LamentationsChapitre 2

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How the Lord in his anger has covered Daughter Zion with a cloud! He has hurled down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he did not remember his footstool on the day of his anger.

Without pity the Lord has swallowed up every dwelling of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of Daughter Judah and brought them to the ground; he has profaned the kingdom and its rulers.

In burning anger he has cut off every horn of Israel; he has withdrawn his right hand at the enemy's approach. He has blazed in Jacob like a flaming fire that devours everything around it.

He has bent his bow like an enemy, his right hand set like a foe, and he has slain all who were precious to the eye. On the tent of Daughter Zion he has poured out his fury like fire.

The Lord has become like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds, and multiplied mourning and lament for Daughter Judah.

He has broken down his shelter like a garden booth, laid his meeting place in ruins. The LORD has made Zion forget appointed feast and Sabbath; in his fierce indignation he has spurned both king and priest.

The Lord has rejected his altar, disowned his sanctuary; he has handed the walls of her palaces over to the enemy. They raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of a festival.

The LORD determined to destroy the wall of Daughter Zion. He stretched out the measuring line and did not withhold his hand from swallowing her up. He made rampart and wall lament; together they languish.

Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and shattered her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and her prophets no longer receive a vision from the LORD.

The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.

My eyes are worn out with weeping, my stomach churns; my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are shattered, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

They cry to their mothers, "Where are grain and wine?" as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives ebb away on their mothers' bosom.

What can I say for you? To what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem? What can I liken you to, that I might comfort you, Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as vast as the sea. Who can heal you?

Your prophets saw for you visions false and empty; they did not expose your guilt to restore your fortunes. The oracles they saw for you were false and misleading.

All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: "Is this the city they called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?"

All your enemies open their mouths against you; they hiss and grind their teeth and say, "We have swallowed her up! This is the day we longed for; we have lived to see it!"

The LORD has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago. He has torn down without pity; he has let the enemy gloat over you and exalted the horn of your foes.

Their hearts cry out to the Lord. Wall of Daughter Zion, let your tears run down like a torrent day and night; give yourself no rest, let your eyes have no relief.

Rise up, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner.

Look, LORD, and consider: whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their own offspring, the children they have cradled? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

Young and old lie on the ground in the streets; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword. You slew them on the day of your anger; you slaughtered them without pity.

As for a day of festival you summoned terrors against me on every side, and on the day of the LORD's anger no one escaped or survived. Those I cared for and reared my enemy has destroyed.

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Résumé2

Chapitre 2

Main Theme: Lamentations 2 portrays the destruction of Jerusalem as a result of the Lord's wrath against His own people.

Content: The chapter describes how God Himself has acted as an enemy toward Jerusalem and Judah—he has torn down walls, destroyed the temple, and rejected both king and priest. The people suffer under such extreme famine that mothers eat their own children, and the prophets have failed by proclaiming false messages instead of exposing sin. The poet urges personified Zion to cry out to the Lord and pour out tears day and night.

Key Words/Images:

The Lord as Enemy (vv. 4–5): God is described as one who has drawn His bow against His own people and destroyed them like an adversary.
False Prophets (v. 14): The prophets are criticized for seeing only emptiness and deception, failing to reveal the people's sin.
Zion's Tears (vv. 18–19): Jerusalem is personified and urged to weep without ceasing and pray to the Lord.
Total Destruction (vv. 21–22): Young and old lie dead in the streets, and no one escaped the day of the Lord's wrath.

Contexte historique

Lamentations 2 – Historical and Cultural Context

Places

The chapter focuses intensely on "Daughter Zion" (בַּת־צִיּוֹן) and Jerusalem as the holy place. Verse 1 mentions God’s "footstool" (הֲדֹם־רַגְלָיו), a term used in the Old Testament to refer to the temple and the ark of the covenant (1 Chron 28:2; Ps 99:5; 132:7). This underscores that the destruction struck at the very center of God’s presence on earth. Archaeological excavations in Jerusalem have uncovered a thick layer of ash from 586 BC, confirming the extensive fire inflicted by the Babylonians upon the city.

Events and Customs

Verse 6 describes the destruction of "his tent" (שֻׂכּוֹ) and "his appointed place" (מוֹעֲדוֹ), references to the temple and the fixed festivals. That God allows "feast and sabbath" to be forgotten in Zion represents a radical upheaval—the days that should have been filled with joy and worship are now gone. Verse 10 describes mourning rituals: The elders sit on the ground in silence, throw dust on their heads, and dress in sackcloth. These were standardized expressions of deep grief in the ancient Near East, well documented both in biblical and non-biblical texts.

Verse 20 mentions the horrifying reality that women ate their own children during the siege. This extreme famine situation is not merely poetic exaggeration but is confirmed by other biblical texts (Deut 28:53–57; 2 Kgs 6:28–29) and is documented in Assyrian and Babylonian accounts of prolonged sieges.

Key Terms

The Hebrew word קֶרֶן (qeren, "horn") in verses 3 and 17 is an important symbol of power. When God "cuts off every horn in Israel" (v. 3) and "lifts up the enemy’s horn" (v. 17), it describes a total transfer of power. Horns symbolized strength and dignity throughout the ancient Near East, often depicted on royal reliefs. The expression שָׁוְא וְתָפֵל ("vanity and deceit") in verse 14 describes the message of the false prophets. תָפֵל literally means "untempered mortar"—an image of something that looks solid on the outside but lacks substance (cf. Ezek 13:10–15).

Personnages2

Judah1 Jacob1

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Mots-clés10

The Lord's wrath — God's strong displeasure and anger toward the people of Israel because of their sins and disobedience.
Jerusalem — The capital city of ancient Israel, a central place for worship and cultural identity for the Israelites.
Temple — The holy place where the Israelites worshipped God, which was destroyed during the fall of Jerusalem.
Enemies — The nations and peoples who attacked and conquered Jerusalem, often used as instruments of God's judgment.
Lamentation — A poetic genre characterized by grief and mourning over loss, suffering, and destruction.
Prophet — A person chosen by God to deliver his message and warnings to the people.
Judgment — The consequences of the sins and disobedience of the people of Israel, including the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
Sin — Transgression against God's laws and commands, which leads to his wrath and judgment.
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