What is the meaning of Lamentations 2:16? All your enemies open their mouths against you • Jeremiah pictures Judah’s foes standing over the ruined city with mouths wide open—an image of both mockery and menace (Psalm 22:13; Lamentations 3:46). • Literally, the surrounding nations—Babylon first among them—express their contempt aloud. • Spiritually, it underscores how sin left the covenant people defenseless; they forfeited the protection promised in passages such as Deuteronomy 28:7. • For believers today, it reminds us that unrepentant disobedience removes the hedge of divine favor (Proverbs 5:22). They hiss and gnash their teeth • “Hiss” conveys scorn, as if Judah were now a byword (1 Kings 9:7–8). “Gnash their teeth” pictures violent hatred (Psalm 35:16, 19; 37:12). • The combination shows enemies delighting in suffering—a dark mirror of the righteous who “gnash their teeth” at God’s judgment (Matthew 13:42). • God allows the hostility, not because He is weak, but because His justice demands that sin reap its harvest (Galatians 6:7). “We have swallowed her up” • The boast echoes Psalm 124:3, where the psalmist feared, “they would have swallowed us alive.” Judah’s foes now claim total consumption—city, temple, people. • The imagery fits Babylon’s imperial appetite (Jeremiah 51:34). • Yet even this devouring has limits; God preserves a remnant (Lamentations 3:22–23). This is the day for which we have waited • Ancient neighbors—Edom, Moab, Ammon—harbored long-standing grudges (Psalm 137:7; Ezekiel 25:3). Their patience was fueled by hatred. • God had repeatedly warned Judah that rebellion would embolden rivals (Jeremiah 2:16; 4:17). • The line exposes the perversity of hearts that celebrate another’s downfall—condemned in Proverbs 24:17–18. We have lived to see it! • The enemies relish their moment, fulfilling Obadiah 12: “Do not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune.” • Their glee is short-lived; God will later judge each taunting nation (Jeremiah 46–51; Obadiah 15). • The verse ultimately foreshadows how the world exults over the apparent defeat of God’s people, yet Revelation 11:10–11 shows the Lord reversing that scene. summary Lamentations 2:16 captures the crescendo of enemy gloating after Jerusalem’s fall: open mouths of mockery, hissing contempt, teeth-gnashing rage, triumphant boasting, and satisfied glee. The verse testifies to God’s justice—He permits hostile nations to celebrate only because Judah’s persistent sin demanded judgment. Yet even at this low point, Scripture assures that such triumph is temporary; the Lord remains faithful to His covenant and will ultimately vindicate His people while bringing every taunt under righteous judgment. |
    |