Lamentations 2:20 is the people of Jerusalem crying out to God in grief, asking him to look at the horror that has come upon the city after its siege and fall. The verse is a lament, a raw question addressed directly to the LORD about what has happened to the mothers, children, priests and prophets of Jerusalem. The speaker is the community, voiced through the poet of the book, and the words are aimed at God himself.
“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 to God: “Look.” The writer is not asking God for information, since God obviously sees everything. The people are pleading with him to take notice, to turn his attention toward their suffering and to see the full cost of what he has allowed. The phrase “see to whom you have done thus” points to the pain itself, the appalling conditions the city has endured under siege, when food ran out and families faced unimaginable choices.
The two questions that follow are shocking on purpose. They describe mothers eating the children they once cradled and played with, and priests and prophets being killed in the very place set apart for worship. The poet is not describing a normal day. He is describing the collapse of the most basic human bonds and the most sacred religious order. The verse does not explain why this happened or promise that it will be reversed. It simply puts the horror into words before God.
What the verse does not do is offer comfort or justification. It does not say the suffering is deserved, and it does not say God will rescue the people right away. Lament is honest speech to God about pain that does not yet make sense. The verse teaches that bringing the full weight of grief to God is itself a form of faith, even when the answer is still hidden.
The Context of Lamentations 2:20
Lamentations is a collection of five poems written after the Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 586 BC. The book is traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, though the text itself does not name its author, and the poems are written as the voice of a grieving community that has lost its city, its king, its temple and much of its population. The audience is the survivors and anyone who would read the book in the future, a people learning how to speak to God after catastrophe.
The verses just before and after this one make the picture clearer. Verse 17 and verse 18 describe God as the one who has carried out his word and brought down the walls, while verse 19 urges the people to pour out their hearts like water before the Lord and lift up their hands for their starving children. Verses 21 and 22 then describe the young and old lying dead in the streets and the terror that surrounded the city on the day of the LORD’s anger. Read in this setting, verse 20 is the climax of a long, anguished appeal. The people are not simply reporting horrors. They are demanding that God, who has allowed this, look at what it has produced.
Key Phrases in Lamentations 2:20
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)
This psalm shows the same pattern of asking God how long the suffering will last and why he seems to be hiding his face. Reading it alongside Lamentations 2:20 helps you see that honest questions addressed to God are a long-standing part of Israel’s prayer life.
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)
Just a few chapters later in the same book, the poet turns from grief to remembrance of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. Reading these verses with Lamentations 2:20 shows that lament is not the final word, but a path through pain toward renewed hope.
A Short Prayer From Lamentations 2:20
Lord, you see what has happened in my life and in the lives of those I love. I do not want to hide the pain from you or pretend it is smaller than it is. Look at the broken places, the sleepless nights, and the questions I cannot yet answer. Hear the cries I have held back for too long. Meet me in this grief and help me trust that you are still present, even when I cannot feel your nearness. Amen.
