Lamentations 2:15

Jerusalem

¹³ What can I say for you? To what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may console you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? For your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can ever heal you?

¹⁴ The visions of your prophets were empty and deceptive; they did not expose your guilt to ward off your captivity. The burdens they envisioned for you were empty and misleading.

All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake 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 open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”

¹⁷ The LORD has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and exalted the horn of your foes.

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: All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”
KJV: All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
WEB: All that pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city that men called ‘The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth’?”
ASV: All that pass by clap their hands at thee; They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, [saying], Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
DARBY: All that pass by clap [their] hands at thee; they hiss and shake their head at the daughter of Jerusalem: Is this the city which they called, The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
BLB: They clap the hands at you all those passing by [on] the way; they hiss and shake their heads over the daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that they called the fullness of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”

ÅB: De slår hendene sammen over deg alle de som går forbi på veien; de spotter og rister på hodet over Jerusalems datter: Er dette den stad de kalte skjønnhetens krone, all jordens glede?
OTB: Alle som går forbi klapper i hendene mot deg; de håner og rister på hodet mot Datter Jerusalem: "Er dette byen som ble kalt skjønnhetens fullkommenhet, hele jordens glede?"
B1930: De slår hendene sammen over dig alle de som går forbi på veien; de spotter og ryster på hodet over Jerusalems datter: Er dette den stad de kalte skjønnhetens krone, all jordens glede?

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Jeremiah 18:16
They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
Read in context
Psalms 48:2
Beautiful in loftiness, the joy of all the earth, like the peaks of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the great King.
Read in context
Psalms 50:2
From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.
Read in context
Jeremiah 19:8
I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.
Read in context
Ezekiel 25:6
For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you clapped your hands and stomped your feet and rejoiced over the land of Israel with a heart full of contempt,
Read in context
Matthew 27:39
And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads
Read in context
Isaiah 64:11
Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.
Read in context
Isaiah 37:22
this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.
Read in context