Lamentations 2
1
How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion j under a cloud!
k He has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered l his footstool
in the day of his anger.
2
The Lord m has swallowed up n without mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath o he has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought p down to the ground p in dishonor
the kingdom q and its rulers.
3
He has cut down in r fierce anger
all s the might of Israel;
t he has withdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
u he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.
4
v He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set w like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.
5
w The Lord has become like an enemy;
x he has swallowed up Israel;
y he has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
z mourning and lamentation.
6
He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins a his meeting place;
a the Lord has made Zion forget
festival and b Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
7
c The Lord has scorned his altar,
d disowned his sanctuary;
e he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
f they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on the day of festival.
8
g The Lord determined to lay in ruins
h the wall of the daughter of Zion;
i he stretched out the measuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
j he caused rampart and wall to lament;
j they languished together.
9
Her gates have sunk into the ground;
k he has ruined k and broken her bars;
l her king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and m her prophets find
no vision from the Lord.
10
The elders of the daughter of Zion
n sit on the ground o in silence;
p they have thrown dust on their heads
and q put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11
r My eyes are spent with weeping;
s my stomach churns;
t my bile is poured out to the ground
u because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
v because infants and babies w faint
in the streets of the city.
12
They cry to their mothers,
x "Where is bread and wine?"
w as they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers' bosom.
13
What can I say for you, y to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
y What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
z For your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
14
a Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
b they have not exposed your iniquity
to c restore your fortunes,
d but have seen for you e oracles
that are false and misleading.
15
All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
f they hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
"Is this the city that was called
g the perfection of beauty,
g the joy of all the earth?"
16
h All your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: "We i have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; j we see it!"
17
The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out k his word,
which he commanded l long ago;
m he has thrown down n without pity;
o he has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the p might of your foes.
18
Their heart cried to the Lord.
O q wall of the daughter of Zion,
r let tears stream down like a torrent
s day and night!
t Give yourself no rest,
u your eyes no respite!
19
"Arise, v cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
w Pour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
x Lift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
y who faint for hunger
at the head of every street."
20
Look, O Lord, and see!
z With whom have you dealt thus?
a Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of b their tender care?
Should c priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21
In the dust of the streets
d lie the young and the old;
d my young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
e you have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering f without pity.
22
You summoned as if to g a festival day
h my terrors on every side,
i and on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
j those whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.
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Cross References
Lamentations 3:44
You have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
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Cross References
Matthew 11:23
And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Isaiah 14:15
But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.
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Cross References
1 Chronicles 28:2
Then King David rose to his feet and said: "Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:16
All your enemies rail against you; they hiss, they gnash their teeth, they cry: "We have swallowed her! Ah, this is the day we longed for; now we have it; we see it!
Psalms 35:25
Let them not say in their hearts, "Aha, our heart's desire!" Let them not say, "We have swallowed him up.
Psalms 56:2
My enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly.
Ezekiel 36:3
Therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God : Precisely because they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you became the talk and evil gossip of the people.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:17
The Lord has done what he purposed; he has carried out his word, which he commanded long ago; he has thrown down without pity; he has made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the might of your foes.
Lamentations 2:21
In the dust of the streets lie the young and the old; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without pity.
Lamentations 3:43
You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity.
Ezekiel 9:5
And to the others he said in my hearing, "Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity.
Ezekiel 9:10
As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will bring their deeds upon their heads.
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Cross References
Psalms 89:40
You have breached all his walls; you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
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Cross References
Psalms 74:7
They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground.
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Cross References
Psalms 74:7
They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground.
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Cross References
Isaiah 43:28
Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary, and deliver Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to reviling.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 12:13
They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns; they have tired themselves out but profit nothing. They shall be ashamed of their harvests because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
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Cross References
1 Samuel 2:1
And Hannah prayed and said, "My heart exults in the Lord ; my strength is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.
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Cross References
Psalms 74:11
Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!
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Cross References
Psalms 79:5
How long, O Lord ? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?
Psalms 89:46
How long, O Lord ? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?
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Cross References
Lamentations 3:12
He bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 30:14
All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:4
He has bent his bow like an enemy, with his right hand set like a foe; and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes in the tent of the daughter of Zion; he has poured out his fury like fire.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:16
All your enemies rail against you; they hiss, they gnash their teeth, they cry: "We have swallowed her! Ah, this is the day we longed for; now we have it; we see it!
Psalms 35:25
Let them not say in their hearts, "Aha, our heart's desire!" Let them not say, "We have swallowed him up.
Psalms 56:2
My enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly.
Ezekiel 36:3
Therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God : Precisely because they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you became the talk and evil gossip of the people.
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Cross References
2 Kings 25:9
And he burned the house of the Lord and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.
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Cross References
Isaiah 29:2
Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel.
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Cross References
Lamentations 1:4
The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival; all her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly.
Isaiah 1:13
Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations - I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Zephaniah 3:18
I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach.
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Cross References
Lamentations 1:4
The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival; all her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly.
Isaiah 1:13
Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations - I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Zephaniah 3:18
I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach.
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Cross References
Isaiah 1:13
Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations - I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
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Cross References
Psalms 89:38
But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 24:21
Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God : Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and the yearning of your soul, and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 32:30
How could one have chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had given them up?
