Lamentations 2

Lamentations consists of five poems, of which chapter 2 is the second. Whereas Lamentations 1 portrays the sorrow of a desolate Jerusalem, chapter 2 emphasizes that the calamity came from the wrath of the LORD. Like chapter 1, it is recognized as an acrostic poem in which each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Structure

• Verses 1–9 In His anger the Lord throws down the strongholds, palaces, sanctuary, and altar of Zion and Judah. The solemn feasts and sabbaths are forgotten, the king and princes are among the Gentiles, and the prophets find no vision.
• Verses 10–12 The elders cast dust upon their heads and sit upon the ground. The speaker weeps as he sees children swooning in the streets.
• Verses 13–17 The speaker addresses Zion. Her breach is great like the sea, and there are no words to comfort her. The false prophets did not expose her iniquity, and passersby and enemies mock her. All of this is the LORD's fulfillment of the word He commanded in the days of old.
• Verses 18–19 Zion is urged to weep day and night and to lift up her hands and cry out to the Lord.
• Verses 20–22 Zion prays, "Behold, O LORD, and consider," and lays before Him the horrors of slaughter in the sanctuary and of famine.

Key Verses

• Lamentations 2:14 "They have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity" — assigns part of the responsibility for the calamity to the false prophets.
• Lamentations 2:17 "He hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old" — interprets the destruction as the fulfillment of the covenant warnings.
• Lamentations 2:19 "Pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord" — urges a direct appeal to God even in the midst of despair.

People and Places

• Zion and Jerusalem: In this chapter they are personified as a woman, as in "virgin daughter of Zion" and "daughter of Jerusalem."
• Jacob, Israel, and Judah: Used not of individuals but as names for the people as a whole.
• Prophets and priests: Mentioned as those slain in the sanctuary.

Points for Reflection

• The text does not name its author. The attribution to Jeremiah is a tradition handed down through sources such as the preface in the Septuagint. Scholars also hold other views.
• The bold description of God as having become "as an enemy" is read as holding together both the justice of the judgment and an honest lament over suffering.
• The horrors described in verse 20 are commonly interpreted as the fulfillment of the covenant curses in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.
• Some interpreters connect the phrase "wag their head" in verse 15 with those who passed by the cross (Matthew 27:39).
• The chapter is also read alongside the account of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41–44).