Lamentations 2:4
What does Lamentations 2:4 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 2:4 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 2:4 means
God is depicted as an archer-foe: He bends His bow and stands with His right hand like an adversary. Those “pleasant to the eye”—the delights and treasures of Zion, perhaps her young, her nobles, or all that was lovely—fall before His arrows. The phrase “in the tent of the daughter of Zion” brings the battlefield within the community’s very dwelling. Wrath poured out like fire circles back to verse 3’s consuming blaze. The message is stark: the judgment is personal and penetrating; the Lord’s aim reaches what the people most cherished, leaving no beautiful thing untouched by the flames of His anger.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000He 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.
KJV
King James Version · 1611He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901He 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.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949His bow has been bent for the attack, he has taken his place with his hand ready, in his hate he has put to death all who were pleasing to the eye: on the tent of the daughter of Zion he has let loose his passion like fire.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862He hath trodden His bow as an enemy, Stood hath His right hand as an adversary, And He slayeth all the desirable ones of the eye, In the tent of the daughter of Zion, He hath poured out as fire His fury.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Daleth. He hath bent his bow as an enemy, he hath fixed his right hand as an adversary: and he hath killed all that was fair to behold in the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion, he hath poured out his indignation like fire.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890He hath bent his bow like an enemy; he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and hath slain all that was pleasant to the eye: in the tent of the daughter of Zion, he hath poured out his fury like fire.
Context
After removing His protective hand (v. 3), the Lord is now shown actively striking (v. 4). The shift from defense withdrawn to offense applied marks an intensification. We are meant to feel that the devastation is not accidental collateral damage but precise and deserved. The next verse will state plainly that “The Lord is become as an enemy,” summarizing and confirming the fearful depiction. These images pave the way for the grief that follows concerning the temple, priests, and leaders, as judgment moves from homes and walls to worship and governance.
v.3He 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.
v.4This passage
v.5The Lord is become as an enemy, he hath swallowed up Israel; He hath swallowed up all her palaces, he hath destroyed his strongholds; And he hath multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Nahum 1:2
Jehovah is a jealous God and avengeth; Jehovah avengeth and is full of wrath; Jehovah taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
- Ezekiel 36:18
Wherefore I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood which they had poured out upon the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols;
- Job 6:4
For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, The poison whereof my spirit drinketh up: The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.
- Jeremiah 36:7
It may be they will present their supplication before Jehovah, and will return every one from his evil way; for great is the anger and the wrath that Jehovah hath pronounced against this people.
- Ezekiel 6:12
He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my wrath upon them.
- Isaiah 63:10
But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, andhimself fought against them.
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