4:21 She named the boy Ichabod, 1 saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” referring to the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. 4:22 She said, “The glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God has been captured.”
26:8 O Lord, I love the temple where you live, 2
the place where your splendor is revealed. 3
42:3 I cannot eat, I weep day and night; 4
all day long they say to me, 5 “Where is your God?”
42:10 My enemies’ taunts cut into me to the bone, 6
as they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 7
69:9 Certainly 8 zeal for 9 your house 10 consumes me;
I endure the insults of those who insult you. 11
ס (Samek)
2:15 All who passed by on the road
clapped their hands to mock you. 12
They sneered and shook their heads
at Daughter Jerusalem.
“Ha! Is this the city they called 13
‘The perfection of beauty, 14
the source of joy of the whole earth!’?” 15
פ (Pe)
2:16 All your enemies
gloated over you. 16
They sneered and gnashed their teeth;
they said, “We have destroyed 17 her!
Ha! We have waited a long time for this day.
We have lived to see it!” 18
ע (Ayin)
2:17 The Lord has done what he planned;
he has fulfilled 19 his promise 20
that he threatened 21 long ago: 22
He has overthrown you without mercy 23
and has enabled the enemy to gloat over you;
he has exalted your adversaries’ power. 24
צ (Tsade)
2:18 Cry out 25 from your heart 26 to the Lord, 27
O wall of Daughter Zion! 28
Make your tears flow like a river
all day and all night long! 29
Do not rest;
do not let your tears 30 stop!
ק (Qof)
2:19 Get up! Cry out in the night 31
when the night watches start! 32
Pour out your heart 33 like water
before the face of the Lord! 34
Lift up your hands 35 to him
for your children’s lives; 36
they are fainting 37
at every street corner. 38
1 sn The name Ichabod (אִי־כָבוֹד) may mean, “Where is the glory?”
2 tn Heb “the dwelling of your house.”
3 tn Heb “the place of the abode of your splendor.”
4 tn Heb “My tears have become my food day and night.”
5 tn Heb “when [they] say to me all the day.” The suffixed third masculine plural pronoun may have been accidentally omitted from the infinitive בֶּאֱמֹר (be’ÿmor, “when [they] say”). Note the term בְּאָמְרָם (bÿ’omram, “when they say”) in v. 10.
6 tc Heb “with a shattering in my bones my enemies taunt me.” A few medieval Hebrew
7 sn “Where is your God?” The enemies ask this same question in v. 3.
8 tn Or “for.” This verse explains that the psalmist’s suffering is due to his allegiance to God.
9 tn Or “devotion to.”
10 sn God’s house, the temple, here represents by metonymy God himself.
11 tn Heb “the insults of those who insult you fall upon me.”
12 tn Heb “clap their hands at you.” Clapping hands at someone was an expression of malicious glee, derision and mockery (Num 24:10; Job 27:23; Lam 2:15).
13 tn Heb “of which they said.”
14 tn Heb “perfection of beauty.” The noun יֹפִי (yofi, “beauty”) functions as a genitive of respect in relation to the preceding construct noun: Jerusalem was perfect in respect to its physical beauty.
15 tn Heb “the joy of all the earth.” This is similar to statements found in Pss 48:2 and 50:2.
16 tn Heb “they have opened wide their mouth against you.”
17 tn Heb “We have swallowed!”
18 tn Heb “We have attained, we have seen!” The verbs מָצָאנוּ רָאִינוּ (matsa’nu ra’inu) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first retains its full verbal sense and the second functions as an object complement. It forms a Hebrew idiom that means something like, “We have lived to see it!” The three asyndetic 1st person common plural statements in 2:16 (“We waited, we destroyed, we saw!”) are spoken in an impassioned, staccato style reflecting the delight of the conquerors.
19 tn The verb בָּצַע (batsa’) has a broad range of meanings: (1) “to cut off, break off,” (2) “to injure” a person, (3) “to gain by violence,” (4) “to finish, complete” and (5) “to accomplish, fulfill” a promise.
20 tn Heb “His word.” When used in collocation with the verb בָּצַע (batsa’, “to fulfill,” see previous tn), the accusative noun אִמְרָה (’imrah) means “promise.”
21 tn Heb “commanded” or “decreed.” If a reference to prophetic oracles is understood, then “decreed” is preferable. If understood as a reference to the warnings in the covenant, then “threatened” is a preferable rendering.
