What Does Lamentations 2:7 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The feast-like noise in the LORD’s house belongs to the enemy, so a familiar sacred sound can now mark occupation.
THE MEANING
When the place you regard as sacred is handed over, its defenses no longer protect it; the sound inside can resemble celebration while carrying the force of an enemy’s victory. The verse keeps the violation visible, including the shock of hearing a feast-like noise in the LORD’s house.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being sacred guarantees immunity from rejection, desecration, or takeover.
THE ROOT
זָנַח
zānaḥ
GROWS FROM
זנח
z-n-ḥ
The root זנח (z-n-ḥ; zānaḥ) means to reject, spurn, or cast away.
“cast off” in this verse is zānaḥ. The verb does more than describe an altar being removed: it names rejection. The same seed voices the question of whether that rejection lasts forever, so the verse’s claim carries the ache of an unresolved relationship.
ALSO GROWS
yiznaḥ: Will he reject or cast off.
יִזְנַח
Psalm 77:7 uses this form in the question, “Will the Lord cast off for ever?”
zānaḥtā: You have rejected or cast off.
זָנַחְתָּ
Psalm 44:9 uses it as a direct lament to God, letting the root name felt abandonment rather than physical removal alone.
הִסְגִּיר
hisgīr
GROWS FROM
סגר
s-g-r
The root סגר (s-g-r; sāgar) means to shut or close; in this form, it can mean to hand over or surrender.
The verb translated “given up” comes from the language of closing something in. Here, the walls are handed into another’s control, turning what once enclosed the palaces into a boundary that no longer protects them.
ALSO GROWS
sāgar: To shut or close.
סָגַר
This is the root’s basic action; it gives “given up” the underlying image of closing or confining.
wayyisgōr: And he shut in.
וַיִּסְגֹּר
In Genesis 7:16 this root describes the LORD shutting Noah in; here its causative form marks the palaces as surrendered to enemy control.
מִקְדָּשׁ
miqdāsh
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
The root קדש (q-d-sh; qādash) means to set apart or mark as sacred.
The sanctuary word carries the idea of being set apart. The verse’s sharpness is that the very place marked as sacred is now the object of abhorrence.
ALSO GROWS
qādōsh: Set apart; sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
This adjective carries the sanctuary’s root idea of being marked as set apart.
qōdesh: A sacred or set-apart thing; sacredness.
קֹדֶשׁ
This noun shares the sanctuary’s root and makes the contrast plain: what is set apart is treated with abhorrence.
THE PATTERN
When a sacred space is surrendered, hostile power can occupy even its familiar signs and sounds.
Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.THE THREAD
Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?The same Hebrew verb, זָנַח (zānaḥ), meaning “reject” or “cast off,” stands at the center of both verses: here it names the altar’s rejection; there it becomes a question about whether rejection endures. The shared root lets this verse remain inside lament’s open question without making the damage disappear.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us