Lamentations 2

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Lamentations 2:1-22 (KJV)

 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! 

Storm clouds sent by God covered the land of God's people because of His anger concerning their constant disobedience.  God did not remember that they were His resting place on the day of His wrath.

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.

God's wrath upon His people did not consider who they were while he was destroying the well-built city of Jerusalem.  God caused the land of Judah to be of no worth during the day of His wrath.

 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. 

God took the power and the influence of Israel: He allowed the enemy to fight His people under fire that was burning and the fire burned the city and those cities that were close to Jerusalem.

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. 

God shot down the leaders and the followers of His people; His anger was flowing like fire.

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. 

God destroyed Israel like an enemy will destroy what he hates.  The palaces were destroyed, the gates were destroyed and God cause the people to wail over what He did to what they took for granted by sin.

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. 

God violently destroyed His place of worship, as if a farmer was taking goods from his garden: He destroyed the gathering places, and he showed his anger against the king and the priest who were leaders of the people.

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. 

When there was a solemn feast the people were loud, so it was when the enemy destroyed the place set aside for worship by God's people. God gave the enemy charge over His own people to destroy the city.

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. 

God on purpose destroyed Jerusalem and did not change His mind.  The secured places all fell down.

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.  

There was no law to protect them; her leaders did not hear God's voice to guide and give instructions.

God caused the gates to be buried in the ground that was in Jerusalem: the king and princes are now in the hand of the enemy. 

 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. 

The leaders who were once in charge now hang their heads in disbelief and they are very very sad.  The people who followed those ungodly leaders also hung their heads to the ground.

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. 

The eyes of the writer are filled with tears because of the anguish of the people of God who are being destroyed; the children and babies are fainting in the streets.

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. 

The children and the babies cry and ask their mothers where is the food and wine?  The babies were so weak they were like soldiers who had been wounded and they fainted in the arms of their mothers.

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? 

What can I use to compare your behavior to My people?  Your sins are so great as many as the water that is found in the sea. You have sinned and sinned and even more sin.

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. 

The leaders you listened to have caused you to be removed from the land you were given by telling you words that had no value or worth.  They did not tell you what you needed to know to turn you from your continuous sins, they selected what they wanted you to hear which was not wise and now you live in bondage.

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? 

The people look at you with disgust, while passing you by,  saying, is these the same people God brought from Egypt who was known as the joy of the world?

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].

Your enemies boast saying that finally got the people no one else could capture.  They say this while being hateful.

 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. 

God allowed this to happen.  Everything He said He would do against you He did because you refused to obey His Word.  God has not felt sorry for what He allowed the enemy to do to you because of your constant sins.

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. 

You cried to the walls and ask the walls to speak to Me with tears night and day.  You told the walls not to slack speaking up for you and cause God to pay attention to your pain.

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. 

Now you think about the young children. You asked the walls of Jerusalem who are buried to try to get My attention, said the Lord.  You bring the matter of the children up because you want salvation for yourselves.

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? 

Look, Lord, do the women have to eat the children they gave birth to because of hunger?  Do the leaders have to die in Your House?

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. 

Young and old alike are dead in the street.  The young men who fought in the war are being killed: Lord you ordained this to happen to us because of our sins:  You kill and You do not feel sorry that we are dying.

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.

You have called us together like you did when You called us to worship You.  Instead, we are gathered together because of the wrath of your judgement.  Your anger did not allow any of us to escape and none of us remained in the promised land.  We are the people You raised from the cradle and the enemy has taken many of our lives.