What Does Lamentations 2:8 Mean in the King James?
The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.
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 LORD’s measured hand makes the very structures meant to protect the city share in its grief.
THE MEANING
Before you stands a deliberate collapse: the LORD stretches the line and does not draw back his hand from ruin. The rampart and wall are made to lament and wither together, so the structures that contain and protect are inside the grief too. The verse does not call this destruction accidental or make its weight smaller.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a fortified boundary guarantees survival: even the wall is within the scope of judgment. The stretched line makes the collapse deliberate, not accidental.
THE ROOT
חָשַׁב
ḥāšaḇ
GROWS FROM
חשב
think, reckon, devise, plan
“purposed” in this verse is ḥāšaḇ. The root holds thinking, reckoning, and devising together. Its branches מַחֲשָׁבָה (maḥăšāḇāh, thought or plan) and חֶשְׁבּוֹן (ḥešbôn, reckoning or account) show why the stretched line matters: the ruin is presented as intended and carried through.
ALSO GROWS
maḥăšāḇāh: thought, plan, device
מַחֲשָׁבָה
This branch makes the LORD’s purpose a considered design, not an accidental collapse.
ḥešbôn: reckoning, account
חֶשְׁבּוֹן
This branch echoes the measured line: the destruction is weighed and carried out.
לְהַשְׁחִית
lehashḥît
GROWS FROM
שחת
ruin, corrupt, bring to destruction
“destroy” in this verse is lehashḥît. This root holds physical ruin together with corruption: the wall is not merely opened but brought to destruction. Its branches name the pit associated with ruin and the destroyer who brings it, gathering the act, agent, and outcome into one word family.
ALSO GROWS
šaḥat: pit, destruction
שַׁחַת
This branch gives ruin a concrete depth, beyond a simple break in the wall.
mašḥît: destroyer, corrupter
מַשְׁחִית
This branch names the force that carries destruction into what is being brought down.
וַיַּאֲבֵל
wayyaʾabēl
GROWS FROM
אבל
mourn, lament
“made the rampart and wall to lament” in this verse is wayyaʾabēl. Here the LORD causes the rampart and wall themselves to mourn, drawing the structures into the city’s grief. The following אֻמְלָלוּ (ʾumelalû, they languished) comes from the distinct root אמל (ʾ-m-l, languish or wither); its sound echoes אבל (ʾ-b-l, mourn), joining lament to withering without making them the same root.
ALSO GROWS
ʾēvel: mourning
אֵבֶל
The noun makes clear that the wall’s lament belongs to the same word family as grief itself.
ʾāvēl: mourner
אָבֵל
This branch usually describes one who mourns; here, even the city’s defenses are made to take that role.
THE PATTERN
Scripture pictures judgment as measured dismantling: the line is stretched, and the boundaries that once held are brought down.
And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.THE THREAD
And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.Both verses pair נָטָה (nāṭāh, stretch out) with קָו (qāw, line). The repeated verb and line turn the language of measuring into an image of deliberate judgment over Jerusalem.
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