Lamentations 2
Tap any word to open its Greek or Hebrew word and Strong’s lexicon entry right here, and any name to open its Bible Dictionary entry. Read this chapter with JFB commentary · Search the Bible
The Law
History
Poetry & Wisdom
The Prophets
The Gospels & Acts
The Letters
Prophecy
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” — John 5:39
1How 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!
CHAPTER (ELEGY) 2
La 2:1-22.
Aleph.
1. How--The title of the collection repeated here, and in La 4:1.
covered ... with a cloud--that is, with the darkness of ignominy.
cast down from heaven unto ... earth--(Mt 11:23); dashed down from the highest prosperity to the lowest misery.
beauty of Israel--the beautiful temple (Psa 29:2; 74:7; 96:9, Margin; Is 60:7; 64:11).
his footstool--the ark (compare 1Ch 28:2, with Psa 99:5; 132:7). They once had gloried more in the ark than in the God whose symbol it was; they now feel it was but His "footstool," yet that it had been a great glory to them that God deigned to use it as such.
Beth.
Hath the Lord covered; rather, doth … cover. The daughter of Zion; i.e. Jerusalem. Cast down from heaven. Here and in Mat_11:28 we have a parallel to Isa_14:12, where the King of Babylon is compared to a bright star. "Cast down" whither? Into the "pit" or dungeon of Hades (Isa_14:15). The beauty of Israel; i.e. Jerusalem, exactly as Babylon is called "the proud beauty [or, 'ornament'] of Chaldea" (Isa_13:19). His footstool; i.e. the ark (Psa_132:7), or perhaps the temple as containing the ark (1Ch_28:2; Psa_99:5).
2The 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.
2. polluted--by delivering it into the hands of the profane foe. Compare Psa 89:39, "profaned ... crown."
Gimel.
Habitations; rather, pastures; The word properly means the settlements of shepherds in green, grassy spots, but here designates the country parts in general, distinguished from the "strongholds" of Judah. Hath polluted. So Psa_89:39, "Thou hast profaned [same word as here] his crown [by casting it] to the ground." The wearer of a crown was regarded in the East as nearer to divinity than ordinary mortals; in some countries, indeed, e.g. in Egypt, almost as an incarnation of the deity. To discrown him was to "pollute" or "profane" him.
3He 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.
3. horn--worn in the East as an ornament on the forehead, and an emblem of power and majesty (1Sa 2:10; Psa 132:17; see on Jr 48:25).
drawn back ... fight hand--(Psa 74:11). God has withdrawn the help which He before gave them. Not as Henderson, "He has turned back his (Israel's) right hand" (Psa 89:43).
Daleth.
All the horn; rather, every horn; i.e. all the means of defence, especially the fortresses. He hath drawn back his right hand; i.e. he hath withdrawn his assistance in war. He burned against; rather, he burned up.
4He 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.
4. (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.
The beginning of the verse seems slightly out of order. And slew all that were pleasant, etc. The correct rendering is, And slew all that was pleasant to the eye: in the tent of the daughter of Zion he poured out his fury like fire. The Authorized Version (following the Targum) seems to have thought that the youth of the population alone was intended. But, though Ewald also adopts this view, it seems to limit unduly the meaning of the poet. By "tent" we should probably understand "dwelling," as Jer_4:5, and often; Isa_16:5, "the tent of David;" Psa_78:67, "the tent of Joseph."
5The 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.
5. an enemy--(Jr 30:14).
mourning and lamentation--There is a play of similar sounds in the original, "sorrow and sadness," to heighten the effect (Job 30:3, Hebrew; Eze 35:3, Margin).
Vau.
Was as an enemy: he hath swallowed, etc. The threefold division of the verse is, unfortunately, concealed in the Authorized Version, owing to the arbitrary stopping. The grouping suggested by the Massoretic text is—
"The Lord is become an enemy, he hath swallowed up Israel;
He hath swallowed up all her palaces, he hath destroyed all his strongholds;
And hath increased in the daughter of Judah moaning and bemoaning."
The change of gender in the second line is easily explicable. In the first case the poet is thinking of the city; in the second, of the people of Israel. The rendering "moaning and bemoaning" is designed to reproduce, to some extent, the Hebrew phrase, in which two words, derived from the same root, and almost exactly the same, are placed side by side, to give a more intense expression to the idea.
