Lamentations 2:11My eyes do fail with tears, my heart is troubled; My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.
The setting
Jerusalem, 586 BC. Jeremiah weeps as he sees children collapsing from hunger in the streets. The siege has lasted so long that there's no food left. Modern Jerusalem, Israel still has narrow streets where this happened.
The emotion here: heartbroken watching innocent children pay for adult failures
The original word
kavad (כָּבֵד) — liver, considered the seat of emotions in Hebrew culture, like we say 'heart'
Why it matters
During the 18-month siege, people resorted to eating leather and even cannibalism
Read with care
What most readers miss in Lamentations 2:11
Jeremiah says his 'liver is poured on the earth' — he's emotionally hemorrhaging watching children die
Common misconceptionPeople think godly people should be 'above' such intense emotional pain, but God's prophet is literally sick with grief over suffering children.
The thread continues
Verses that echo Lamentations 2:11
Bible Genome reading
Lamentations 2:11 — Bible Genome reading
Emotional genome
Lamentations 2:11 comes from the book of Lamentations, written during the Exile period. These words are attributed to Jeremiah. The dominant emotion in this verse is grieving, with a comfort power of 40% and a tone that is lamenting. It belongs to the poetry genre of biblical literature. Key themes include personal anguish, physical grief, children's suffering. Notable phrases: eyes do fail with tears; heart is troubled; liver is poured on the earth.
Emotionally similar
Verses that meet the same grieving
“By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you…”
— Genesis 3:19
“Jesus wept.”
— John 11:35
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?”
— Psalms 22:1
“They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing.”
— Psalms 22:18
“for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;”
— Romans 3:23
Your reflection
What does Lamentations 2:11 mean to you, today?
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