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Cross References
Psalms 74:4
Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they set up their own signs for signs.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 5:10
Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the Lord 's.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:18
Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!
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Cross References
2 Kings 21:13
And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 14:2
Judah mourns, and her gates languish; her people lament on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 14:2
Judah mourns, and her gates languish; her people lament on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 51:30
The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed; they have become women; her dwellings are on fire; her bars are broken.
Nahum 3:13
Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 51:30
The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed; they have become women; her dwellings are on fire; her bars are broken.
Nahum 3:13
Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.
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Cross References
Hosea 3:4
For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.
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Cross References
Psalms 74:9
We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long.
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Cross References
Lamentations 1:1
How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave.
Lamentations 3:28
Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him.
Isaiah 3:26
And her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 3:15
And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were dwelling by the Chebar canal, and I sat where they were dwelling. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.
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Cross References
Joshua 7:6
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 48:37
For every head is shaved and every beard cut off. On all the hands are gashes, and around the waist is sackcloth.
Ezekiel 7:18
They put on sackcloth, and horror covers them. Shame is on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.
Amos 8:10
I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
Jeremiah 4:8
For this put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:18
Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!
Lamentations 5:17
For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim.
Psalms 6:7
My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.
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Cross References
Lamentations 1:20
Look, O Lord, for I am in distress; my stomach churns; my heart is wrung within me, because I have been very rebellious. In the street the sword bereaves; in the house it is like death.
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Cross References
Job 16:13
His archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.
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Cross References
Lamentations 3:48
My eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
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Cross References
Lamentations 4:4
The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives to them.
Jeremiah 44:7
And now thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant?
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:19
"Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street."
Isaiah 51:20
Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God.
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Cross References
Lamentations 1:11
All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. "Look, O Lord, and see, for I am despised.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:11
My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city.
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Cross References
Lamentations 1:12
Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.
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Cross References
Lamentations 1:12
Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.
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Cross References
2 Samuel 5:20
And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, "The Lord has burst through my enemies before me like a bursting flood." Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim.
Ezekiel 26:3
Therefore thus says the Lord God : Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 5:31
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?
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Cross References
Isaiah 58:1
Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 30:3
For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 5:31
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?
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Cross References
Jeremiah 23:33 - 34
"When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, 'What is the burden of the Lord ?' you shall say to them, 'You are the burden, and I will cast you off, declares the Lord.'
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 29:8
Therefore the wrath of the Lord came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes.
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Cross References
Psalms 48:2
Beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.
Ezekiel 16:14
And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.
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Cross References
Psalms 48:2
Beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.
Ezekiel 16:14
And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.
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Cross References
Lamentations 3:46
All our enemies open their mouths against us.
Job 16:9 - 10
He has torn me in his wrath and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:2
The Lord has swallowed up without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers.
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Cross References
Psalms 35:21
They open wide their mouths against me; they say, "Aha, Aha! Our eyes have seen it!
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Cross References
Leviticus 26:14 - 45
But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments.
Deuteronomy 28:15 - 68
But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
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Cross References
Lamentations 1:7
Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and wandering all the precious things that were hers from days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the foe, and there was none to help her, her foes gloated over her; they mocked at her downfall.
Jeremiah 46:26
I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the Lord.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:2
The Lord has swallowed up without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:2
The Lord has swallowed up without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers.
Lamentations 2:21
In the dust of the streets lie the young and the old; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without pity.
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Cross References
Psalms 38:16
For I said, "Only let them not rejoice over me, who boast against me when my foot slips!
Psalms 89:42
You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:3
He has cut down in fierce anger all the might of Israel; he has withdrawn from them his right hand in the face of the enemy; he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob, consuming all around.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:8
The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched out the measuring line; he did not restrain his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament; they languished together.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:11
My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city.
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Cross References
Psalms 32:4
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
Psalms 42:3
My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, "Where is your God?
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Cross References
Psalms 77:2
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.
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Cross References
Psalms 17:8
Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.
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Cross References
Psalms 119:147 - 148
I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.
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Cross References
Psalms 62:8
Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
1 Samuel 7:6
So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, "We have sinned against the Lord." And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah.
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Cross References
1 Timothy 2:8
I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:11 - 12
My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city.
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Cross References
Lamentations 1:22
"Let all their evildoing come before you, and deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my transgressions; for my groans are many, and my heart is faint."
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Cross References
Lamentations 4:10
The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Jeremiah 19:9
And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:22
You summoned as if to a festival day my terrors on every side, and on the day of the anger of the Lord no one escaped or survived; those whom I held and raised my enemy destroyed.
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Cross References
Lamentations 4:13
This was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 36:17
Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 36:17
Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand.
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Cross References
Lamentations 3:43
You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:2
The Lord has swallowed up without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers.
Lamentations 2:17
The Lord has done what he purposed; he has carried out his word, which he commanded long ago; he has thrown down without pity; he has made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the might of your foes.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:6
He has laid waste his booth like a garden, laid in ruins his meeting place; the Lord has made Zion forget festival and Sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 6:25
Go not out into the field, nor walk on the road, for the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 42:17
All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I will bring upon them.
Jeremiah 44:14
So that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, except some fugitives.
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Cross References
Lamentations 2:20
Look, O Lord, and see! With whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat the fruit of their womb, the children of their tender care? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.