Lamentations 2
(1) God Became Like Israel’s Enemy
The Commander has enshrouded Jerusalem’s daughter in so much anger! He hurled Israel’s beauty from the heights of the heavens all the way down to earth—and now He’s forgetting His footrest in His anger. The Commander devoured Jacob’s meadows without sparing. He tore down the fortress of Judah’s daughter in His fury, pummeling it to the ground and desecrating the empire and its rulers. Enraged, He chopped off all of Israel’s prominence. He pulled His hand away from the enemy and repositioned it in Jacob to burn like a raging fire consuming everything in its path. He pulled back His bow like an enemy, positioned Himself like an opponent, and destroyed all of its beauty. He poured out His fiery anger in the home of Jerusalem’s daughter. The Commander has become like an enemy, swallowing up Israel along with all of its palaces. He destroyed its fortresses and increased the mourning and lamenting in Judah’s daughter. He misused His tabernacle like an ordinary pavilion, ruining the place He formerly used for meetings. The Existing One has caused the holiday feast and Sabbath to be forgotten in Jerusalem, rejecting its king and its priests in His anger. The Commander has rejected His altar and detested his temple. He handed over the walls surrounding her fortress. There’s a ruckus in the Existing One’s house as if it were a holiday feast. The Existing One decided to destroy the wall surrounding Jerusalem’s daughter. He drew up His plans for destruction, and didn’t hold back, making the city walls cry and droop in unison. Her gates have sunken into the ground, as God broke their bars. Her former king and her leaders now live in other countries. The law that God gave to Israel has disappeared, and her prophets don’t receive any more visions from the Existing One. The elders from Jerusalem’s daughter now sit on the ground in silence, wearing burlap clothes and scooping dirt onto their own heads. The young, innocent ladies of Jerusalem have all lowered their heads to the ground.
(11) Who Can Fix Israel?
My eyes are spent because of all my tears, my stomach is in turmoil, and my guts are spilled out on the ground because of how shattered my people’s daughter has become. Children and toddlers lie passed out in the streets, asking their moms, “Where’s our food and juice?” Then they faint in the streets like as if they were mortally wounded, and their souls spill out on their mothers’ chests.
How should I scold you? What should I compare you to, oh daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken you to as I feel sorry for you, oh young daughter of Jerusalem? Because your destruction is as vast as the sea. Who can heal you? Your prophets have seen visions for you that are worthless and bland. They haven’t exposed your perversity which could have restored you from your captivity. Instead, they only saw enticing visions for you that were empty distractions.
(15) Israel’s Enemies Make Fun of Her
Everyone who passes by mockingly claps their hands as they look at you. They shake their heads and tisk-tisk at Jerusalem’s daughter, saying,
“Isn’t this the city that they said was perfect, beautiful, and a joy to the entire earth?”
When your enemies see you, their jaws drop, and they snarl through their teeth, saying,
“We’ve suffocated her! This must be the time we’ve been waiting for—it’s finally here!”
The Existing One has accomplished His plan and followed through on what He said He’d do a long time ago. He ruthlessly tore down everything and gave your enemy a reason to celebrate as He built up their strength. Your enemies cried out to the Commander,
“Oh, wall that surrounds Jerusalem’s daughter: let your tears run down like a river all day and all night. Don’t even bother taking a rest or giving your eyes a break. Just cry out loud all through the night, starting with the first nightshift. Let your heart spill out like water in front of the Commander. Lift your hands up to Him on behalf of your children’s lives since hunger cripples them on the corner of every street.”
(20) Israel Begs God to Stop the Suffering
Look at us, Existing One! Look at who you’re doing this to! Should women be eating their own children? Their own kids who they raised so lovingly? Should priests and prophets be getting killed in the Commander’s temple? The young and old both lie on the ground in the streets. My men and women both have fallen to the sword. You killed them during your time of anger, and slaughtered them without sparing. You announced terrors on my every side as if you were announcing holiday feasts—and there weren’t any survivors who escaped the Existing One’s fury. My children who I gave birth to and raised have been annihilated by my enemy.