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The Lord has become the enemy,
    he has devoured Israel:
Devoured all its strongholds,
    destroyed its defenses,
Multiplied moaning and groaning
    throughout daughter Judah.

He laid waste his booth like a garden,
    destroyed his shrine;[a]
The Lord has blotted out in Zion
    feast day and sabbath,
Has scorned in fierce wrath
    king and priest.(A)

The Lord has rejected his altar,
    spurned his sanctuary;
He has handed over to the enemy
    the walls of its strongholds.
They shout in the house of the Lord
    as on a feast day.(B)

The Lord was bent on destroying
    the wall of daughter Zion:
He stretched out the measuring line;[b]
    did not hesitate to devour,
Brought grief on rampart and wall
    till both succumbed.(C)

Her gates sank into the ground;
    he smashed her bars to bits.
Her king and her princes are among the nations;
    instruction is wanting,
Even her prophets do not obtain
    any vision from the Lord.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. 2:6 Booth…shrine: synonyms for the Temple; cf. Ps 27:5; 74:4, 8. The term for “shrine” in Hebrew (mo‘ed) figures prominently in the pentateuchal expression “tent of meeting” (’ohel mo‘ed).
  2. 2:8 The measuring line: normally used for building, here employed ironically as an instrument of destruction; cf. Is 34:11; 2 Kgs 21:13.

The Lord is like an enemy;(A)
    he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
    and destroyed her strongholds.(B)
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation(C)
    for Daughter Judah.(D)

He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
    he has destroyed(E) his place of meeting.(F)
The Lord has made Zion forget
    her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;(G)
in his fierce anger he has spurned
    both king and priest.(H)

The Lord has rejected his altar
    and abandoned his sanctuary.(I)
He has given the walls of her palaces(J)
    into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of an appointed festival.(K)

The Lord determined to tear down
    the wall around Daughter Zion.(L)
He stretched out a measuring line(M)
    and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts(N) and walls lament;
    together they wasted away.(O)

Her gates(P) have sunk into the ground;
    their bars(Q) he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled(R) among the nations,
    the law(S) is no more,
and her prophets(T) no longer find
    visions(U) from the Lord.

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