6And 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.
6. tabernacle--rather, "He hath violently taken away His hedge (the hedge of the place sacred to Him, Psa 80:12; 89:40; Is 5:5), as that of a garden" [Maurer]. Calvin supports English Version, "His tabernacle (that is, temple) as (one would take away the temporary cottage or booth) of a garden." Is 1:8 accords with this (Job 27:18).
places of ... assembly--the temple and synagogues (Psa 74:7, 8).
solemn feasts--(La 1:4).
Zain.
Violently taken away; rather, violently treated; i.e. broken up. His tabarnacle; rather, his booth. "Tent" and "dwelling" are interchangeable expressions (see Lam_2:4); and in the Psalms "booth" is used as a special poetic synonym for tent when God's earthly dwelling place, the sanctuary of the temple, is spoken of (so Psa_27:5; Psa_31:20; Psa_76:2). The Authorized Version, indeed, presumes an allusion to the proper meaning of the Hebrew word, as if the poet compared the sanctuary of Jehovah to a pleasure booth in a garden. It is, however, more natural to continue, as a garden, the sense of which will be clear from Psa_80:12, Psa_80:13. The Septuagint has, instead, "as a vine"—a reading which differs from the Massoretic by having one letter more (kaggefen instead of kaggan). This ancient reading is adopted by Ewald, and harmonizes well with Isa_5:1, etc.; Jer_2:21 (comp. Psa_80:8); but the received text gives a very good sense. "Garden" in the Bible means, of course, a plantation of trees rather than a flower garden. His places of the assembly; rather, his place of meeting (with God). The word occurs in the same sense in Psa_74:3. It is the temple which is meant, and the term is borrowed from the famous phrase, ōhel mō‛ēdh (Exo_27:21; comp. Exo_25:22).
7The 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.
7. they ... made a noise in ... house of ... Lord, as in ... feast--The foe's shout of triumph in the captured temple bore a resemblance (but oh, how sad a contrast as to the occasion of it!) to the joyous thanksgivings we used to offer in the same place at our "solemn feasts" (compare La 2:22).
Cheth.
Her palaces; i.e. those of the daughter of Zion, especially "high buildings'' (this is the true meaning of 'armōn) of the temple. They have made a noise, etc. Comp. Psa_74:3, "Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy place of meeting." The passages are parallel, though, whether the calamities referred to are the same in both, cannot a priori be determined. The shouts of triumph of the foe are likened to the festal shouts of the temple worshippers (comp. Isa_30:29; Amo_5:24).
8The 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.
8. stretched ... a line--The Easterns used a measuring-line not merely in building, but in destroying edifices (2Ki 21:13; Is 34:11); implying here the unsparing rigidness with which He would exact punishment.
Teth.
He hath stretched out a line. It is the "line of desolation" mentioned in Isaiah (Isa_34:11; comp. Amo_7:7; 2Ki_21:13). Such is the unsparing rigour of Jehovah's judgments.
9Her 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.
9. Her gates cannot oppose the entrance of the foe into the city, for they are sunk under a mass of rubbish and earth.
broken ... bars--(Jr 51:30).
her king ... among ... Gentiles--(De 28:36).
law ... no more--(2Ch 15:3). The civil and religious laws were one under the theocracy. "All the legal ordinances (prophetical as well as priestly) of the theocracy, are no more" (Psa 74:9; Eze 7:26).
Jod.
Are sunk into the ground; i.e. are broken down and buried in the dust. The Law is no more. The observance of the Law being rendered impossible by the destruction of the temple. Comp. this and the next clause with Eze_7:26.
10The 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.
10. (Job 2:12, 13). The "elders," by their example, would draw the others to violent grief.
the virgins--who usually are so anxious to set off their personal appearances to advantage.
Caph.
They have cast up dust, etc. A sign of mourning (Jos_7:6; 2Sa_13:19; Job_2:12).
11Mine 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.
11. liver is poured, &c.--that is, as the liver was thought to be the seat of the passions, "all my feelings are poured out and prostrated for," &c. The "liver," is here put for the bile ("gall," Job 16:13; "bowels," Psa 22:14) in a bladder on the surface of the liver, copiously discharged when the passions are agitated.
swoon--through faintness from the effects of hunger.
Lamed.
