Lamentations 2:3

1 How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of His anger! He has cast the glory of Israel from heaven to earth. He has abandoned His footstool in the day of His anger.

2 Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In His wrath He has demolished the fortified cities of the Daughter of Judah. He brought to the ground and defiled her kingdom and its princes.

In fierce anger He has cut off every horn of Israel and withdrawn His right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it.

4 He has bent His bow like an enemy; His right hand is positioned. Like a foe He has killed all who were pleasing to the eye; He has poured out His wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion.

5 The Lord is like an enemy; He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for the Daughter of Judah.

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
In fierce anger He has cut off every horn of Israel and withdrawn His right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it.
KJV
He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
WEB
He has cut off all the horn of Israel in fierce anger. He has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy. He has burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours all around.
ASV
He hath cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel; He hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy: And he hath burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
DARBY
He hath cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath withdrawn his right hand from before the enemy; and he burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, devouring round about.
BLB
He has cut off in the burning of [His] anger every horn of Israel; He has turned back His right hand from before the enemy, and He has blazed against Jacob like a fire of flame, devouring all around!
ÅB
Han har i brennende vrede avhugget hvert horn i Israel, dradd sin høyre hånd tilbake for fiendens åsyn[^2] og satt Jakob i brann lik en flammer som fortærer rundt omkring.
OTB
I voldsom vrede har han avskåret all Israels styrke. Han har trukket tilbake sin høyre hånd ved fiendens ankomst, og har flammet i Jakob som en fortærende ild på alle kanter.
B1930
Han har i brennende vrede avhugget hvert horn i Israel, dradd sin høire hånd tilbake for fiendens åsyn og satt Jakob i brand lik en ildslue som fortærer rundt omkring. / < d.e. latt fienden uhindret trenge frem.>

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Psalms 74:11

    Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!

    Read in context
  • Psalms 75:5

    Do not lift up your horn against heaven or speak with an outstretched neck.’”

    Read in context
  • Isaiah 42:25

    So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

    Read in context
  • Psalms 75:10

    “All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous will be exalted.”

    Read in context
  • Psalms 89:46

    How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath keep burning like fire?

    Read in context
  • Jeremiah 48:25

    The horn of Moab has been cut off, and his arm is broken,” declares the LORD.

    Read in context
  • Psalms 79:5

    How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?

    Read in context
  • Jeremiah 21:4–5

    this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will turn against you the weapons of war in your hands, with which you are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the wall, and I will assemble their forces in the center of this city.

    Read in context