Lamentations 2:5

Lam 2:5 The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

Ver. 5. The Lord was an enemy.] This the secure and foolish people would not be drawn to believe, till now they felt it; therefore it is so reiterated.

He hath swallowed up Israel, he hath destroyed, &c.] This he had said before, {Lam 2:2} but in cases of this kind people love to say the same things over and over. Redundanti copia exponit quae antea dixerat.

And hath increased … mourning and lamentation.] Heb., Lamentation and lamentation - q.d., this is all he hath left us. And this she speaketh mourning, but not murmuring: Non litem intendit Deo, sed confessionem edit.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

an enemy-- (Jer 30:14).

mourning and lamentation--There is a play of similar sounds in the original, "sorrow and sadness," to heighten the effect (Job 30:3, Hebrew; Eze 35:3, Margin).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

These words might seem superfluous, since the Prophet has often repeated, that God was become an enemy to his own people; but we shall hereafter see, that though they were extremely afflicted, they yet did not rightly consider whence their calamity arose. As, then, they had become so stupified by their evils, that they did not turn their eyes to God, they were on this account often urged and stimulated, that they might at length understand by their evils that God was a judge. Now, as it was difficult to convince them of this truth, the Prophet did not think it enough briefly to touch on it, but found it necessary to dwell on it at large, so that the people might at length be roused from their insensibility.

He then says that God himself was to them as an enemy, lest the Israelites should fix their eyes on the Chaldeans, and thus think that they had been the chief movers of the war. He therefore says, that they had undertaken that war through the secret influence of God, and had carried it on successfully, because God endued them with his own power. And hence the faithful ought to have concluded, that nothing could have been more grievous than to have God as their adversary; for as long as they had suffered themselves to be defended by the hand of God, they were victorious, we know, over all their enemies, so that they could then brave all dangers with impunity. The Prophet now reminds them, that as they had been successful and prosperous under the defense and protection of God, so now they were miserable, for no other reason but that God fought against them. But we ought at the same time to bear in mind the truth, which we have noticed, that God is never angry with men without reason; and since he was especially inclined to shew favor to his people, we must understand that he would not have been thus indignant, had not necessity constrained him.

He has destroyed Israel, he says; he has destroyed all his palaces; and afterwards, he has dissipated or demolished all his fortresses; and finally, he has increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation; תאניה ואניה tanie veanie, words derived from the same root, but joined together for the sake of amplifying, not only in this place, but also in the twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah, and in other places. The meaning is, that God had not put an end to his vengeance, because the people had not resolved to put an end to their obstinate wickedness. He afterwards adds, —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(5) Her palaces: . . . his strong holds . . .—The change of gender is remarkable, probably rising from the fact that the writer thought of the “palaces” in connection with the “daughters of Zion,” and of the “strong holds” in connection with the land or people. A like combination is found in Hos_8:14.

Mourning and lamentation.—The two Hebrew nouns are formed from the same root, and have an assonance like “the sorrow and sighing” of Isa_35:10.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. her palaces … his strong holds] In “her” Jeremiah was thinking of the city, in “his” of the people at large; hence the change in the gender of the pronouns.

mourning and lamentation] groaning and moaning, or better (as Cheyne) moaning and bemoaning. The original words are substantives from the same root, and occur again (there also in combination) only in Isa_29:2.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Lord was as an enemy,.... Who formerly was on their side, their God and guardian, their protector and deliverer, but now against them; and a terrible thing it is to have God for an enemy, or even to be as one; this is repeated, as being exceeding distressing, and even intolerable. Mr. Broughton renders it, "the Lord is become a very enemy"; taking "caph" for a note of reality, and not of similitude;

he hath swallowed up Israel; the ten tribes, or the Jewish nation in general; as a lion, or any other savage beast, swallows its prey, and makes nothing of it, and leaves none behind:

he hath swallowed up all her palaces: the palaces of Zion or Jerusalem; the palaces of the king, princes, nobles, and great men; as an earthquake or inundation swallows up whole streets and cities at once; See Gill on Lam 2:2;

he hath destroyed his strong holds: the fortified places of the land of Israel, the towers and castles:

and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation; exceeding great lamentation, for the destruction of its cities, towns, villages, and the inhabitants of them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Literally, אדני 'ădonāy has become “as an enemy.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Women, suffering them to be abused, chap. v. 11, 13.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

See Lam 2:2. Several pathetical expressions signifying the same things, properly imitating the dialect of mourners, whose passion suffers them not to speak according to art, but frequently they say the same things over and over.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Her palaces… his strongholds — The change of gender here is explained by Keil by the fact that when the “palaces,” or, more correctly, citadels, are mentioned, the city is in the mind of the writer, but when the “strongholds” are mentioned he was thinking of the whole country, Judah.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Was as an enemy: he hath swallowed, etc. The threefold division of the verse is, unfortunately, concealed in the Authorized Version, owing to the arbitrary stopping. The grouping suggested by the Massoretic text is"The Lord is become an enemy, he hath swallowed up Israel; He hath swallowed up all her palaces, he hath destroyed all his strongholds; And hath increased in the daughter of Judah moaning and bemoaning.

The change of gender in the second line is easily explicable. In the first case the poet is thinking of the city; in the second, of the people of Israel. The rendering "moaning and bemoaning" is designed to reproduce, to some extent, the Hebrew phrase, in which two words, derived from the same root, and almost exactly the same, are placed side by side, to give a more intense expression to the idea.

Jehovah reckoned as an enemy.

