (M)to His [b]tabernacle,
(N)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 (O)spurned the king and the priest.
7 The Lord has spurned His altar,
He has (P)abandoned His sanctuary;
He has [c]given up the walls of her palaces
Into the hand of the enemy.
(Q)They have made a noise in the house of the Lord
As on the day of a set feast.
8 The Lord has [d]purposed to destroy
The (R)wall of the daughter of Zion.
(S)He has stretched out a line;
He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying;
Therefore He has caused the rampart and wall to lament;
They languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
He has destroyed and (T)broken her bars.
(U)Her king and her princes are among the [e]nations;
(V)The Law is no more,
And her (W)prophets find no [f]vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
(X)Sit on the ground and keep silence;
[g]They (Y)throw dust on their heads
And (Z)gird themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem
Bow their heads to the ground.
11 (AA)My eyes fail with tears,
My [h]heart is troubled;
(AB)My [i]bile is poured on the ground
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because (AC)the children and the infants
Faint in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
As they swoon like the wounded
In the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
In their mothers’ bosom.
13 How shall I (AD)console[j] you?
To what shall I liken you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea;
Who can heal you?
14 Your (AE)prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not (AF)uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false (AG)prophecies and delusions.
15 All who [k]pass by (AH)clap their hands at you;
They hiss (AI)and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that is called
(AJ)‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”
16 (AK)All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, (AL)“We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the (AM)day we have waited for;
We have found it, (AN)we have seen it!”
17 The Lord has done what He (AO)purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to (AP)rejoice over you;
He has exalted the [l]horn of your adversaries.
18 Their heart cried out to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
(AQ)Let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Give [m]your eyes no rest.
19 “Arise, (AR)cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
(AS)Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger (AT)at the head of every street.”
20 “See, O Lord, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
(AU)Should the women eat their offspring,
The children [n]they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 “Young(AV) and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the (AW)sword;
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered and not pitied.
22 “You have invited as to a feast day
(AX)The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
(AY)Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have (AZ)destroyed.”
The Prophet’s Anguish and Hope
3 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
2 He has led me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
3 Surely He has turned His hand against me
Time and time again throughout the day.
4 He has aged (BA)my flesh and my skin,
And (BB)broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me
And surrounded me with bitterness and [o]woe.
6 (BC)He has set me in dark places
Like the dead of long ago.
7 (BD)He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.
8 Even (BE)when I cry and shout,
He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
10 (BF)He has been to me a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in [p]ambush.
11 He has turned aside my ways and (BG)torn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent His bow
And (BH)set me up as a target for the arrow.
13 He has caused (BI)the [q]arrows of His quiver
To pierce my [r]loins.
14 I have become the (BJ)ridicule of all my people—
(BK)Their taunting song all the day.
15 (BL)He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink wormwood.
16 He has also broken my teeth (BM)with gravel,
And [s]covered me with ashes.
17 You have moved my soul far from peace;
I have forgotten [t]prosperity.
18 (BN)And I said, “My strength and my hope
Have perished from the Lord.”
19 Remember my affliction and roaming,
(BO)The wormwood and the [u]gall.
20 My soul still remembers
And [v]sinks within me.
21 This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have (BP)hope.
22 (BQ)Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions (BR)fail not.
23 They are new (BS)every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my (BT)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I (BU)hope in Him!”
25 The Lord is good to those who (BV)wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good that one should (BW)hope (BX)and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
27 (BY)It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.
28 (BZ)Let him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him;
29 (CA)Let him put his mouth in the dust—
There may yet be hope.
30 (CB)Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him,
And be full of reproach.
31 (CC)For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32 Though He causes grief,
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.
33 For (CD)He does not afflict [w]willingly,
Nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush under one’s feet
All the prisoners of the earth,
35 To turn aside the justice due a man
Before the face of the Most High,
36 Or subvert a man in his cause—
(CE)The Lord does not approve.
37 Who is he (CF)who speaks and it comes to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That (CG)woe and well-being proceed?
39 (CH)Why should a living man [x]complain,
(CI)A man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the Lord;
41 (CJ)Let us lift our hearts and hands
To God in heaven.
42 (CK)We have transgressed and rebelled;
You have not pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain and not pitied.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud,
That prayer should not pass through.
45 You have made us an (CL)offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.
46 (CM)All our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.
47 (CN)Fear and a snare have come upon us,
(CO)Desolation and destruction.
48 (CP)My eyes overflow with rivers of water
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 (CQ)My eyes flow and do not cease,
Without interruption,
50 Till the Lord from heaven
(CR)Looks down and sees.
51 My eyes bring suffering to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies (CS)without cause
Hunted me down like a bird.
