Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, July 17th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Lamentations 2:9

Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and shattered their bars. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and even her prophets find no vision from the LORD.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Prophecy;   Thompson Chain Reference - Destitution, Spiritual;   Poverty, Spiritual;   Poverty-Riches;   Spiritual;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Gates;   Prophets;   Sins, National;   Visions;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Vision;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Corinthians, First and Second, Theology of;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Lamentations;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Lamentations, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Acrostic;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Prophet;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Jerusalem;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bar (2);   Vision;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Haggai;   Small and Large Letters;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Zion’s gates have fallen to the ground;he has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates.Her king and her leaders live among the nations,instruction is no more,and even her prophets receiveno vision from the Lord.
Hebrew Names Version
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not; Yes, her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
King James Version
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord .
English Standard Version
Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the Lord .
New American Standard Bible
Her gates have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her leaders are among the nations; The Law is gone. Her prophets, too, find No vision from the LORD.
New Century Version
Jerusalem's gates have fallen to the ground; he destroyed and smashed the bars of the gates. Her king and her princes are among the nations. The teaching of the Lord has stopped, and the prophets do not have visions from the Lord .
Amplified Bible
Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are [exiled] among the nations; The law is no more. Also, her prophets no longer find Vision from the LORD.
World English Bible
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not; Yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Her gates are sunke to the grounde: he hath destroyed and broken her barres: her King and her princes are among the Gentiles: the Lawe is no more, neither can her Prophets receiue any vision from the Lord.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Her gates have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; The law is no more. Also, her prophets find No vision from the LORD.
Legacy Standard Bible
Her gates have sunk into the ground;He has destroyed and broken her bars.Her king and her princes are among the nations;The law is no more.Also, her prophets findNo vision from Yahweh.
Contemporary English Version
Zion's gates have fallen facedown on the ground; the bars that locked the gates are smashed to pieces. Her king and royal family are prisoners in foreign lands. Her priests don't teach, and her prophets don't have a message from the Lord .
Complete Jewish Bible
Her gates have sunk into the ground; he destroyed and broke their bars. Her king and rulers are among the Goyim, there is no more Torah, and her prophets do not receive visions from Adonai .
Darby Translation
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations: the law is no [more]; her prophets also find no vision from Jehovah.
Easy-to-Read Version
Jerusalem's gates have sunk into the ground. The bars on her gates are completely destroyed. Her king and princes have been taken to other nations. The teaching of the law has stopped. And her prophets no longer receive visions from the Lord .
George Lamsa Translation
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars; her kings and her princes are among the Gentiles; the law is no more; her prophets also find no visions from the LORD.
Good News Translation
The gates lie buried in rubble, their bars smashed to pieces. The king and the noblemen now are in exile. The Law is no longer taught, and the prophets have no visions from the Lord .
Lexham English Bible
Her gates have sunk into the earth; he has ruined and broken her bars, her kings and its princes are among the nations; there is no more law. Also, her prophets have not found a revelation from Yahweh.
Literal Translation
Her gates have sunk in the ground; He has dispersed and shattered her bars. Her kings and her rulers are among the nations. The Law is not. Also her prophets have not found a vision from Jehovah.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Hir portes are casten downe to the grounde, hir barres are broken & smytten in sonder: hir kynge & prynces are caried awaye to the Getiles. They haue nether lawe ner prophetes, ner yet eny vision from the LORDE.
American Standard Version
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not; Yea, her prophets find no vision from Jehovah.
Bible in Basic English
Her doors have gone down into the earth; he has sent destruction on her locks: her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not; even her prophets have had no vision from the Lord.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Her gates are sunk into the ground; He hath destroyed and broken her bars; her king and her princes are among the nations, instruction is no more; yea, her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
King James Version (1611)
Her gates are sunke into the ground: he hath destroyed and broken her barres: her King and her Princes are among the Gentiles: the Law is no more, her prophets also finde no vision from the Lord.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Her gates are suncke downe to the grounde, her barres are broken and smitten in sunder, the kyng and princes are caryed away to the gentiles: they haue neither lawe nor prophetes, nor yet any vision from the Lorde.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
TETH. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he has destroyed and broken to pieces her bars, and her king and her prince among the Gentiles: there is no law, nay, her prophets have seen no vision from the Lord.
English Revised Version
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not; yea, her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Teth. The yatis therof ben piyt in the erthe, he loste and al to-brak the barris therof; the kyng therof and the princes therof among hethene men; the lawe is not, and the profetis therof founden not of the Lord a visioun.
Update Bible Version
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not; Yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.
Webster's Bible Translation
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes [are] among the Gentiles: the law [is] no [more]: her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.
New English Translation

ט (Tet)

Her city gates have fallen to the ground; he smashed to bits the bars that lock her gates. Her king and princes were taken into exile; there is no more guidance available. As for her prophets, they no longer receive a vision from the Lord .
New King James Version
Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; The Law is no more, And her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
New Living Translation
Jerusalem's gates have sunk into the ground. He has smashed their locks and bars. Her kings and princes have been exiled to distant lands; her law has ceased to exist. Her prophets receive no more visions from the Lord .
New Life Bible
Her gates have gone down into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her iron pieces. Her king and leaders have been sent among the nations. The Law is no more. And her men who spoke for God have no more special dreams from the Lord.
New Revised Standard
Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; guidance is no more, and her prophets obtain no vision from the Lord .
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Her gates, have sunk in the earth, He hath destroyed and broken in pieces, her bars, - Her king and her princes, are among the nations, There is no instruction, Even her prophets, have found no vision, from Yahweh.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Teth. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he hath destroyed, and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord.
Revised Standard Version
Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and her prophets obtain no vision from the LORD.
Young's Literal Translation
Sunk into the earth have her gates, He hath destroyed and broken her bars, Her king and her princes [are] among the nations, There is no law, also her prophets Have not found vision from Jehovah.
THE MESSAGE
Her city gates, iron bars and all, disappeared in the rubble: her kings and princes off to exile—no one left to instruct or lead; her prophets useless—they neither saw nor heard anything from God .

