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.
Parallel translations
- WEB The Lord has cast off his altar, he has abhorred his sanctuary; He has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces: They have made a noise in Yahweh’s house, as in the day of a solemn assembly.
- BSB 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.
- NKJV The Lord has spurned His altar, He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has given up the walls of her palaces Into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord As on the day of a set feast.
- NASB The Lord has rejected His altar, He has repudiated His sanctuary; He has handed over The walls of her palaces to the enemy. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord As on the day of an appointed feast.
- NLT The Lord has rejected his own altar; he despises his own sanctuary. He has given Jerusalem’s palaces to her enemies. They shout in the Lord’s Temple as though it were a day of celebration.
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
The Lord rejected his altar and sanctuary and gave the temple walls to the enemy, who shouted within as if at a feast. It shows the holy place handed over to desecration.
Overview
God 'cast off his altar' and 'abhorred his sanctuary,' surrendering the temple to invaders whose triumphant noise mocks the former sounds of worship. The reversal is bitter: where praises once rose, enemies now exult. The defilement of the earthly temple sharpens the hope of the true and indestructible temple in Christ and his people (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- Amos 2:5But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
- Ps 74:3–8Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
- Ezek 24:21Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.
- Jer 52:13And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:
- Ezek 7:20–22As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.
- Ps 78:59–61When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
- Jer 32:29And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger.
- Jer 7:12–14But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
- Isa 64:10–11Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
- Jer 39:8And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.
- 2 Chr 36:19And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.
- Ezek 7:24Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.
- Jer 26:18Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
- Matt 24:2And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
- Lev 26:31And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.
- Acts 6:13–14And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
- Lam 2:5The LORD was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
- Jer 33:3–5Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
- Lev 26:44And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.
- Mic 3:12Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
- Lam 2:1How hath the LORD covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!
- Ps 72:4–20He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.
- Jer 26:6Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.
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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 2:7 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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