53 They [y]silenced my life (CT)in the pit
And (CU)threw [z]stones at me.
54 (CV)The waters flowed over my head;
(CW)I said, “I am cut off!”
55 (CX)I called on Your name, O Lord,
From the lowest (CY)pit.
56 (CZ)You have heard my voice:
“Do not hide Your ear
From my sighing, from my cry for help.”
57 You (DA)drew near on the day I called on You,
And said, (DB)“Do not fear!”
58 O Lord, You have (DC)pleaded the case for my soul;
(DD)You have redeemed my life.
59 O Lord, You have seen [aa]how I am wronged;
(DE)Judge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
All their (DF)schemes against me.
61 You have heard their reproach, O Lord,
All their schemes against me,
62 The lips of my enemies
And their whispering against me all the day.
63 Look at their (DG)sitting down and their rising up;
I am their taunting song.
64 (DH)Repay them, O Lord,
According to the work of their hands.
65 Give them [ab]a veiled heart;
Your curse be upon them!
66 In Your anger,
Pursue and destroy them
(DI)From under the heavens of the (DJ)Lord.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:3 Strength
- Lamentations 2:6 Lit. booth
- Lamentations 2:7 delivered
- Lamentations 2:8 determined
- Lamentations 2:9 Gentiles
- Lamentations 2:9 Prophetic revelation
- Lamentations 2:10 A sign of mourning
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit. inward parts
- Lamentations 2:11 Lit. liver
- Lamentations 2:13 Or bear witness to
- Lamentations 2:15 Lit. pass by this way
- Lamentations 2:17 Strength
- Lamentations 2:18 Lit. the daughter of your eye
- Lamentations 2:20 Vg. a span long
- Lamentations 3:5 hardship or weariness
- Lamentations 3:10 Lit. secret places
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit. sons of
- Lamentations 3:13 Lit. kidneys
- Lamentations 3:16 Lit. bent me down in
- Lamentations 3:17 Lit. good
- Lamentations 3:19 bitterness
- Lamentations 3:20 Lit. bowed down
- Lamentations 3:33 Lit. from His heart
- Lamentations 3:39 Or murmur
- Lamentations 3:53 LXX put to death
- Lamentations 3:53 Lit. a stone on
- Lamentations 3:59 Lit. my wrong
- Lamentations 3:65 A Jewish tradition sorrow of
Lamentations 2-3
New International Version
Lamentations 2-3
New International Version
2 [a]How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
with the cloud of his anger[b]!(A)
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel
from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool(B)
in the day of his anger.(C)
2 Without pity(D) the Lord has swallowed(E) up
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
the strongholds(F) of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
down to the ground(G) in dishonor.
3 In fierce anger he has cut off
every horn[c][d](H) of Israel.
He has withdrawn his right hand(I)
at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything around it.(J)
4 Like an enemy he has strung his bow;(K)
his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
all who were pleasing to the eye;(L)
he has poured out his wrath(M) like fire(N)
on the tent(O) of Daughter Zion.
5 The Lord is like an enemy;(P)
he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and destroyed her strongholds.(Q)
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation(R)
for Daughter Judah.(S)
6 He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
he has destroyed(T) his place of meeting.(U)
The Lord has made Zion forget
her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;(V)
in his fierce anger he has spurned
both king and priest.(W)
7 The Lord has rejected his altar
and abandoned his sanctuary.(X)
He has given the walls of her palaces(Y)
into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed festival.(Z)
8 The Lord determined to tear down
the wall around Daughter Zion.(AA)
He stretched out a measuring line(AB)
and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts(AC) and walls lament;
together they wasted away.(AD)
9 Her gates(AE) have sunk into the ground;
their bars(AF) he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled(AG) among the nations,
the law(AH) is no more,
and her prophets(AI) no longer find
visions(AJ) from the Lord.
10 The elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence;(AK)
they have sprinkled dust(AL) on their heads(AM)
and put on sackcloth.(AN)
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.(AO)
11 My eyes fail from weeping,(AP)
I am in torment within(AQ);
my heart(AR) is poured out(AS) on the ground
because my people are destroyed,(AT)
because children and infants faint(AU)
in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”(AV)
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away(AW)
in their mothers’ arms.(AX)
13 What can I say for you?(AY)
With what can I compare you,
Daughter(AZ) Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
that I may comfort you,
Virgin Daughter Zion?(BA)
Your wound is as deep as the sea.(BB)
Who can heal you?
