Lamentations 2 is the second chapter of the Book of Lamentations in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, part of the Ketuvim ("Writings"). This chapter continues the elegies of the prophet Jeremiah, as he laments the misery of Jerusalem, and its causes, and their enemies' derision (), leading to an exhortation to true sorrow and repentance. The chapter concludes with a fervent prayer in verses 18 (or 19) to 22. Text The original text was written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 22 verses. The chapter is acrostic, divided into 22 stanzas or verses. The stanzas consist of triplets of lines (excepting Lamentations 2:19, which contain four lines) each beginning with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in regular order (twenty-two in number). Textual versions Some early witnesses for the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, i.e., 4Q111 (4QLam; 30‑1 BCE) with the extant verse 5. There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: S; 4th century; extant verses 1–20), Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; Q; 6th century). Verse 1 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He cast down from heaven to the earth The beauty of Israel, And did not remember His footstool In the day of His anger. "How" (Hebrew: Eichah): repeating the title of the book/collection, and also in Lamentations 4:1. "How the Lord has covered": Or, "How" doth "אדני 'ădonāy cover." "The daughter of Zion": i.e. Jerusalem. "Cast down from heaven": Here (and in ) is a parallel to , where the King of Babylon is compared to a "bright star". "Cast down" into the "pit" or dungeon of Hades (). "The beauty of Israel": i.e. Jerusalem, just as Babylon is called "the proud beauty [or, 'ornament'] of Chaldea" (). "His footstool": meaning either the "house of the sanctuary", i.e. the temple itself, containing the Ark of covenant (; ), according to the Targum and Jarchi; or rather the Ark of covenant () with the mercy seat, on which the Shechinah or divine