Lamentations 2
2
Chapter 2
God punishes Jerusalem because he is angry
1The Lord God has become very angry.
He has caused a dark cloud to cover Zion's people.
Jerusalem was the most beautiful city in Israel.
But now, from heaven,
God has caused it to fall to the ground.
He has become so angry,
he has not kept his own home safe.
2The Lord God has destroyed all the homes of Jacob's descendants. #2:2 Jacob was the ancestor of all the Israelites.
He would not forgive them.
Because of his anger,
he has destroyed all Judah's strong towns.
He has knocked them all down to become heaps of stones.
The kingdom and its rulers are now ashamed.
3Because of God's great anger,
he has completely destroyed Israel's army.
When Israel's enemies attacked them,
God refused to help them with his power.
He destroyed Jacob's descendants,
like a fire that burns everything.
4He prepared his bow and his arrows,
as if he was Israel's enemy.
He has used his power to attack us as an enemy!
He has killed our brave men that we were proud of.
He has become very angry with Zion's people.
His anger is like a hot fire that destroys everything.
5The Lord God has become like Israel's enemy.
He has destroyed Israel.
He has destroyed all her palaces.
He has caused her strong cities to become heaps of stones.
He has caused all Judah's people to weep.
They cannot stop crying.
6God has knocked down his temple,
as if it was a hut in a garden.
He has destroyed his special meeting place.
The Lord has caused Zion's people to forget
the festival days and the Sabbath days.
Because he is very angry,
he has turned against our king and our priests.
7The Lord God no longer accepts sacrifices on his altar.
He has gone away from his temple.
He has given Jerusalem's palaces to her enemies.
They shout loudly in the Lord's temple,
as if it is a happy festival day. #2:7 Foreign people should not be in the temple. See Deuteronomy 23:3.
8The Lord decided to destroy
the strong walls of Zion.
He did it carefully, stone by stone,
and he did not stop.
The towers and the strong walls around the city
now lie on the ground.
It is very sad to see this.
9The gates of the city have fallen down on the ground.
God has destroyed the metal bars that lock the gates.
The king and his officers are prisoners in other lands.
There is nobody to teach God's Law.
The prophets no longer receive
any visions from the Lord.
10Zion's leaders sit on the ground.
They are saying nothing.
They have dressed themselves in sackcloth.
They have put dirt on their heads. #2:10 People sometimes put dirt on their heads and they put on rough clothes of sackcloth. They did this to show that they were very sad.
The young women of Jerusalem are also sad.
They turn their faces down towards the ground.
11I have cried so much that my eyes have become weak.
Deep inside me, I am very upset.
I feel ill because my people are helpless
and they are dying.
Children and babies fall in the city's streets
because they are so weak.
12Hungry children ask their mothers,
‘Where is our food and our drink?’
They soon fall down on the streets of the city,
like a soldier with a wound.
They die slowly in their mothers' arms.
13Dear people of Jerusalem,
has anyone suffered as much as you have?
What can I say that will help you?
I cannot comfort you.
Your trouble is very great.
It is as deep as the sea.
Can anyone make you well again?
14Your prophets had useless visions
that deceived you.
They should have told you that your sins were very bad.
Then you would have been safe from your trouble.
But they deceived you with their messages,
which were useless lies. #2:14 God had told the people many times that they must not listen to these false prophets. See Jeremiah 23:16-22.
15Everyone who goes past the city laughs at you.
They are happy to see your trouble.
They insult beautiful Jerusalem
and they say,
‘Is this the place that people called the most beautiful city?
Did it really bring joy to the whole earth?’
16All your enemies laugh at you.
They hate you and they insult you.
They say ‘We have destroyed this city!
We have waited a long time for this day.
Now we have finally seen it happen!’
17The Lord has done everything that he decided to do.
He has done what he promised to do a long time ago.
He has destroyed your city
and he has not felt sorry about it.
He has given your enemies a reason to be happy.
He has made them stronger than you. #2:17 God had promised to let enemies win against his people if they did not obey him. See Deuteronomy 28:15,25.
18City of Zion, cry to the Lord God with all your strength.
Let your tears pour from your eyes like a river.
All day and all night, do not rest.
Do not stop weeping.
19Get up in the night and call for God's help.
Do this all through every night.
Tell the Lord God everything that you think and you feel.
Let it pour out like water from a jar.
Lift up your hands and pray to him.
Ask him to save the lives of your children.
They fall down on every street in the city
because they have no food to eat.
Jerusalem's people complain about their punishment
20‘Look at us, Lord!
You have caused us to suffer more than anyone else!
Women eat their own children now!
They are the children that they have taken care of.
Enemies have killed your priests and your prophets
in your own temple!
21Young people and old people lie dead in the streets.
The enemy's swords have killed our young women and our young men.
You killed our people because you were angry,
and you did not feel sorry.
22You called our enemies to come for a feast!
They attacked us from all around.
At that time of your great anger,
nobody could escape and save their lives.
Our enemies have destroyed our own children,
the children that we gave birth to and we took care of.’
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Lamentations 2: EASY
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