Lamentations 2--The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity

Lamentations 2
English Standard Version

The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity
2 How the Lord in his anger
    has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud!
He has cast down from heaven to earth
    the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered his footstool
    in the day of his anger.

2 The Lord has swallowed up without mercy
    all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath he has broken down
    the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought down to the ground in dishonor
    the kingdom and its rulers.

3 He has cut down in fierce anger
    all the might of Israel;
he has withdrawn from them his right hand
    in the face of the enemy;
he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
    consuming all around.

4 He has bent his bow like an enemy,
    with his right hand set like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes;
    in the tent of the daughter of Zion,
he has poured out his fury like fire.

5 The Lord has become like an enemy;
    he has swallowed up Israel;
he has swallowed up all its palaces;
    he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
    mourning and lamentation.

6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
    laid in ruins his meeting place;
the LORD has made Zion forget
    festival and Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

7 The LORD has scorned his altar,
    disowned his sanctuary;
he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
    the walls of her palaces;
they raised a clamor in the house of the LORD
    as on the day of festival.

8 The LORD determined to lay in ruins
    the wall of the daughter of Zion;
he stretched out the measuring line;
    he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
he caused rampart and wall to lament;
    they languished together.

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

10 The elders of the daughter of 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.

11 My eyes are spent with weeping;
    my stomach churns;
my bile is poured out to the ground
    because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because infants and babies faint
    in the streets of the city.

12 They cry to their mothers,
    “Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like a wounded man
    in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
    on their mothers' bosom.

13 What can I say for you, to what compare you,
    O daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
    O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is vast as the sea;
    who can heal you?

14 Your prophets have seen for you
    false and deceptive visions;
they have not exposed your iniquity
    to restore your fortunes,
but have seen for you oracles
    that are false and misleading.

15 All who pass along the way
    clap their hands at you;
they hiss and wag their heads
    at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
    the perfection of beauty,
    the joy of all the earth?”

16 All your enemies
    rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
    they cry: “We have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
    now we have it; we see it!”

17 The LORD has done what he purposed;
    he has carried out his word,
which he commanded long ago;
    he has thrown down without pity;
he has made the enemy rejoice over you
    and exalted the might of your foes.

18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
    O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let tears stream down like a torrent
    day and night!
Give yourself no rest,
    your eyes no respite!

19 “Arise, cry out in the night,
    at the beginning of the night watches!
Pour out your heart like water
    before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him
    for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger
    at the head of every street.”

20 Look, O LORD, and see!
    With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
    the children of their tender care?
Should priest and prophet be killed
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 In the dust of the streets
    lie the young and the old;
my young women and my young men
    have fallen by the sword;
you have killed them in the day of your anger,
    slaughtering without pity.

22 You summoned as if to a festival day
    my terrors on every side,
and on the day of the anger of the LORD
    no one escaped or survived;
those whom I held and raised
    my enemy destroyed.

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Being "under a cloud" used to be a symbol of God's love and care for His people as they wandered through the wilderness, but now Jeremiah uses it as an expression of being under the LORD's judgment.  These are storm clouds that Jeremiah is thinking of and the people have no shelter or refuge from this storm.  All the strongholds and places they would go to for refuge and defense are destroyed.

Everything that they thought gave them might and strength and security has been taken away from them.  No longer is He protecting and defending them.  Instead, He is making war against them.  The beautiful places have been destroyed and the people no longer remember to festivals or Sabbaths.  All the days run together for them, and they don't feel like celebrating or worshiping the LORD.  Neither priest nor king was spared from the LORD's judgment.

​The walls, gates and defenses are all broken.  The kings and princes have been taken away into exile and the strong men of the army have been killed or captured.  If only the people did not listen to their false prophets who gave them false hope.  These false prophets told them they did not need to repent from sin, that God would continue to love them for who they were in their sin, and that He would continue to bless them as He always had.  The Holy Spirit through Jeremiah seems to lay the blame squarely at the feet of these false prophets for leading this rebellion that has ended in the destruction of the Temple, the City and the People.

The LORD has done what He purposed and give the victory to their enemies--a nation He has chosen to be His agents to accomplish His purposes when His people would not.  Though they were wicked and ignorant of His plan, they were still useful in accomplishing His purposes.  This is seen throughout Scripture that the LORD can use nations even if they seem hostile towards Him and His people to accomplish His perfect plans.

The situation is so desperate that women are eating their children to stay alive (just like the LORD said would happen).  Jeremiah cries out for mercy, but his cries fall on deaf ears, for this is exactly what the LORD promised would happen to them if they broke His covenant and became like the nations around them.  They wanted to be just like the other nations, so now they will be judged like all the other nations.  So many had fallen dead that the streets are littered with bodies that no one is able to bury.  The LORD did not destroy everyone, but He had gone farther than Jeremiah is comfortable with, and I think that's the point.  He finally has the attention of His people.  Those who remain are ready to listen and repent so that this will never happen again.