Lamen. 2:17-22, 4:1-11, 5:19-22, Psalm 137
God does what he promises (
God is in charge)
Psalm 137 (separate)
Lamen. 2:17-22 17. The LORD has done what He purposed; He has accomplished His word
Which He commanded from days of old. He has thrown down without sparing, And He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you;
He has exalted the might of your adversaries.
18. Their heart cried out to the Lord, "O wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let your tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief, Let your eyes have no rest.
19. "Arise, cry aloud in the night At the beginning of the night watches; Pour out your heart like water
Before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him For the life of your little ones Who are faint because of hunger
At the head of every street."
20. See, O LORD, and look! With whom have You dealt thus? Should women eat their offspring,
The little ones who were born healthy? Should priest and prophet be slain In the sanctuary of the Lord?
21. On the ground in the streets Lie young and old; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword.
You have slain them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered, not sparing.
22. You called as in the day of an appointed feast My terrors on every side; And there was no one who escaped or survived
In the day of the LORD'S anger. Those whom I bore and reared, My enemy annihilated them.
Lamen. 4:1-11 1. How dark the gold has become, How the pure gold has changed!
The sacred stones are poured out At the corner of every street.
2. The precious sons of Zion, Weighed against fine gold, How they are regarded as earthen jars, The work of a potter's hands!
3. Even jackals offer the breast, They nurse their young; But the daughter of my people has become cruel
Like ostriches in the wilderness.
4. The tongue of the infant cleaves To the roof of its mouth because of thirst;
The little ones ask for bread, But no one breaks it for them.
5. Those who ate delicacies Are desolate in the streets; Those reared in purple Embrace ash pits.
6. For the iniquity of the daughter of my people Is greater than the sin of Sodom,
Which was overthrown as in a moment, And no hands were turned toward her.
7. Her consecrated ones were purer than snow, They were whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in body than corals, Their polishing was like lapis lazuli.
8. Their appearance is blacker than soot, They are not recognized in the streets;
Their skin is shriveled on their bones, It is withered, it has become like wood.
9. Better are those slain with the sword Than those slain with hunger;
For they pine away, being stricken For lack of the fruits of the field.
10. The hands of compassionate women Boiled their own children; They became food for them
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11. The LORD has accomplished His wrath, He has poured out His fierce anger;
And He has kindled a fire in Zion Which has consumed its foundations.
Lamen. 5:19-22 19. You, O LORD, rule forever; Your throne is from generation to generation.
20. Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long?
21. Restore us to You, O LORD, that we may be restored; Renew our days as of old,
22. Unless You have utterly rejected us And are exceedingly angry with us.
- We knew this was coming and who would do it (Prophecy to Hezekiah)
- 3 separate captures of Jerusalem
605 BC - Wealthy and educated are carted off (Daniel included)
597 BC - Jerusalem sacked again after siding with Egypt against Babylon (Ezekiel among them)
586 BC - Final (complete) destruction of Jerusalem
(Please understand this from an Old Testament Perspective)
This is the worse thing possible
God told them the length of the captivity before they ever left.
Jer 29:10 For thus says Yahweh, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I
will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
Daniel 9:2 - In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes,
who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, 2 in the first year of his reign I,
Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years whereof the word of Yahweh came
to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years.