Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Lamentations 2:18 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 18. 18Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse summons Zion's heart or wall to river-like tears without rest.
Read It With
- Lamentations 2:18-19
Read Lamentations 2:18 with 2:18-19. This verse summons Zion's heart or wall to river-like tears without rest. The complete unit establishes this movement: The poem calls Zion to give grief no artificial rest: tears, night cries, poured-out heart, and lifted hands become prayer for the lives of children collapsing from hunger in every street.
Why This Verse Appears Here
After deceptive visions and mockery, the poem offers neither explanation nor retaliation but sustained lament and advocacy before the next direct protest. Within that movement, this verse summons Zion's heart or wall to river-like tears without rest.
Follow the Context
- The heart or wall of Zion cries to the Lord.
- Tears are told to run day and night without forced pause.
- Night watches become occasions to pour out the heart.
- Lifted hands focus specifically on children's lives at the street corners.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Their heart cried unto the Lord”
In plain language: This verse summons Zion's heart or wall to river-like tears without rest.
Lament may persist without being a recovery failure.
Why it matters: The wording carries textual, theological, ethical, or pastoral risk requiring its complete unit and stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
This verse does not compel traumatized people to cry publicly or deny them rest because lament is called unceasing.
What Remains True
Lament may persist without being a recovery failure.
How It Can Shape Life
- Make room for ongoing grief while allowing the grieving person control over expression.
Teach It Back
Explain how Lamentations 2:18 contributes to Lamentations 2:18-19. Include the surrounding alphabet stanza, the stated uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Lamentations 2:18-19 — A Summons to Unceasing Tears for ChildrenSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The opening grammar and personified wall are textually difficult.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and canonical verse coverage.
Exact location: Lamentations 2:18-19, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Lamentations
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, alphabet sequence, person and number, repeated vocabulary, and translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lam.xml, OSIS Lam.2.18-Lam.2.19
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Lamentations with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew, syntax, textual, acrostic, literary, historical, and translation notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Lamentations PDF, printed pp. 1559-1565, translation and notes on 2:18-19
Open source ↗