22 tn Heb “from days of old.”
23 tn Heb “He has overthrown and has not shown mercy.” The two verbs חָרַס וְלֹא חָמָל (kharas vÿlo’ khamal) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first retains its verbal sense and the second functions adverbially: “He has overthrown you without mercy.” וְלֹא חָמָל (vÿlo’ khamal) alludes to 2:2.
24 tn Heb “He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.” The term “horn” (קֶרֶן, qeren) normally refers to the horn of a bull, one of the most powerful animals in ancient Israel. This term is often used figuratively as a symbol of strength, usually in reference to the military might of an army (Deut 33:17; 1 Sam 2:1, 10; 2 Sam 22:3; Pss 18:3; 75:11; 89:18, 25; 92:11; 112:9; 1 Chr 25:5; Jer 48:25; Lam 2:3; Ezek 29:21), just as warriors are sometimes figuratively described as “bulls.” To lift up the horn often means to boast and to lift up someone else’s horn is to give victory or cause to boast.
25 tc The MT reads צָעַק לִבָּם אֵל־אֲדֹנָי (tsa’aq libbam el-’adonay, “their heart cried out to the Lord”) which neither matches the second person address characterizing 2:13-19 nor is in close parallel to the rest of verse 18. Since the perfect צָעַק (tsa’aq, “cry out”) is apparently parallel to imperatives, it could be understood as a precative (“let their heart cry out”), although this understanding still has the problem of being in the third person. The BHS editors and many text critics suggest emending the MT צָעַק (tsa’aq), Qal perfect 3rd person masculine singular, to צָעֲקִי (tsa’aqi), Qal imperative 2nd person masculine singular: “Cry out!” This restores a tighter parallelism with the two 2nd person masculine singular imperatives introducing the following lines: הוֹרִידִי (horidi, “Let [your tears] flow down!”) and אַל־תִּתְּנִי (’al-tittni, “Do not allow!”). In such a case, לִבָּם (libbam) must be taken adverbially. For לִבָּם (libbam, “their heart”) see the following note. The adverbial translation loses a potential parallel to the mention of the heart in the next verse. Emending the noun to “your heart” while viewing the verb as a precative perfect would maintain this connection.
26 tn Heb “their heart” or “from the heart.” Many English versions take the ־ם (mem) on לִבָּם (libbam) as the 3rd person masculine plural pronominal suffix: “their heart” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NJPS, CEV). However, others take it as an enclitic or adverbial ending: “from the heart” (cf. RSV, NRSV, TEV, NJPS margin). See T. F. McDaniel, “The Alleged Sumerian Influence upon Lamentations,” VT 18 (1968): 203-4.
27 tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the
28 tn The wall is a synecdoche of a part standing for the whole city.
29 tn Heb “day and night.” The expression “day and night” forms a merism which encompasses everything in between two polar opposites: “from dawn to dusk” or “all day and all night long.”
30 tn Heb “the daughter of your eye.” The term “eye” functions as a metonymy for “tears” that are produced by the eyes. Jeremiah exhorts personified Jerusalem to cry out to the
31 tc The Kethib is written בַּלַּיִל (ballayil) a defective spelling for בַּלַּיְלָה (ballaylah, “night”). The Qere reads בַּלַּיְלָה (ballaylah, “night”), which is preserved in numerous medieval Hebrew
32 tn Heb “at the head of the watches.”
33 tn The noun לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) functions here as a metonymy of association for the thoughts and emotions in the heart. The Hebrew לֵבָב (levav) includes the mind so that in some cases the translation “heart” implies an inappropriate division between the cognitive and affective. This context is certainly emotionally loaded, but as part of a series of admonitions to address God in prayer, these emotions are inextricably bound with the thoughts of the mind. The singular “heart” is retained in the translation to be consistent with the personification of Jerusalem (cf. v. 18).
34 tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the
35 sn Lifting up the palms or hands is a metaphor for prayer.
36 tn Heb “on account of the life of your children.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) refers to the “life” of their dying children (e.g., Lam 2:12). The singular noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”) is used as a collective, as the plural genitive noun that follows makes clear: “your children.”
37 tc The BHS editors and many commentators suggest that the fourth bicola in 2:19 is a late addition and should be deleted. Apart from the four sets of bicola in 1:7 and 2:19, every stanza in chapters 1-4 consists of three sets of bicola.
38 tn Heb “at the head of every street.”