14 The visions of your prophets
were false(BC) and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
to ward off your captivity.(BD)
The prophecies they gave you
were false and misleading.(BE)
15 All who pass your way
clap their hands at you;(BF)
they scoff(BG) and shake their heads(BH)
at Daughter Jerusalem:(BI)
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,(BJ)
the joy of the whole earth?”(BK)
16 All your enemies open their mouths
wide against you;(BL)
they scoff and gnash their teeth(BM)
and say, “We have swallowed her up.(BN)
This is the day we have waited for;
we have lived to see it.”(BO)
17 The Lord has done what he planned;
he has fulfilled(BP) his word,
which he decreed long ago.(BQ)
He has overthrown you without pity,(BR)
he has let the enemy gloat over you,(BS)
he has exalted the horn[e] of your foes.(BT)
18 The hearts of the people
cry out to the Lord.(BU)
You walls of Daughter Zion,(BV)
let your tears(BW) flow like a river
day and night;(BX)
give yourself no relief,
your eyes no rest.(BY)
19 Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart(BZ) like water
in the presence of the Lord.(CA)
Lift up your hands(CB) to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint(CC) from hunger
at every street corner.
20 “Look, Lord, and consider:
Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,(CD)
the children they have cared for?(CE)
Should priest and prophet be killed(CF)
in the sanctuary of the Lord?(CG)
21 “Young and old lie together
in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
have fallen by the sword.(CH)
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
you have slaughtered them without pity.(CI)
22 “As you summon to a feast day,
so you summoned against me terrors(CJ) on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
no one escaped(CK) or survived;
those I cared for and reared(CL)
my enemy has destroyed.”
3 [f]I am the man who has seen affliction(CM)
by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.(CN)
2 He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness(CO) rather than light;
3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me(CP)
again and again, all day long.
4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old(CQ)
and has broken my bones.(CR)
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness(CS) and hardship.(CT)
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.(CU)
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;(CV)
he has weighed me down with chains.(CW)
8 Even when I call out or cry for help,(CX)
he shuts out my prayer.(CY)
9 He has barred(CZ) my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.(DA)
10 Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion(DB) in hiding,(DC)
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled(DD) me
and left me without help.
12 He drew his bow(DE)
and made me the target(DF) for his arrows.(DG)
13 He pierced(DH) my heart
with arrows from his quiver.(DI)
14 I became the laughingstock(DJ) of all my people;(DK)
they mock me in song(DL) all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs
and given me gall to drink.(DM)
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;(DN)
he has trampled me in the dust.(DO)
17 I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say, “My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”(DP)
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness(DQ) and the gall.(DR)
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast(DS) within me.(DT)
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love(DU) we are not consumed,(DV)
for his compassions never fail.(DW)
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.(DX)
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;(DY)
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;(DZ)
26 it is good to wait quietly(EA)
for the salvation of the Lord.(EB)
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,(EC)
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust(ED)—
there may yet be hope.(EE)
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,(EF)
and let him be filled with disgrace.(EG)
31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.(EH)
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.(EI)
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.(EJ)
34 To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,
35 to deny people their rights
before the Most High,(EK)
36 to deprive them of justice—
would not the Lord see such things?(EL)
37 Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?(EM)
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?(EN)
39 Why should the living complain
when punished for their sins?(EO)
40 Let us examine our ways and test them,(EP)
and let us return to the Lord.(EQ)
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven,(ER) and say:
42 “We have sinned and rebelled(ES)
and you have not forgiven.(ET)
43 “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued(EU) us;
you have slain without pity.(EV)
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud(EW)
so that no prayer(EX) can get through.(EY)
45 You have made us scum(EZ) and refuse
among the nations.
46 “All our enemies have opened their mouths
wide(FA) against us.(FB)
47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls,(FC)
ruin and destruction.(FD)”
48 Streams of tears(FE) flow from my eyes(FF)
because my people are destroyed.(FG)
49 My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,(FH)
50 until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.(FI)
51 What I see brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.
52 Those who were my enemies without cause
hunted me like a bird.(FJ)
53 They tried to end my life in a pit(FK)
and threw stones at me;
54 the waters closed over my head,(FL)
and I thought I was about to perish.(FM)
55 I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths(FN) of the pit.(FO)
56 You heard my plea:(FP) “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
57 You came near(FQ) when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”(FR)
58 You, Lord, took up my case;(FS)
you redeemed my life.(FT)
59 Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me.(FU)
Uphold my cause!(FV)
60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
all their plots against me.(FW)
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
- Lamentations 2:1 Or How the Lord in his anger / has treated Daughter Zion with contempt
- Lamentations 2:3 Or off / all the strength; or every king
- Lamentations 2:3 Horn here symbolizes strength.
- Lamentations 2:17 Horn here symbolizes strength.
- Lamentations 3:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem; the verses of each stanza begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the verses within each stanza begin with the same letter.
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.