Lamentations 2:10

Jerusalem Zion

⁸ The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withdraw His hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls lament; together they waste away.

⁹ Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and shattered their bars. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and even her prophets find no vision from the LORD.

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 fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

¹² They cry out to their mothers: “Where is the grain and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives fade away in the arms of their mothers.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: 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.
KJV: The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
WEB: The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground. They keep silence. They have cast up dust on their heads. They have clothed themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
ASV: The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, they keep silence; They have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
DARBY: The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, they keep silence; they have cast dust upon their heads, they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their head to the ground.
BLB: They sit on the ground [and] are silent—the elders of the daughter of Zion; they have thrown up dust on their heads, they have girded themselves with sackcloth; they have bowed their heads to the ground, the virgins of Jerusalem.

ÅB: Sions datters eldste sitter tause på jorden; de har strødd støv på sitt hode, omgjordet seg med sekk; Jerusalems jomfruer har senket sitt hode til jorden.
OTB: De eldste av Datter Sion sitter på bakken i stillhet; de har strødd støv på hodene sine og kledd seg i sekkestrie. Jerusalems unge kvinner har bøyd hodene sine til jorden.
B1930: Sions datters eldste sitter tause på jorden; de har strødd støv på sitt hode, omgjordet sig med sekk; Jerusalems jomfruer har senket sitt hode til jorden.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Isaiah 3:26
And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.
Read in context
Job 2:12–13
When they lifted up their eyes from afar, they could barely recognize Job. They began to weep aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust in the air over his head.
Read in context
Isaiah 15:3
In its streets they wear sackcloth; on the rooftops and in the public squares they all wail, falling down weeping.
Read in context
Ezekiel 7:18
They will put on sackcloth, and terror will overwhelm them. Shame will cover all their faces, and all their heads will be shaved.
Read in context
Lamentations 1:4
The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.
Read in context
Amos 8:3
“In that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “the songs of the temple will turn to wailing. Many will be the corpses, strewn in silence everywhere!”
Read in context
Joshua 7:6
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown before the ark of the LORD until evening, as did the elders of Israel; and they all sprinkled dust on their heads.
Read in context
Isaiah 47:1
“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.
Read in context