Lamentations 2:16
in Lamentations 2All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
All thine enemies have opened their mouth wide against thee; They hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed her up; Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.
KJV
All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.
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This verse in Lamentations 2
Commentary
7 notes on this verseHere a reviling from enemies is exposed. There: "All your enemies rail against you." That is, the Idumeans, the Moabites, and other enemies rail by accusing. Then: "they hiss" by detracting. "they gnash their teeth" by threatening. Also: "they cry: 'We have destroyed her!'" by …
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”.
This site's exposition
All your enemies open their mouths
This verse opens on pe, the letter whose name means mouth, as the enemies open their mouths against Zion. Albert Barnes hears their joy in the heap of short cries: swallowed, waited, lived to see it. Chapters 3 and 4 also set pe before ayin.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Certainly this is the day that we have long looked for; we have found it; we have seen it; aha! so would we have it. " Note, The enemies of the church are apt to take its shocks for its ruins, and to triumph in them accordingly; but they will find themselves deceived; for the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
This is the day that we looked for - Jerusalem was the envy of the surrounding nations: they longed for its destruction, and rejoiced when it took place.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Seen it - Omit “it.” The intensity of the enemy’s exultation is shown by the heaping up of unconnected words. We have found what we sought, have seen what we looked for.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
They hiss. To blow with the mouth, [i.e., to whistle], sibler in O.F. It is customary for a person to do so upon seeing an important thing that was ruined and destroyed.
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
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| פָּצ֨וּ | patzu | they have opened | H6475 → | |
| עָלַ֤יִךְ | ʾalayikh | on you | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פִּיהֶם֙ | pihem | mouth their | H6310 → | 498 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| א֣וֹיְבַ֔יִךְ | ʾoyvayikh | enemies your | H341 → | 282 times |
| שָֽׁרְקוּ֙ | shareku | they have hissed | H8319 → | |
| וַיַּֽחַרְקוּ־ | vaiyacharku- | and they have gnashed | H2786 → | |
| שֵׁ֔ן | shen | a tooth | H8127 → | |
| אָמְר֖וּ | ʾameru | they said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| בִּלָּ֑עְנוּ | bilaenu | we have swallowed up | H1104 → | 49 times |
| אַ֣ךְ | ʾakh | surely | H389 → | |
| זֶ֥ה | zeh | this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| הַיּ֛וֹם | haiyom | [is] the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| שֶׁקִּוִּינֻ֖הוּ | shekivinuhu | that we have waited for it | H6960 → | |
| מָצָ֥אנוּ | matzanu | we have found | H4672 → | 455 times |
| רָאִֽינוּ׃ ס | rainu | we have seen | H7200 → | 1300 times |
פָּצ֨וּthey have opened
patzuH6475 →
עָלַ֤יִךְon you
ʾalayikhH5921 →5755 times
פִּיהֶם֙mouth their
pihemH6310 →498 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
א֣וֹיְבַ֔יִךְenemies your
ʾoyvayikhH341 →282 times
שָֽׁרְקוּ֙they have hissed
sharekuH8319 →
וַיַּֽחַרְקוּ־and they have gnashed
vaiyacharku-H2786 →
שֵׁ֔ןa tooth
shenH8127 →
אָמְר֖וּthey said
ʾameruH559 →5305 times
בִּלָּ֑עְנוּwe have swallowed up
bilaenuH1104 →49 times
אַ֣ךְsurely
ʾakhH389 →
זֶ֥הthis
zehH2088 →1180 times
הַיּ֛וֹם[is] the day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
שֶׁקִּוִּינֻ֖הוּthat we have waited for it
shekivinuhuH6960 →
מָצָ֥אנוּwe have found
matzanuH4672 →455 times
רָאִֽינוּ׃ סwe have seen
rainuH7200 →1300 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
Psalms 37:12The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,
it leads to
- Micah 2:1
Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
- Psalms 35:16
Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed their teeth at me.
- Daniel 8:12
And in the rebellion, the host and the daily sacrifice were given over to the horn, and it flung truth to the ground and prospered in whatever it did.
- Psalms 31:13
For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side. They conspire against me and plot to take my life.
- Micah 2:1
Through
Psalms 56:2My enemies pursue me all day long, for many proudly assail me.
it leads to
- Psalms 118:10–12
All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
- Psalms 118:10–12
Through
Lamentations 3:46All our enemies open their mouths against us.
it leads to
- Psalms 22:6–8
But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.
- Psalms 22:6–8
Through
Psalms 35:21They gape at me and say, “Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen!”
it leads to
- Luke 11:53–54
As Jesus went on from there, the scribes and Pharisees began to oppose Him bitterly and to ply Him with questions about many things,
- Psalms 22:13
They open their jaws against me like lions that roar and maul.
- Luke 11:53–54
Where this verse is studied
About Lamentations
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); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Lamentations.