All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.
Parallel translations
- WEB All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you. They hiss and gnash the teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for. We have found it. We have seen it.”
- BSB All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”
- NKJV All your enemies have opened their mouth against you; They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up! Surely this is the day we have waited for; We have found it, we have seen it!”
- NASB All your enemies Have opened their mouths wide against you; They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have engulfed her! This certainly is the day which we awaited; We have reached it, we have seen it!”
- NLT All your enemies mock you. They scoff and snarl and say, “We have destroyed her at last! We have long waited for this day, and it is finally here!”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Enemies open their mouths wide, gloating that they have swallowed her and seen the day they longed for. It shows the foe's triumphant cruelty over Zion's fall.
Overview
The adversaries' jeering, 'We have swallowed her up,' expresses malicious delight at Jerusalem's destruction. Their gnashing teeth and open mouths picture predatory triumph. Yet such gloating enemies will themselves face God's justice, and the believer is assured that no enemy's triumph over God's people is final in Christ (Romans 8:37).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 24
- Ps 35:21Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.
- Lam 3:46All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
- Ps 37:12The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.
- Ps 56:2Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
- Job 16:9–10He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
- Ps 35:16With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
- Jer 51:34Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.
- Ps 124:3Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
- Ps 22:13They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
- Jer 50:17Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.
- Ps 41:8An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.
- Zeph 2:8–10I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.
- Jer 50:7All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.
- Ezek 36:3Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people:
- Ps 112:10The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.
- Ezek 25:3And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity;
- Ezek 25:6For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel;
- Isa 49:19For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.
- Acts 7:54When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
- Hos 8:8Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.
- Obad 1:12–16But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.
- Ezek 25:15Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred;
- Ps 57:3He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.
- Ps 109:2For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
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Christ at the center
The weeping over a ruined city and the steadfast mercies that are new every morning point to the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem and whose mercy rises new from the grave.
How Lamentations 2:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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