Contextual Overview

1How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with His cloud of anger! He has cast the glory of Israel from heaven to earth. He has abandoned His footstool in the day of His anger. 2Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In His wrath He has demolished the fortified cities of the Daughter of Judah. He brought to the ground and defiled her kingdom and its princes. 3He has cut off every horn of Israel in His fierce anger and withdrawn His right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes all around it. 4He has bent His bow like an enemy; His right hand is positioned. Like a foe He has killed all who were pleasing to the eye; He has poured out His wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion. 5The Lord is like an enemy; He has swallowed up Israel. He swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation in the Daughter of Judah. 6He has laid waste to His tabernacle like a garden booth; He has destroyed His place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed feasts and Sabbaths. In His fierce anger He has despised both king and priest. 7The Lord has rejected His altar; He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has handed the walls of her palaces over to the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed feast. 8The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withdraw His hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls lament; together they waste away. 9Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and shattered their bars. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and even her prophets find no vision from the LORD.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

gates: Nehemiah 1:3, Jeremiah 39:2, Jeremiah 39:8, Jeremiah 51:30, Jeremiah 52:14

her king: Lamentations 1:3, Lamentations 4:15, Lamentations 4:20, Deuteronomy 28:36, 2 Kings 24:12-16, 2 Kings 25:7, Jeremiah 52:8, Jeremiah 52:9, Ezekiel 12:13, Ezekiel 17:20

the law: 2 Chronicles 15:3, Ezekiel 7:26, Hosea 3:4

her prophets: Psalms 74:9, Amos 8:11, Amos 8:12, Micah 3:6, Micah 3:7

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 28:6 - inquired Nehemiah 2:3 - the city Nehemiah 2:17 - Ye see Psalms 147:13 - he hath Isaiah 24:12 - General Jeremiah 14:2 - they Lamentations 1:4 - all her gates Lamentations 5:18 - of the Ezekiel 3:26 - and shalt Amos 1:5 - break

Cross-References

Genesis 2:8
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.
Genesis 2:9
Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:17
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die."
Genesis 3:3
but of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.'"
Deuteronomy 6:25
And if we are careful to observe every one of these commandments before the LORD our God just as He has commanded us, then that will be our righteousness."
Proverbs 3:18
She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who lay hold of her are blessed.
Proverbs 11:30
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
Isaiah 44:25
who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,
Isaiah 47:10
You were secure in your wickedness; you said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me.'
Ezekiel 31:16
I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend to the Pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were consoled in the earth below.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Her gates are sunk into the ground,.... Either the gates of the city or temple, or both; being broke and demolished, and laid level with the ground, and covered with rubbish; for as for the Midrash, or exposition, that Jarchi mentions, that the gates sunk into the earth upon the approach of the enemy, that they might not have power over them, through which the ark passed, is a mere fable of their Rabbins; and equally as absurd is the additional gloss of the Targum,

"her gates sunk into the earth, because they sacrificed a hog, and brought of the blood of it to them:''

he hath destroyed and broken her bars; with which the gates were bolted and barred, that so the enemy might enter; it was God that did it, or suffered it to be done, or it would not have been in the power of the enemy:

her king and her princes [are] among the Gentiles; Zedekiah, and the princes that were not slain by the king of Babylon, were carried captive thither; and there they lived, even among Heathens that knew not God, and despised his worship:

the law [is] no [more]; the book of the law was burnt in the temple, and the tables of it carried away with the ark, or destroyed; and though, no doubt, there were copies of the law preserved, yet it was not read nor expounded; nor was worship performed according to the direction of it; nor could it be in a strange land. Mr. Broughton joins this with the preceding clause, as descriptive of the Heathens: "her king and her princes [are] among Heathen that have no law"; see Romans 2:12;

her prophets also find no vision from the Lord; there was none but Jeremiah left in the land, and none but Ezekiel and Daniel in the captivity; prophets were very rare at this time, as they were afterwards; for we hear of no more after the captivity, till the coming of the Messiah, but Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi; so that there was very little open vision; the word of the Lord was precious or scarce; there was a famine of hearing it, 1 Samuel 3:1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Her gates are sunk into the ground - So completely destroyed, that one might suppose they had been swallowed up in an abyss.

Her king - The prophet’s lamentation, occupied before chiefly with the buildings of the city and temple, now turns to the people, beginning with their temporal rulers.

The law is no more - The Jewish Law, the Torah, came to an end when it no longer had a local habitation. Its enactments were essentially those not of a universal religion, but of a national religion, and the restoration of the nation with a material temple was indispensable to its continued existence. It was only when elevated to be a universal religion, by being made spiritual, that it could do without ark, temple, and a separate people.

Her prophets also find ... - With the Torah, the special gift of prophecy also ceased, since both were unique to the theocracy; but it was not until the establishment of Christianity that they were finally merged in higher developments of grace.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 9. Her gates are sunk into the ground — The consequence of their being long thrown down and neglected. From this it appears that the captivity had already lasted a considerable time.

Her king and her princes are among the Gentiles — Zedekiah and many of the princes were then prisoners in Babylon, another proof that the captivity had endured some time, unless all this be spoken prophetically, of what should be done.


 
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