Morning Bible Study: Lamentations 2:10-22

10 The elders of Daughter Zion

    sit on the ground in silence;

they have sprinkled dust on their heads

    and put on sackcloth.

The young women of Jerusalem

    have bowed their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes fail from weeping,

    I am in torment within;

my heart is poured out on the ground

    because my people are destroyed,

because children and infants faint

    in the streets of the city.

12 They say to their mothers,

    “Where is bread and wine?”

as they faint like the wounded

    in the streets of the city,

as their lives ebb away

    in their mothers’ arms.

13 What can I say for you?

    With what can I compare you,

    Daughter Jerusalem?

To what can I liken you,

    that I may comfort you,

    Virgin Daughter Zion?

Your wound is as deep as the sea.

    Who can heal you?

14 The visions of your prophets

    were false and worthless;

they did not expose your sin

    to ward off your captivity.

The prophecies they gave you

    were false and misleading.

15 All who pass your way

    clap their hands at you;

they scoff and shake their heads

    at Daughter Jerusalem:

“Is this the city that was called

    the perfection of beauty,

    the joy of the whole earth?”

16 All your enemies open their mouths

    wide against you;

they scoff and gnash their teeth

    and say, “We have swallowed her up.

This is the day we have waited for;

    we have lived to see it.”

17 The Lord has done what he planned;

    he has fulfilled his word,

    which he decreed long ago.

He has overthrown you without pity,

    he has let the enemy gloat over you,

    he has exalted the horn [horn here symbolizes strength] of your foes.

18 The hearts of the people

    cry out to the Lord.

You walls of Daughter Zion,

    let your tears flow like a river

    day and night;

give yourself no relief,

    your eyes no rest.

19 Arise, cry out in the night,

    as the watches of the night begin;

pour out your heart like water

    in the presence of the Lord.

Lift up your hands to him

    for the lives of your children,

who faint from hunger

    at every street corner.

20 “Look, Lord, and consider:

    Whom have you ever treated like this?

Should women eat their offspring,

    the children they have cared for?

Should priest and prophet be killed

    in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 “Young and old lie together

    in the dust of the streets;

my young men and young women

    have fallen by the sword.

You have slain them in the day of your anger;

    you have slaughtered them without pity.

22 “As you summon to a feast day,

    so you summoned against me terrors on every side.

In the day of the Lord’s anger

    no one escaped or survived;

those I cared for and reared

    my enemy has destroyed.”

Commentary

(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary -- www.christianity.com)

"Causes for lamentation are described. Multitudes perished by famine. Even little children were slain by their mother's hands, and eaten, according to the threatening, Deuteronomy 28:53. Multitudes fell by the sword. Their false prophets deceived them. And their neighbours laughed at them. It is a great sin to jest at others' miseries, and adds much affliction to the afflicted. Their enemies triumphed over them. The enemies of the church are apt to take its shocks for its ruins; but they will find themselves deceived. Calls to lamentation are given; and comforts for the cure of these lamentations are sought. Prayer is a salve for every sore, even the sorest; a remedy for every malady, even the most grievous. Our business in prayer is to refer our case to the Lord, and leave it with him. His will be done. Let us fear God, and walk humbly before him, and take heed lest we fall."

Deuteronomy 28:53 “You will eat your offspring, [literally eat the fruit of your womb] the flesh of your sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you.