Bible Strands
Lamentations 4:11
The LORD has exhausted His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator declares Yahweh's judgment on Zion immediately following the siege's worst atrocities. The statement addresses the catastrophic reality that the city's destruction was the direct result of divine action, not mere human warfare.
The words — כִּלָּה (ki.Lah) literally means "he has completed" or "exhausted," marking the termination of the divine sentence. שָׁפַךְ (sha.Fakh) translates as "he has poured out," describing the release of חֲרוֹן אַפּוֹ (cha.Ron 'a.P/o), the burning of his anger.
The thread — The motif of poured-out fury and consumed foundations recurs in Jeremiah 7:20 and Ezekiel 22:31, where God similarly declares He will pour out indignation and consume with fire. The warning against fire entering the gates also parallels the covenant threat in Jeremiah 17:27.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that Jerusalem's fall was the precise execution of a finished divine sentence, not a tactical accident. It demands the acceptance that once Yahweh's wrath is exhausted, human strategy or intercession cannot reverse the outcome.
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 accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 7:20 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.
- Ezekiel 22:31 So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”
- Jeremiah 17:27 But if you do not listen to Me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in its gates to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.’”
- Lamentations 2:17 The LORD has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and exalted the horn of your foes.
- Deuteronomy 32:21 They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.
- Jeremiah 6:11 But I am full of the LORD’s wrath; I am tired of holding it back. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the young men gathered together. For both husband and wife will be captured, the old and the very old alike.
- Jeremiah 9:9 Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
- Jeremiah 13:14 I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’”
- Jeremiah 14:15 Therefore this is what the LORD says about the prophets who prophesy in My name: I did not send them, yet they say, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ By sword and famine these very prophets will meet their end!
- Jeremiah 15:1 Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My heart would not go out to this people. Send them from My presence, and let them go!