Lamentations 2
The Lord destroys Jerusalem
He wanted
But he has put it down to the ground from its high place.
Now that he is angry, he has forgotten about that.
He decided that he must
Because he is angry,
he has destroyed all Judah's strong towns.
Yes, he has destroyed all the buildings, and he has killed the rulers and all the people.
he has destroyed Israel's whole army.
He did not help them when they were fighting the enemy.
He was like a big hot fire
that burned Jacob's people from all sides.
Like an enemy, he has killed all our strong men that once we were
He has shown how angry he was.
He has sent a fire to destroy all
He has destroyed Israel
and all the beautiful houses there.
He has destroyed all the strong towns that had walls.
He has caused Judah's people to weep.
They are very sad.
as easily as someone can knock down a hut in a garden.
He has destroyed this place where people once met him.
The Lord has caused
the special events and the
He was very angry.
So he thought that our king and our
He refused to help them.
no longer give pleasure to the
He has given
They shout in the holy house of the Lord
as people shout on a special holy day.
He carefully broke away each stone.
It causes us to weep when we look at those walls.
He destroyed them all.
He destroyed the inside walls and he destroyed the strong outside walls.
He destroyed them and he has broken them in pieces.
The enemies have taken away our king
and his sons to a foreign country.
The people no longer understand God's
The Lord does not give messages to his
They have dressed themselves in
and they throw dirt on their own heads.
They are showing everyone that they are very sad.
The young women of Jerusalem can only look down to the ground,
because they are very sad too.
Even the parts inside my body hurt,
because my people are dying.
I feel ill because I am so sad.
The children and babies fall in the city's streets
because they are so weak.
the hungry children ask their mothers.
Then they fall down in pain on the streets of the city.
They die in their mothers' arms.
but there is nothing that I can say to you.
I do not know about anything like what has happened to you.
God has destroyed
I do not know anyone who can make you people better.
Those good things will not happen.
They should have told you that you should not do wrong things.
If they had told you that, none of these troubles would have happened.
The
and their dreams are false.
They are happy because you are sad.
They see how the enemy has destroyed everything in Jerusalem.
‘Surely this cannot be the city that men called most beautiful,’ they say.
‘People have said that this city is the best city on earth.’
because they are very happy.
‘We have won!’ they say.
‘We have waited for this day.
Now we have beaten you!
Now we have seen it!’
Yes, he has done what he told you about a long time ago.
He has destroyed your city and he has not felt sorry about it.
He has caused your enemies to be happy.
He has made them strong
so that they could win against you.
Cry to the
Do not rest.
Do not let your eyes stop crying.
Talk to God all night.
Pour out your words and thoughts to the Lord
as you pour out water from a jar.
Lift up your hands to him,
and ask him to save the lives of your children.
They fall down to die at the end of every street
because they are so hungry.
‘You have done all this to your people.
Women eat their own children now!
They eat the children that they took care of.
People have killed your own
in your
The enemy has killed the young men and women with long knives.
But it was really you who killed them.
You were very angry with us.
So you killed them and you did not feel sorry.
as people come to a special
They killed our people because you were angry.
Nobody could hide or run away.
They all died.
We saw the enemy kill our own children.’