My bowels are troubled (see on Lam_1:20). My liver is poured upon the earth. A violent emotion being supposed to occasion a copious discharge of bile. The daughter of my people. A poetic expression for Zion or Judah.
12They 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.
12. as the wounded--famine being as deadly as the sword (Jr 52:6).
soul ... poured ... into ... mothers bosom--Instinctively turning to their mother's bosom, but finding no milk there, they breathe out their life as it were "into her bosom."
Mem.
Corn. Either in the sense of parched corn (comp. Le 23:14; 1Sa_17:17; Pro_27:22) or a poetic expression for "bread" (comp. Exo_16:4; Psa_105:40)
13What 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?
13. What thing shall I take to witness--What can I bring forward as a witness, or instance, to prove that others have sustained as grievous ills as thou? I cannot console thee as mourners are often consoled by showing that thy lot is only what others, too, suffer. The "sea" affords the only suitable emblem of thy woes, by its boundless extent and depth (La 1:12; Da 9:12).
Nun.
What thing shall I take to witness for thee? rather, What shall I testify unto thee? The nature, of the testifying may be gathered from the following words. It would be a comfort to Zion to know that her misfortune was not unparalleled: solamen miseris socios habuisse malorum. The expression is odd, however, and, comparing Isa_40:18, A. Krochmal has suggested, What shall I compare? The correction is easy. Equal; i.e. compare (comp. Isa_46:5)
14Thy 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.
14. Thy prophets--not God's (Jr 23:26).
vain ... for thee--to gratify thy appetite, not for truth, but for false things.
not discovered thine iniquity--in opposition to God's command to the true prophets (Is 58:1). Literally, "They have not taken off (the veil) which was on thine iniquity, so as to set it before thee."
burdens--Their prophecies were soothing and flattering; but the result of them was heavy calamities to the people, worse than even what the prophecies of Jeremiah, which they in derision called "burdens," threatened. Hence he terms their pretended prophecies "false burdens," which proved to the Jews "causes of their banishment" [Calvin].
Samech.
Thy prophets. Jeremiah constantly inveighs against the fallacious, immoral preaching of the great mass of his prophetic contemporaries (comp. Jer_6:13, Jer_6:14; Jer_14:13-15; Jer_23:14-40). Have seen vain and foolish things; i.e. have announced "visions" (prophecies) of an unreal and irrational tenor. Comp. Jer_23:13, where the same word here paraphrased as "irrational" (literally, insipid) occurs. Discovered; i.e. disclosed. To turn away thy captivity. The Captivity, then, might have been "turned away," if the other prophets had, like Jeremiah, disclosed the true spiritual state of the people, and moved them to repentance. False burdens. Suggestive references to these false prophecies occur in Jer_14:13, Jer_14:14; Jer_23:31, Jer_23:32 (see the Exposition on these passages). Causes of banishment. So Jeremiah, "They prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land."
15All 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?
15. clap ... hands--in derision (Job 27:23; 34:37).
wag ... head--(2Ki 19:21; Psa 44:14).
perfection of beauty ... joy of ... earth--(Psa 48:2; 50:2). The Jews' enemies quote their very words in scorn.
Pe.
Clap … hiss … wag their heads. Gestures of malicious joy (Job_27:23) or contempt (Jer_19:8; Psa_22:7). The perfection of beauty; literally, the perfect in beauty. The same phrase is used in Ezekiel (Eze_27:3; Eze_28:12) of Tyre, and a similar one in Psa_1:2 of Zion.
Lam_2:16, Lam_2:17
On the transposition of the initial letters in these verses, see Introduction.
16All 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.
16-17. For the transposition of Hebrew letters (Pe and Ain, La 2:16, 17) in the order of verses, see Introduction.
opened ... mouth--as ravening, roaring wild beasts (Job 16:9, 10; Psa 22:13). Herein Jerusalem was a type of Messiah.
gnash ... teeth--in vindictive malice.
we have seen it--(Psa 35:21).
Ain.
Have opened their mouth against thee. As against the innocent sufferer of Psa_22:1-31. (Psa_22:13). Gnash the teeth. In token of rage, as Psa_35:16; Psa_37:12. We have seen it (comp. Psa_35:21).
17The 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.
