Lamentations 2:18
New International Version
The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. You walls of Daughter Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest.

New Living Translation
Cry aloud before the Lord, O walls of beautiful Jerusalem! Let your tears flow like a river day and night. Give yourselves no rest; give your eyes no relief.

English Standard Version
Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!

Berean Standard Bible
The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief, and your eyes no rest.

King James Bible
Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.

New King James Version
Their heart cried out to the Lord, “O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief; Give your eyes no rest.

New American Standard Bible
Their heart cried out to the Lord: “You wall of the daughter of Zion, Let your tears stream down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief, Let your eyes have no rest.

NASB 1995
Their heart cried out to the Lord, “O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let your tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief, Let your eyes have no rest.

NASB 1977
Their heart cried out to the Lord, “O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let your tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief; Let your eyes have no rest.

Legacy Standard Bible
Their heart cried out to the Lord, “O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let your tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief; Let your eyes not be still.

Amplified Bible
Their hearts cried out to the Lord. “O wall of the Daughter of Zion, Let your tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief, Let your eyes have no rest.

Christian Standard Bible
The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. Wall of Daughter Zion, let your tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief and your eyes no rest.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. Wall of Daughter Zion, let your tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief and your eyes no rest.

American Standard Version
Their heart cried unto the Lord: O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; Give thyself no respite; let not the apple of thine eye cease.

Contemporary English Version
Zion, deep in your heart you cried out to the Lord. Now let your tears overflow your walls day and night. Don't ever lose hope or let your tears stop.

English Revised Version
Their heart cried unto the Lord: O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; give thyself no respite; let not the apple of thine eye cease.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The hearts of Jerusalem's people cried out to the LORD, the wall of Zion's people. Let your tears run down like a river day and night. Don't let them stop. Don't let your eyes rest.

Good News Translation
O Jerusalem, let your very walls cry out to the Lord! Let your tears flow like rivers night and day; Wear yourself out with weeping and grief!

International Standard Version
Cry out from your heart to the Lord, wall of fair Zion! Let your tears run down like a river day and night. Allow yourself no rest, and don't stop crying.

Majority Standard Bible
The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief, and your eyes no rest.

NET Bible
Cry out from your heart to the Lord, O wall of Daughter Zion! Make your tears flow like a river all day and all night long! Do not rest; do not let your tears stop!

New Heart English Bible
Their heart cried to the LORD. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no respite; do not let your tears cease.

Webster's Bible Translation
Their heart cried to the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thy eye cease.

World English Bible
Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief. Don’t let your eyes rest.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Their heart has cried to the Lord; O wall of the daughter of Zion, "" Cause to go down tears as a stream daily and nightly, do not give rest to yourself, "" Do not let the daughter of your eye stand still.

Young's Literal Translation
Cried hath their heart unto the Lord; O wall of the daughter of Zion, Cause to go down as a stream tears daily and nightly, Give not rest to thyself, Let not the daughter of thine eye stand still.

Smith's Literal Translation
Their heart cried to Jehovah, O wall of the daughter of Zion, cause tears to go down as a torrent day and night thou shalt give no remission to thyself; the daughter of thine eye shall not be silent.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Sade. Their heart cried to the Lord upon the walls of the daughter of Sion: Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: give thyself no rest, and let not the apple of thy eye cease.

Catholic Public Domain Version
SADE. Their heart cried out to the Lord from the walls of the daughter of Zion. Let tears run down like a torrent throughout the day and the night. Do not give rest to yourself, and do not allow the pupil of your eye to cease.

New American Bible
Cry out to the Lord from your heart, wall of daughter Zion! Let your tears flow like a torrent day and night; Give yourself no rest, no relief for your eyes.

