Lamentations 2:3
What does Lamentations 2:3 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 2:3 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 2:3 means
Here the “horn,” a common image for strength and honor, is cut off. God withdraws His “right hand” from before the enemy, meaning He no longer intervenes to save. With that restraint gone, Jacob burns like a fire consuming everything nearby. The image is tragic: the same God who once fought for Israel now allows, and even ordains, their undoing. The verse shows that the nation’s power was never autonomous; it depended on the Lord’s upholding hand. When He draws back, their defenses fail, and the judgment sweeps through like a blaze, leaving no refuge around them.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000He hath cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel; He hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy: And he hath burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
KJV
King James Version · 1611He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901He hath cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel; He hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy: And he hath burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949In his burning wrath every horn of Israel has been cut off; his right hand has been turned back before the attacker: he has put a fire in Jacob, causing destruction round about.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862He hath cut off in the heat of anger every horn of Israel, He hath turned backward His right hand From the face of the enemy, And He burneth against Jacob as a flaming fire, It hath devoured round about.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Ghimel. He hath broken in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy: and he hath kindled in Jacob as it were a flaming fire devouring round about.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890He hath cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath withdrawn his right hand from before the enemy; and he burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, devouring round about.
Context
The chapter’s momentum continues: from general ruin (vv. 1–2) to the specific removal of strength (v. 3). The imagery prepares for verse 4, where God is pictured as an armed adversary, intensifying the sense that He leads the siege. Recognizing the symbolism—horn for power, right hand for saving action—helps the reader grasp the theological weight of the tragedy. Immediately after, the poem will dwell on the Lord’s bow and outpoured wrath, moving from the collapse of strength to the horror of being targeted by divine judgment within Zion’s own tents.
v.2The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: He hath thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He hath brought them down to the ground; he hath profaned the kingdom and the princes thereof.
v.3This passage
v.4He 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.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Psalms 75:10
All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; But the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.
- Psalms 75:5
Lift not up your horn on high; Speak not with a stiff neck.
- Isaiah 42:25
Therefore he poured upon him the fierceness of his anger, and the strength of battle; and it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
- Jeremiah 21:4
Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans that besiege you, without the walls; and I will gather them into the midst of this city.
- Jeremiah 21:14
And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith Jehovah; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is round about her.
- Jeremiah 4:4
Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
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