Bible Strands
Lamentations 2:7
The Lord has rejected His altar; He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed feast.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator addresses the community of Zion during the immediate aftermath of Jerusalem’s military defeat and temple desecration. The account records the precise moment when divine judgment renders the city’s religious and political structures obsolete.
The words — The Hebrew verb זָנַח (za.Nach) translates literally as "he has rejected," marking God’s deliberate withdrawal of favor from the altar. The verb נִאֵר (ni.'Er), rendered "he has repudiated," reinforces this formal severance of covenant protection over the sanctuary.
The thread — This pattern of God abandoning the holy place appears in Psalms 74:3, where the psalmist prays for God to look upon the ruins the enemy has made, and in Ezekiel 24:21, where God declares He will desecrate the sanctuary as an act of judgment.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that institutional religion cannot override divine sovereignty or guarantee protection apart from covenant faithfulness. It demands a sober assessment of how judgment operates through the very structures meant to mediate grace.
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
The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.
Cross-references
- Psalms 74:3 Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
- Amos 2:5 So I will send fire upon Judah to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.”
- Ezekiel 24:21 Tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I am about to desecrate My sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and the delight of your soul. And the sons and daughters you left behind will fall by the sword.’
- Psalms 78:59 On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely.
- Jeremiah 52:13 He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
- Ezekiel 7:20 His beautiful ornaments they transformed into pride and used them to fashion their vile images and detestable idols. Therefore I will make these into something unclean for them.
- Leviticus 26:31 I will reduce your cities to rubble and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will refuse to smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices.
- Leviticus 26:44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God.
- 2 Chronicles 36:19 Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.
- Psalms 72:4 May he vindicate the afflicted among the people; may he save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.