New Revised Standard Version
Cry aloud to the Lord! O wall of daughter Zion! Let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
The people's heart cried to the LORD of the walls of the daughter of Zion; let your tears run down like a stream day and night: give yourself no rest; let not the apple of your eye cease from shedding tears.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Tsadhe Their heart cried to LORD JEHOVAH of the walls of the daughter of Zion. Make flow as a torrent of tears by day and by night! You shall not be given refreshing for yourselves, and the pupil of your eye shall not cease!
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Their heart cried unto the Lord: 'O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let tears run down like a river Day and night; Give thyself no respite; Let not the apple of thine eye cease.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
TSADE. Their heart cried to the Lord, Ye walls of Sion, pour down tears like torrents day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eyes cease.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God's Anger over Jerusalem
17The 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. 18The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief, and your eyes no rest. 19Arise, 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.…

Cross References
Jeremiah 14:17
You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow, a severely grievous wound.

Isaiah 62:6-7
On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD shall take no rest for yourselves, / nor give Him any rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.

Psalm 119:136
My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.

Jeremiah 9:1
Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.

Isaiah 33:7
Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

Luke 19:41-44
As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it / and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes. / For the days will come upon you when your enemies will barricade you and surround you and hem you in on every side. ...

Matthew 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

Jeremiah 13:17
But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.

Joel 2:17
Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the portico and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

Psalm 42:3
My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Ezekiel 9:4
“Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the LORD, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”

2 Kings 19:1-4
On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD. / And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz / to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them. ...

Nehemiah 1:4
When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Jeremiah 31:15
This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

Revelation 18:9-11
Then the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her. / In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.” / And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because there is no one left to buy their cargo—


Treasury of Scripture

Their heart cried to the LORD, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give yourself no rest; let not the apple of your eye cease.

heart

Psalm 119:145
KOPH. I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy statutes.

Isaiah 26:16,17
LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them…

Hosea 7:14
And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.

O wall

Lamentations 2:8
The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.

Habakkuk 2:11
For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

let tears

Lamentations 1:2,16
She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies…

Lamentations 3:48,49
Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people…

Psalm 119:136
Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.

the apple.

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Lamentations 2
1. Jeremiah laments the misery of Jerusalem
20. He complains thereof to God














The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord
The phrase "hearts of the people" refers to the innermost being and emotions of the Israelites. In Hebrew, the word for heart is "לֵב" (lev), which often signifies the center of human thought, emotion, and will. This cry is not merely vocal but a deep, spiritual lamentation, reflecting a profound sense of loss and desperation. Historically, this cry arises from the devastation of Jerusalem, a city that was the heart of Jewish worship and identity. The people are turning to the Lord, acknowledging Him as their only source of hope and deliverance amidst their suffering.

O wall of Daughter Zion
"Daughter Zion" is a poetic term for Jerusalem, personifying the city as a daughter, which conveys a sense of endearment and vulnerability. The "wall" symbolizes protection and strength, yet here it is addressed as if it were a living entity capable of mourning. This reflects the ancient Near Eastern practice of attributing human characteristics to cities and their features. The wall, once a symbol of security, now stands as a witness to the city's destruction and the people's sorrow.

let your tears flow like a river day and night
The imagery of tears flowing "like a river" suggests an unending and overwhelming grief. In Hebrew culture, rivers often symbolize abundance and continuity. Here, the metaphor emphasizes the depth and constancy of the mourning. The call for tears to flow "day and night" indicates a relentless, unceasing lamentation, underscoring the severity of the calamity that has befallen Jerusalem. This reflects the historical context of the Babylonian siege and destruction, which left the city in ruins and its people in despair.

give yourself no relief
The phrase "give yourself no relief" is a call to persistent mourning. The Hebrew root for "relief" is "פָּרַק" (paraq), which can mean to loosen or to let go. The instruction here is to maintain a state of lament without seeking comfort or distraction. This reflects the seriousness of the situation and the need for genuine repentance and reflection. In the conservative Christian perspective, this can be seen as a call to earnest prayer and seeking God's face in times of distress.

and your eyes no rest
The command for "your eyes no rest" further emphasizes the intensity of the lamentation. In the Hebrew context, eyes are often associated with perception and understanding. The lack of rest for the eyes suggests a continual awareness and acknowledgment of the tragedy. It is a call to remain vigilant and engaged in the process of mourning and repentance. This relentless focus on the calamity serves as a reminder of the consequences of turning away from God and the need for His mercy and restoration.

