Lamentations 2:1
in Lamentations 2How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of His anger! He has cast the glory of Israel from heaven to earth. He has abandoned His footstool in the day of His anger.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, And hath not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.
KJV
How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!
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This verse in Lamentations 2
Commentary
5 notes on this verseFor though men were a hundred times perfidious, yet God never changes, but remains unchangeable in his faithfulness; and we know that his covenant was not made to depend on the merits of men. Whatsoever, then, the people might be, yet it behooved God to continue in his purpose, and not to annul the promise made to Abraham.
This site's exposition
How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger
on Lamentations 2:1-3
This chapter is a second twenty-two verse acrostic, the same alphabet discipline turned now toward a harder question, not what the enemy did but who stood behind the enemy. How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and remembered not his footstool, the ark's own resting place, in the day of his anger: the temple itself is named as forgotten before the destruction is even described. The Lord is the subject of every verb in this opening unit, he hath cut off, he hath drawn back his right hand, the horn of Israel broken by the hand that once raised it.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
His footstool - His temple; but suffered the Chaldeans to destroy it. Cast down - That is, thrown them down from the highest glory and honour, to the meanest degree of servitude.
The beauty of Israel is now cast down from heaven to the earth; their princes ( 2 Sam. i. 19 ), their religious worship, their beauty of holiness, all that which recommended them to the affection and esteem of their neighbours and rendered them amiable, which had lifted them up to heaven, was now withered and gone, because God had covered it with a cloud.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
64:11). his footstool--the ark (compare 1Ch 28:2, with Ps 99:5; They once had gloried more in the ark than in the God whose symbol it was; they now feel it was but His "footstool," yet that it had been a great glory to them that God deigned to use it as such.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
How can it be that…cast a gloom. Bring darkness, 1 Alternatively, ‘has raised up to the clouds.’ (Ibn Ezra) as Scripture states, “the heavens had become darkened with clouds.” 2 I Melochim:45.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
18 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֵיכָה֩ | ʾeikhah | how! | H349 → | 82 times |
| יָעִ֨יב | yaiv | he covers with a cloud | H5743 → | |
| בְּאַפּ֤וֹ׀ | beapo | in anger his | H639 → | 276 times |
| אֲדֹנָי֙ | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בַּת־ | bat- | [the] daughter of | H1323 → | 588 times |
| צִיּ֔וֹן | tziyon | Zion | H6726 → | 154 times |
| הִשְׁלִ֤יךְ | hishlikh | he has thrown | H7993 → | |
| מִשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ | mishamayim | from heaven | H8064 → | 421 times |
| אֶ֔רֶץ | ʾeretz | earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| תִּפְאֶ֖רֶת | tiferet | [the] splendor of | H8597 → | |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| וְלֹא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| זָכַ֥ר | zakhar | he has remembered | H2142 → | 230 times |
| הֲדֹם־ | hadom- | [the] footstool of | H1916 → | |
| רַגְלָ֖יו | raglav | feet his | H7272 → | 247 times |
| בְּי֥וֹם | beyom | in [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| אַפּֽוֹ׃ ס | ʾapo | anger his | H639 → | 276 times |
אֵיכָה֩how!
ʾeikhahH349 →82 times
יָעִ֨יבhe covers with a cloud
yaivH5743 →
בְּאַפּ֤וֹ׀in anger his
beapoH639 →276 times
אֲדֹנָי֙[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בַּת־[the] daughter of
bat-H1323 →588 times
צִיּ֔וֹןZion
tziyonH6726 →154 times
הִשְׁלִ֤יךְhe has thrown
hishlikhH7993 →
מִשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙from heaven
mishamayimH8064 →421 times
אֶ֔רֶץearth
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
תִּפְאֶ֖רֶת[the] splendor of
tiferetH8597 →
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
וְלֹא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
זָכַ֥רhe has remembered
zakharH2142 →230 times
הֲדֹם־[the] footstool of
hadom-H1916 →
רַגְלָ֖יוfeet his
raglavH7272 →247 times
בְּי֥וֹםin [the] day of
beyomH3117 →2304 times
אַפּֽוֹ׃ סanger his
ʾapoH639 →276 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Luke 10:18So He told them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
it leads to
- Revelation 12:7–9
Then a war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
- Isaiah 14:12
How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations.
- John 12:31
Now judgment is upon this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out.
- Revelation 9:1
Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the pit of the Abyss.
- John 16:11
and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned.
- Revelation 12:7–9
Through
Psalms 132:7Let us go to His dwelling place; let us worship at His footstool.
it leads to
- Psalms 99:5
Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His footstool; He is holy!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 5:7
But I will enter Your house by the abundance of Your loving devotion; in reverence I will bow down toward Your holy temple.
- Psalms 122:1
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
- Psalms 99:5
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About Lamentations

Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Carl Friedrich Keil, Lamentations; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
