Lamentations 2:13
in Lamentations 2What can I say for you? To what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may console you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? For your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can ever heal you?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
What shall I testify unto thee? what shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
KJV
What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
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This verse in Lamentations 2
Commentary
8 notes on this verseWhat thing shall I take - Or, rather, as Dr. Blayney, “What shall I urge to thee?” How shall I comfort thee? Thy breach is great like the sea - Thou hast a flood of afflictions, a sea of troubles, an ocean of miseries.
This site's exposition
What can I say for you
on Lamentations 2:13-17
The poet speaks in his own voice, “What can I say for you?”, and finds no comparison for a wound “as deep as the sea”. Verse 17 reads the enemy's triumph as an old word fulfilled: “He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old”.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
The consequences of destruction is accounted for. Namely the events accustomed to occur after prolonged negotiation. So, first is excluded cure for the plague, second, the wonders of witnessing the plague are considered. Thus, Verse 15 declares: "All who pass along the way clap their …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
We commonly endeavour to comfort our friends by telling them, (1.) That their case is not singular, nor without precedent; there are many whose trouble is greater, and lies heavier upon them, than theirs does; but Jerusalem's case will not admit this argument: " What thing shall I liken to thee, or what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Who - There was no people whose condition was in any degree parallel to the misery of the Jews: nor was there any cure for them, their breach was like a sea breach where the waters come in with such a torrent, that there is no making any defense against them.
What thing shall I take to witness for thee?....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
What thing shall I take to witness--What can I bring forward as a witness, or instance, to prove that others have sustained as grievous ills as thou? I cannot console thee as mourners are often consoled by showing that thy lot is only what others, too, suffer. The "sea" affords the only suitable emblem of thy woes, by its boundless extent and depth (La 1:12;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Equal - i. e. “compare.” Zion’s breach, i. e. her destruction, is measureless, like the ocean.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
What testimony can I offer you, to what can I compare you. To say to you, “Why do you wonder about your destruction?
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Falsehood and stupidity. Words that have no taste, in O.F. aplastrement.
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
21 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מָֽה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אֲעִידֵ֞ךְ | ʾaidekh | will I testify for you | H5749 → | |
| מָ֣ה | mah | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אֲדַמֶּה־ | ʾadameh- | will I liken | H1819 → | |
| לָּ֗ךְ | lakh | to you | ||
| הַבַּת֙ | habat | O daughter of | H1323 → | 588 times |
| יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם | yerushalim | Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
| מָ֤ה | mah | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אַשְׁוֶה־ | ʾashveh- | will I make equal | H7737 → | |
| לָּךְ֙ | lokh | to you | ||
| וַאֲנַֽחֲמֵ֔ךְ | vaanachamekh | so I may comfort you | H5162 → | 108 times |
| בְּתוּלַ֖ת | betulat | O virgin of | H1330 → | 50 times |
| בַּת־ | bat- | [the] daughter of | H1323 → | 588 times |
| צִיּ֑וֹן | tziyon | Zion | H6726 → | 154 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| גָד֥וֹל | gadol | [is] great | H1419 → | |
| כַּיָּ֛ם | kaiyam | like the sea | H3220 → | |
| שִׁבְרֵ֖ךְ | shivrekh | brokenness your | H7667 → | 45 times |
| מִ֥י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יִרְפָּא־ | yirpa'- | will he heal | H7495 → | |
| לָֽךְ׃ ס | lakh | <to> you |
מָֽה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
אֲעִידֵ֞ךְwill I testify for you
ʾaidekhH5749 →
מָ֣הwhat?
mahH4100 →752 times
אֲדַמֶּה־will I liken
ʾadameh-H1819 →
לָּ֗ךְto you
lakh
הַבַּת֙O daughter of
habatH1323 →588 times
יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔םJerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →643 times
מָ֤הwhat?
mahH4100 →752 times
אַשְׁוֶה־will I make equal
ʾashveh-H7737 →
לָּךְ֙to you
lokh
וַאֲנַֽחֲמֵ֔ךְso I may comfort you
vaanachamekhH5162 →108 times
בְּתוּלַ֖תO virgin of
betulatH1330 →50 times
בַּת־[the] daughter of
bat-H1323 →588 times
צִיּ֑וֹןZion
tziyonH6726 →154 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
גָד֥וֹל[is] great
gadolH1419 →
כַּיָּ֛םlike the sea
kaiyamH3220 →
שִׁבְרֵ֖ךְbrokenness your
shivrekhH7667 →45 times
מִ֥יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
יִרְפָּא־will he heal
yirpa'-H7495 →
לָֽךְ׃ ס<to> you
lakh
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
Jeremiah 8:22Is there no balm in Gilead? Is no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?
it leads to
- Jeremiah 46:11
Go up to Gilead for balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt! In vain you try many remedies, but for you there is no healing.
- Genesis 37:25
And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to…
- Jeremiah 51:8
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
- Jeremiah 30:12–17
For this is what the LORD says: “Your injury is incurable; your wound is grievous.
- Luke 8:43
including a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her.
- Jeremiah 46:11
Through
2 Samuel 5:20So David went to Baal-perazim, where he defeated the Philistines and said, “Like a bursting flood, the LORD has burst out against my enemies before me.” So he called that place Baal-perazim.
it leads to
- Isaiah 28:21
For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform His task, His disturbing…
- Isaiah 28:21
Through
Jeremiah 14:17You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow,…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 8:21
For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am crushed. I mourn; horror has gripped me.
- Jeremiah 13:17
But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
- Jeremiah 8:21
Where this verse is studied
About Lamentations
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PlaceJerusalemZionThe eastern ridge David took from the Jebusites and made his stronghold, the name the Psalms and the prophets give the city the LO…
- PlaceJerusalemJerusalemThe city David took from the Jebusites and made his capital, where Solomon built the temple, where Christ was crucified and rose,…
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.