Lamentations 2:4

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.

3 In fierce anger He has cut off every horn of Israel and withdrawn His right hand at the approach of the enemy.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.

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.

6 He has laid waste His tabernacle like a garden booth; He has destroyed His place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed feasts and Sabbaths. In His fierce anger He has despised both king and priest.

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
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.
KJV
He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.
WEB
He has bent his bow like an enemy. He has stood with his right hand as an adversary. He has killed all that were pleasant to the eye. In the tent of the daughter of Zion, he has poured out his wrath like fire.
ASV
He hath bent his bow like an enemy, he hath stood with his right hand as an adversary, And hath slain all that were pleasant to the eye: In the tent of the daughter of Zion he hath poured out his wrath like fire.
DARBY
He hath bent his bow like an enemy; he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and hath slain all that was pleasant to the eye: in the tent of the daughter of Zion, he hath poured out his fury like fire.
BLB
He has bent His bow like an enemy, standing with His right hand like an adversary, and He has slain all those desirable to His eye; on the tent of the daughter of Zion, He has poured out His fury like fire.
ÅB
Han har spent sin bue som en fiende, stilt seg med sin høyre hånd som en motstander og drept alt som var en lyst for vårt øye; i Sions datters telt har han utøst sin vrede som ild.
OTB
Han har spent sin bue som en fiende; hans høyre hånd er klar som en motstander. Han har drept alt som var herlig for øyet; i Datter Sions telt har han utøst sin vrede som ild.
B1930
Han har spent sin bue som en fiende, stilt sig med sin høire hånd som en motstander og drept alt som var en lyst for vårt øie; i Sions datters telt har han utøst sin vrede som ild.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Jeremiah 7:20

    Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.

    Read in context
  • Ezekiel 24:25

    And you, son of man, know that on the day I take away their stronghold, their pride and joy—the desire of their eyes which uplifted their souls—and their sons and daughters as well,

    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
  • Jeremiah 21:5

    And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with anger, fury, and great wrath.

    Read in context
  • Job 6:4

    For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

    Read in context
  • Lamentations 3:12–13

    He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.

    Read in context
  • Nahum 1:6

    Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; even rocks are shattered before Him.

    Read in context
  • Jeremiah 30:14

    All your lovers have forgotten you; they no longer seek you, for I have struck you as an enemy would, with the discipline of someone cruel, because of your great iniquity and your numerous sins.

    Read in context