Lamentations 2:4

He bent his bow to prepare to shoot us, his people, as though we were his enemies. He prepared to kill the people whom we love the most [MET], members of our own families. He is extremely angry [MTY] with us people of Jerusalem; his anger is like [SIM] a fire.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

3Because he was extremely angry, he has caused Israel to not be powerful [MET] any more. He has refused to assist us when our enemies attacked us. He has destroyed Israel like [SIM] a raging fire destroys everything.

5Yahweh has become like an enemy to us Israelis; he has destroyed our palaces and caused our fortresses to become ruins. He has gotten rid of many people in Jerusalem, and caused us to mourn and weep for those who were killed.

Read all of Lamentations 2

Cross References

Leviticus 26:17I will reject/abandon you [IDM], with the result that you will be defeated by your enemies. Then those who hate you will rule you, and you will be so terrified that you will run away even when no one is pursuing you.

1 Samuel 28:16Samuel said, “Yahweh has abandoned you and has become your enemy. So why do you ask me what you should do? [RHQ]

2 Chronicles 34:25I will do that because they have rejected me, and they burn incense to honor other gods. They have caused me to become very angry because of all the idols that they have made (OR, because of all the wicked things that they have done), and my anger is like a fire that will not be extinguished.

Job 16:12Previously, I was living peacefully, but he crushed me; it is as though he grabbed my neck and smashed me to pieces. It is as though [MET] he set me up like a target;

Psalms 7:13You are preparing your weapons that kill those whom they strike; the arrows that you will shoot have flaming tips.

Isaiah 51:17You people of [APO] Jerusalem, wake up [DOU]! You have experienced Yahweh severely punishing [MTY] you. Yahweh has caused you to suffer much, all that he wanted you to suffer, like [MET] someone who causes another person to suffer by forcing him to drink every drop of [MTY] a cupful of bitter liquid.

Matthew Henry on Lamentations 2:2-10

Cause, Extent, and Greatness of Zion's Calamities. ( b. c. 588.) 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! 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. 3 He… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Lamentations 2:4