Lamentations 2:8

Zion

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.

⁷ The Lord has rejected His altar; He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed feast.

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.

¹⁰ 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.

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 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.
KJV: The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.
WEB: The LORD has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out the line. He has not withdrawn his hand from destroying; He has made the rampart and wall lament. They languish together.
ASV: Jehovah hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He hath stretched out the line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying; And he hath made the rampart and wall to lament; they languish together.
DARBY: Jehovah hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out the line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying; and he hath made the rampart and the wall to lament: they languish together.
BLB: YHWH has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He has stretched out a line; He has not turned back His hand from destroying; the rampart and wall He has caused to lament, [and] together they have languished.

ÅB: Herren tenkte på å ødelegge Sions datters mur, han strakte ut målesnoren, han dro ikke sin hånd tilbake fra herjing, og han lot voller og murer sørge; forfalne ligger de der alle.
OTB: Herren besluttet å ødelegge Datter Sions mur. Han strakte ut en målesnor og holdt ikke sin hånd tilbake fra å bringe ødeleggelse. Han fikk voller og murer til å klage; de visnet bort sammen.
B1930: Herren tenkte på å ødelegge Sions datters mur, han strakte ut målesnoren, han drog ikke sin hånd tilbake fra herjing, og han lot voller og murer sørge; forfalne ligger de der alle.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

2 Kings 21:13
I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down.
Read in context
Isaiah 3:26
And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.
Read in context
Jeremiah 14:2
“Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
Read in context
Isaiah 34:11
The desert owl and screech owl will possess it, and the great owl and raven will dwell in it. The LORD will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos and a plumb line of destruction.
Read in context
Jeremiah 5:10
Go up through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not finish them off. Strip off her branches, for they do not belong to the LORD.
Read in context
Amos 7:7–8
This is what He showed me: Behold, the Lord was standing by a wall true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand.
Read in context
Isaiah 5:5
Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.
Read in context
Lamentations 2:5
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.
Read in context