(18) Their heart.--The possessive pronoun does not refer to any immediate antecedent, but points, with a wild abruptness, to the mourners of Zion. Yet more boldly their cry is an appeal to the "wall" of Zion (comp. Lamentations 2:8, and Isaiah 14:31), to take up its lamentation, as though it were a human mourner.

Like a river.--Better, like a torrent.

The apple of thine eye.--Literally, "the daughter," as in the English phrase, the "pupil" of the eye.

Verse 18. - Their heart cried unto the Lord, etc. "Their heart" can only mean "the heart of the people of Jerusalem." For the expression, comp. Psalm 84:2, "My heart and my flesh cry aloud to the living God." To avoid the rather startling prosopopoeia in the next clause, Thenius supposes a corruption in the group of letters rendered "wall," and attaches the corrected word to the first clause, rendering thus: "Their heart crieth unto the Lord in vain; O daughter of Zion, let tears run down," etc. Another resource, which also involves an emendation, is that of Ewald, "Cry with all thy heart, O wall of the daughter of Zion." O wall, etc. The prosepopoeia is surprising, but is only a degree more striking than that of ver. 8 and Lamentations 1:4. In Isaiah 14:31 we find an equally strong one, "Howl, O gate." Most probably, however, there is something wrong in the text; the following verses seem to refer to the daughter of Zion. Bickell reads thus: "Cry aloud unto the Lord, O virgin daughter of Zion." Like a river; rather, like a torrent. Give thyself no rest. The word rendered "rest" means properly the stiffness produced by cold.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The hearts [of the people]
לִבָּ֖ם (lib·bām)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 3820: The heart, the feelings, the will, the intellect, centre

cry out
צָעַ֥ק (ṣā·‘aq)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6817: To shriek, to proclaim

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

the Lord.
אֲדֹנָ֑י (’ă·ḏō·nāy)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 136: The Lord

O wall
חוֹמַ֣ת (ḥō·w·maṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 2346: A wall of protection

of the Daughter
בַּת־ (baṯ-)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 1323: A daughter

of Zion,
צִ֠יּוֹן (ṣî·yō·wn)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 6726: Zion -- a mountain in Jerusalem, also a name for Jerusalem

let your tears
דִּמְעָה֙ (dim·‘āh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 1832: Tears (of one weeping)

run down
הוֹרִ֨ידִי (hō·w·rî·ḏî)
Verb - Hifil - Imperative - feminine singular
Strong's 3381: To come or go down, descend

like a river
כַנַּ֤חַל (ḵan·na·ḥal)
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5158: A stream, a winter torrent, a, valley, a shaft

day
יוֹמָ֣ם (yō·w·mām)
Adverb
Strong's 3119: Daytime, by day

and night.
וָלַ֔יְלָה (wā·lay·lāh)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3915: A twist, night, adversity

Give
תִּתְּנִ֤י (tit·tə·nî)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

yourself no
אַֽל־ (’al-)
Adverb
Strong's 408: Not

relief,
פוּגַת֙ (p̄ū·ḡaṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 6314: Benumbing, cessation

and your eyes
עֵינֵֽךְ׃ (‘ê·nêḵ)
Noun - common singular construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 5869: An eye, a fountain

no
אַל־ (’al-)
Adverb
Strong's 408: Not

rest.
תִּדֹּ֖ם (tid·dōm)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1826: To be dumb, to be astonished, to stop, to perish


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OT Prophets: Lamentations 2:18 Their heart cried to the Lord: wall (Lam. La Lm)
Lamentations 2:17
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