Lamentations 2:14
What does Lamentations 2:14 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 2:14 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 2:14 means
The prophets failed their charge. Instead of exposing iniquity to turn the people back, they offered “false and foolish visions,” soothing oracles that led to exile. True prophecy should have brought repentance and averted captivity; false words hid sin and hastened ruin. The verse makes clear that spiritual deception has social and political consequences. Misleading assurances robbed the people of the chance to seek mercy in time. By naming the leaders’ guilt, the lament refuses to leave the catastrophe unexplained. The ruin came not only from external foes but from internal untruth that muffled God’s warnings.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Thy prophets have seen for thee false and foolish visions; And they have not uncovered thine iniquity, to bring back thy captivity, But have seen for thee false oracles and causes of banishment.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Thy prophets have seen for thee false and foolish visions; And they have not uncovered thine iniquity, to bring back thy captivity, But have seen for thee false oracles and causes of banishment.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949The visions which your prophets have seen for you are false and foolish; they have not made clear to you your sin so that your fate might be changed: but they have seen for you false words, driving you away.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Thy prophets have seen for thee a false and insipid thing, And have not revealed concerning thine iniquity, To turn back thy captivity, And they see for thee false burdens and causes of expulsion.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Nun. Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee: and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Thy prophets have seen vanity and folly for thee; and they have not revealed thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee burdens of falsehood and causes of expulsion.
Context
Verse 14 answers the question of verse 13—why is the wound so great and unhealable by human means? Because those charged to diagnose and treat it lied. This indictment transitions to verses 15–16, where outsiders mock and enemies rejoice over Jerusalem’s fall. The flow shows the bitter fruit of false assurance: public shame and gloating by adversaries. The reader is prepared to see that the collapse invites scorn precisely because the city’s reputation for beauty and joy has been shattered by a reality it refused to face.
v.13What shall I testify unto thee? what shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
v.14This passage
v.15All 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?
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Jeremiah 23:36
And the burden of Jehovah shall ye mention no more: for every man’s own word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of Jehovah of hosts our God.
- Jeremiah 37:19
Where now are your prophets that prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?
- Ezekiel 22:28
And her prophets have daubed for them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, when Jehovah hath not spoken.
- Jeremiah 23:25
I have heard what the prophets have said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
- Jeremiah 27:9
But as for you, hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:
- Jeremiah 23:22
But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
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