Lamentations 2:1-5

1This chapter is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion with the cloud of his anger Or How the Lord in his anger / has treated Daughter Zion with contempt ! He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.

2Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of Daughter Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor.

3In fierce anger he has cut off every horn Or off / all the strength; or every king Horn here symbolizes strength. of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it.

4Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready. Like a foe he has slain all who were pleasing to the eye; he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion.

5The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for Daughter Judah.