Lamentations 2:16
What does Lamentations 2:16 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 2:16 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 2:16 means
Enemies open their mouths wide, hissing and gnashing their teeth. They boast, “We have swallowed her up,” rejoicing that the day they longed for has come. Their words expose their hatred and confirm Jerusalem’s helplessness. Yet their triumph is ironic, for the next verse will stress that God, not merely human foes, accomplished this. Still, the felt reality for the people is taunt and terror. This verse helps us hear the humiliation from the ground level: besiegers gloat while the besieged can only listen, a searing addition to the city’s pain and confusion.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000All thine enemies have opened their mouth wide against thee; They hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed her up; Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.
KJV
King James Version · 1611All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901All thine enemies have opened their mouth wide against thee; They hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed her up; Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949All your haters are opening their mouths wide against you; making hisses and whistling through their teeth, they say, We have made a meal of her: certainly this is the day we have been looking for; it has come, we have seen it.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Opened against thee their mouth have all thine enemies, They have hissed, yea, they gnash the teeth, They have said: `We have swallowed <FI>her<Fi> up, Surely this <FI>is<Fi> the day that we looked for, We have found--we have seen.'
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Phe. All thy enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they have hissed, and gnashed with the teeth, and have said: We will swallow her up: lo, this is the day which we looked for: we have found it, we have seen it.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890All thine enemies open their mouth against thee, they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed [her] up; this is forsooth the day that we looked for: we have found, we have seen [it].
Context
Following public mockery (v. 15), verse 16 presents outright enemy triumph. Their boast forms the emotional low point before verse 17 reframes the event as God’s fulfilled purpose. This sequencing matters: it lets the reader feel the sting of derision before learning that the deeper story is theological, not merely military. The reframe that follows will invite repentance and prayer rather than fixation on enemy power, preparing the way for the subsequent call to cry out to the Lord (vv. 18–19).
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?
v.16This passage
v.17Jehovah hath done that which he purposed; he hath fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old; He hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: And he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee; he hath exalted the horn of thine adversaries.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Psalms 41:8
An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him; And now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.
- Psalms 109:2
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit have they opened against me: They have spoken unto me with a lying tongue.
- Ezekiel 25:3
and say unto the children of Ammon, Hear the word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was made desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity:
- Job 16:9
He hath torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me; He hath gnashed upon me with his teeth: Mine adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
- Zephaniah 2:8
I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, wherewith they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.
- Psalms 112:10
The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: The desire of the wicked shall perish.
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