Lamentations 2:19

Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger on the corner of every street.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The prophet addresses the Daughter of Zion (or the people collectively) during the siege, at night, while children faint from hunger in the streets.

The words — שִׁפְכִי (shif.Khi, H8210) is the imperative "pour out," the same verb form used in Psalms 62:8, here applied to the heart as liquid.

The thread — The "pour out your heart" language appears in Psalms 62:8 in a context of trust rather than siege; the night-crying motif recurs in Psalms 119:147 and Isaiah 26:9.

Why it lands — The verse converts grief into a sequence of physical acts—rise, cry, pour, lift hands—directed at God, with the starving children named as the reason.

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

Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.

Cross-references

Psalms 62:8 Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah
Psalms 119:147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; in Your word I have put my hope.
Isaiah 26:9 My soul longs for You in the night; indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn. For when Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
Psalms 142:2 I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him.
Mark 1:35 Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and went out to a solitary place to pray.
1 Samuel 1:15 “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have not had any wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD.
Psalms 141:2 May my prayer be set before You like incense; my uplifted hands, like the evening offering.
Lamentations 2:11 My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
Judges 7:19 Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands.
Psalms 42:8 The LORD decrees His loving devotion by day, and at night His song is with me as a prayer to the God of my life.