I HOW FAR WAS THERE REALITY UNDER THIS APPEARANCE OF ENMITY? God might look like an enemy, but it did not therefore follow that he was one. But even if Jehovah behaved himself like an enemy, it must also be asked whether there was not a necessity that he should do so. If Israel had to say, "Jehovah acts as an enemy towards us," Jehovah had to say, "My people act as an enemy towards me." These people had now for a long time been travelling in the wrong way, and it was in the very nature of things that the more they advanced the morn opposition should multiply and become intensified. God not only appeared to be an enemy, but in certain respects he really was an enemy. He hated the evil that had risen to such a height among those whom he had taken for his own. Our love for evil is ever the measure of his hate of it; and the more determined we are to cling to it, the more his hostility will appear. God himself always keeps in the same path of law and righteousness and order. When we, according to our measure, follow in his footsteps, then real opposition there cannot be; but the moment we think fit to become a law to ourselves and do what is right in our own eyes, then inevitably he must oppose us.

II THIS ENMITY WAS LARGELY IN APPEARANCE ONLY. When Israel said that Jehovah was as an enemy, they got their idea of enmity from the hostile proceedings of individuals and communities. But God cannot be the enemy of any man as men are enemies one to another. His motives are different and so are the results of all his opposition. One man forming hostile plans against another acts from malicious motives, or at all events from selfish ones. There is no basis of reason in what he does. He is not hostile to the lower in order that he may show himself friendly to the higher. Besides, we must not look merely at outward manifestations of enmity. There may be the deepest enmity and greatest power of inflicting injury where outwardly all looks harmless. Those who profess to be our friends and whom we reckon to be our friends may yet inflict worse injuries than all avowed enemies taken together. God is the true Friend of every man, however he may be thought at times to put on the appearance of an enemy. Y.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Lord has become like an enemy. כּאויב is not separated from היה by the accents (Pesik and Mahpak before, and Kadma after); so that there appears to be nothing to justify the remark of Gerlach, that, "as if the prophet were hesitating whether he should state explicitly that the Lord had become an enemy, he breaks off the sentence he had begun, 'The Lord hath become...,' and continues, 'He hath destroyed like a mighty one.' " As to בּלּע, cf. Lam 2:2. "Israel" is the name of Judah viewed as the covenant people. The swallowing or destruction of Israel is explained in the clauses which follow as a destruction of the palaces and fortresses. The mention of the palaces points to the destruction of Jerusalem, while the "fortresses" similarly indicate the destruction of the strong cities in the country. The interchange of the suffixes ־יה and ־יו is accounted for on the ground that, when the writer was thinking of the citadels, the city hovered before his mind; and when he regarded the fortresses, the people of Israel similarly presented themselves. The same interchange is found in Hos 8:14; the assumption of a textual error, therefore, together with the conjectures based on that assumption, is shown to be untenable. On the expression, "He hath destroyed his strongholds," cf. Jer 47:1-7 :18; on תּאניּה ואניּה, Isa 29:2 : in this latter case, two word-forms derived from the same stem are combined for the sake of emphasis. "Daughter of Judah," as in Lam 2:2, cf. Lam 1:15.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

swallowed up

This speaks of the Lord completely destroying Israel as if he were animal who ate them. See how you translated this in Lamentations 2:2. AT: "completely destroyed" (See: Metaphor)

her palaces ... her strongholds

Israel is spoken of as if it were female.

He has increased mourning and lamentation within the daughter of Judah

The words "mourning" and "lamentation" can be expressed as verbs. AT: "He has caused more and more people within the daughter of Judah to mourn and lament" (See: Abstract Nouns)

daughter of Judah

This is a poetic name for Jerusalem, which is spoken of here as if it were a woman. AT: "Judah" (See: Personification)

He has attacked his tabernacle like a garden hut

This speaks of the tabernacle being easily destroyed, as if it were a garden hut. The Lord caused Israel's enemies to destroy it. He did not destroy it himself. AT: "He has caused their enemies to attack his tabernacle as easily as if it were a garden hut" (See: Simile and Metonymy)

a garden hut

a very small building for holding farming tools or for sheltering someone who is guarding a garden

He has destroyed the place of the solemn assembly

The Lord caused Israel's enemies to destroy it. He did not destroy it himself. AT: "He has caused the place of the solemn assembly to be destroyed" or "He has caused their enemies to destroy the place of the solemn assembly" (See: Metonymy)

caused both solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion

This can be stated in active form. AT: "caused the people in Zion to forget both solemn assembly and Sabbath" (See: Active or Passive)

in the indignation of his anger

"because he was extremely angry with them"

translationWords

palace

mourn

lament

tabernacle

assembly

Yahweh

Sabbath

king

priest

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

and He increased in the daughter of Judah He increased in the congregation of Judah.

pain and wailing Heb. תַּאֲנִיָה וַאֲנִיָה, pain and wailing.

and He increased Heb. וַיֶרֶב. The “yud” is vowelized with a small “pattah” (seggol), which is an expression of increasing others. (Exod. 1:20): “and the people multiplied (וַיִרֶב) and became very strong,” is vowelized with a “hirik”, which is an expression meaning that he himself increased, and so every word whose radical ends with a “hey,” e.g. פנה, to turn, זנה to go astray, בכה, to weep, are vowelized in that manner when the “hey” is missing, when it speaks of itself [i.e., the simple (קַל) conjugation, not the causative], e.g. (Exod. 7:23): “And Pharaoh turned (וַיִפֶן).” But when he speaks of others [i.e, the causative conjugation (הפעיל)], it is vowelized with a small “pattah” (seggol), e.g. (Jud. 15:4): “and he turned (וַיֶפֶן) tail to tail”; (II Kings 25: 21): “And Judah went into exile (וַיִגֶל) from his land”; (ibid. 18:11): “and the king of Babylon (sic) exiled (וַיֶגֶל) Israel to Assyria.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.