Lamentations 2:5

Yahweh 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.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

4He 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.

6He has caused his temple to be smashed as easily as [SIM] if it was a shelter in a garden. He has caused us, his people, to forget all our sacred festivals and Sabbath days. He has caused our kings and priests to be rejected because he was extremely angry with them.

Read all of Lamentations 2

Cross References

2 Kings 25:9He commanded his soldiers to burn down the temple of Yahweh, the king’s palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. So they burned down all the important buildings in the city.

Job 19:11He attacks me because he is extremely angry with me [MET], and he considers that I am his enemy.

Isaiah 29:2But I will cause you to experience a great disaster, and when that happens, people will weep and lament very much. Your city will become like [MET] an altar to me where people are burned as sacrifices.

Jeremiah 9:17This is also what the Commander of the armies of angels says: “Think about what is happening, then summon those women who mourn when someone has died.

Jeremiah 30:14All your allies [MET] have deserted you and they do not want to help you any more. It is true that I have punished you severely, like your enemies would wound you, because you have committed many sins and you are very guilty.

Lamentations 2:2Yahweh destroyed the homes of the people of [PRS] Judah; he did not act mercifully. Because he was very angry, he broke down the fortresses of Judah. He has caused our kingdom and our rulers to become disgraced, and he has gotten rid of them.

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 2:5