His word that he had commanded, etc. "Commanded," i.e. given in charge to. Comp. Zec_1:6, My words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets." Zechariah continues, in language which illustrates the foregoing words of this verse, "Did they not take hold of [overtake] your fathers;" where the persons spoken of as "your fathers" are the same as those who are represented by the speaker of the elegy. "In the days of old;" alluding, perhaps, to such passages as Deu_28:52, etc. The horn of thine adversaries. "Horn" has a twofold meaning—"strength" or "defence" (comp. Deu_28:3), and "honour" or "dignity". The figure is too natural to need explanation.
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 rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.
18. wall--(La 2:8). Personified. "Their heart," that is, the Jews'; while their heart is lifted up to the Lord in prayer, their speech is addressed to the "wall" (the part being put for the whole city).
let tears, &c.--(Jr 14:17). The wall is called on to weep for its own ruin and that of the city. Compare the similar personification (La 1:4).
apple--the pupil of the eye (Psa 17:8).
Koph.
Their heart cried unto the Lord, etc. "Their heart" can only mean "the heart of the people of Jerusalem." For the expression, comp. Psa_84:2, "My heart and my flesh cry aloud to the living God." To avoid the rather startling prosopopoeia in the next clause, Thenius supposes a corruption in the group of letters rendered "wall," and attaches the corrected word to the first clause, rendering thus: "Their heart crieth unto the Lord in vain; O daughter of Zion, let tears run down," etc. Another resource, which also involves an emendation, is that of Ewald, "Cry with all thy heart, O wall of the daughter of Zion." O wall, etc. The prosepopoeia is surprising, but is only a degree more striking than that of Psa_84:8 and Lam_1:4. In Isa_14:31 we find an equally strong one, "Howl, O gate." Most probably, however, there is something wrong in the text; the following verses seem to refer to the daughter of Zion. Bickell reads thus: "Cry aloud unto the Lord, O virgin daughter of Zion." Like a river; rather, like a torrent. Give thyself no rest. The word rendered "rest" means properly the stiffness produced by cold.
19Arise, 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.
19. cry ... in ... night--(Psa 119:147).
beginning of ... watches--that is, the first of the three equal divisions (four hours each) into which the ancient Jews divided the night; namely, from sunset to ten o'clock. The second was called "the middle watch" (Jud 7:19), from ten till two o'clock. The third, "the morning watch," from two to sunrise (Ex 14:24; 1Sa 11:11). Afterwards, under the Romans, they had four watches (Mt 14:25; Lu 12:38).
for ... thy ... children--that God, if He will not spare thee, may at least preserve "thy young children."
top of ... street--(Is 51:20; Na 3:10).
Resh.
In the beginning of the watches. This would seem to be most naturally explained as referring to the first watch of the night. When most are wrapped in their first and sweetest sleep, the daughter of Zion is to "arise and cry." Others explain, "at the beginning of each of the night watches;" i.e. all the night through. Previously to the Roman times, the Jews had divided the night into three watches (comp. Jdg_3:19). Pour out thine heart like water; i.e. give free course to thy complaint, shedding tears meanwhile. The expression is parallel partly to phrases like "I am poured out like water" (Psa_22:14), partly to "Pour out your heart before him" (Psa_62:8). In the top of every street; rather, at every street corner (and so Lam_4:1).
20Behold, 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?
20. 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.
To whom thou hast done this; viz. to Israel, the chosen people. And children; rather, (even) children. The children are the "fruit" referred to. Comp. the warnings in Le 26:26; Deu_28:56; and especially Jer_19:9; also the historical incident in 2Ki_6:28, 2Ki_6:29. Of a span long; rather, borne in the hands. The word is derived from the verb renders to swaddle'' in 2Ki_6:22 (see note).
21The 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.
21. (2Ch 36:17).
Tau.
22Thou 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.
22. Thou hast called as in ... solemn day ... terrors--Thou hast summoned my enemies against me from all quarters, just as multitudes used to be convened to Jerusalem, on the solemn feast days. The objects, for which the enemies and the festal multitude respectively met, formed a sad contrast. Compare La 1:15: "called an assembly against me."
Thou hast called as in a solemn day. The passage is illustrated by Lam_1:15, according to which the instruments of Jehovah's vengeance are "summoned" by him to a festival when starting for the holy war. My terrors round about. Almost identical with one of the characteristic phrases of Jeremiah's prophecies, "fear [or rather, 'terror'] on every side" (see on Jer_6:25). Have swaddled; rather, have borne upon the hands.
BIBLE