Bible Strands
Lamentations 2:18
The hearts of the people cry 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, and your eyes no rest.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses the personified city, commanding the "wall of the Daughter of Zion" to weep continuously while describing the people's desperate cry to the Lord amid enacted divine judgment.
The words — חוֹמַ֣ת (cho.Mat) translates to "O wall of," and הוֹרִ֨ידִי (ho.Ri.di) means "send down," directing the personified city to release unceasing tears.
The thread — This pattern of unrelenting prayer and weeping appears in Psalms 119:145, Psalms 119:136, and Jeremiah 9:1, where believers similarly call out with their whole being and pour out tears over sin and destruction.
Why it lands — It demands persistent, unrelieved lament and direct appeal to God when judgment falls, treating continuous prayer as the appropriate response to irreversible loss.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.
Cross-references
- Psalms 119:145 I call with all my heart; answer me, O LORD! I will obey Your statutes.
- Psalms 119:136 My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.
- Jeremiah 9:1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
- Lamentations 1:16 For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to revive my soul. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.
- Lamentations 2:8 The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withdraw His hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls lament; together they waste away.
- Lamentations 3:48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Hosea 7:14 They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.
- Isaiah 26:16 O LORD, they sought You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.
- 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 14:17 You 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, a severely grievous wound.