Lamentations 2:20 is a desperate prayer-question spoken by the poet to God, asking him to look at the horror that the siege of Jerusalem has produced, including mothers eating their own children and priests and prophets being killed in the Temple. The poet is not asking for information, since God already sees everything. The verse is an open, raw complaint, the kind a grieving people brings before the one they believe is still in charge of their history. It is spoken by the author of the book, traditionally identified as Jeremiah, to the LORD on behalf of the people of Jerusalem.
“Look, the LORD, and see to whom you have done thus! Should the women eat their offspring, the children that they held and bounced on their knees? Should the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
Lamentations 2:20 (WEB)
What Lamentations 2:20 Means
The verse opens with a command: “Look.” The poet is calling on God to pay attention. The phrase “to whom you have done thus” signals that the suffering is not random. The poet understands the catastrophe as something God has allowed or carried out in judgment, and so the question is directed at God himself, not at the enemies who attacked the city.
The two questions that follow are shocking on purpose. They describe the most extreme breakdown of family life and of religious life imaginable. Children who were once cradled and bounced on laps are now food in a starving city, and the priests and prophets who should have been protected in the sanctuary are being killed there. The poet names these horrors so that God, and the reader, cannot pretend they are small.
What the verse does not do is offer comfort or explanation in itself. It does not promise that the suffering will end, nor does it say why God chose this path. It simply brings the full weight of the disaster into God’s presence and asks him to respond. That honesty is part of its value.
The Context of Lamentations 2:20
Lamentations is a collection of five poems written after the Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple around 586 BC. Most of the book is funeral-style poetry, and several chapters follow an acrostic pattern, with each section beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The people the poet speaks for are the survivors of the city, and the book is meant to be read by a community trying to make sense of a loss that felt like the end of the world.
The verses just before this one (2:17-19) describe the LORD as the one who has carried out his word, and then urge the city to cry out to him day and night. Verse 20 flows directly from that urging. Having been told to pour out their hearts, the people now bring their most unbearable images to God. Read in that setting, the verse is not a rebellious accusation thrown at a distant deity but a prayer that refuses to stop speaking to God even while it is angry with him.
Key Phrases in Lamentations 2:20
Lamentations 3:22-23
22 It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. 23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
(WEB)
These verses come from the same book and offer a turn toward hope within the lament. They show that the poet’s honesty about suffering does not cancel the confidence that God’s faithfulness endures. Reading them alongside verse 20 helps you see the book as a movement from anguish toward trust.
Psalm 13:1-2
1 How long, the LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart every day? How long shall my enemy triumph over me?
(WEB)
David’s psalm is another example of a believer asking God how long the suffering will last and why he seems absent. It shares the same bold tone as Lamentations 2:20 and reminds you that lament is a recognized and biblical way to pray when life feels unbearable.
A Short Prayer From Lamentations 2:20
Lord, you see what has happened to your people and to the ones I love. I do not have neat words for what hurts, so I am bringing you the raw truth of it. Look at the places where life has broken open in front of me. Hear the cries I have been holding back, and do not turn away from them. Hold me while I grieve, and show me where your presence is still at work in the ruins. Amen.
