Lamentations 3:53

3:53 They shut me ¹  up in a pit

and threw stones at me.

Lamentations 3:58

ר (Resh)

3:58 O Lord, ²  you championed ³  my cause, ⁴ 

you redeemed my life.

Lamentations 3:39

3:39 Why should any living person ⁵  complain

when punished for his sins? ⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “my life.”

² tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”) as in the following verse. See the tc note at 1:14.

³ tn This verb, like others in this stanza, could be understood as a precative (“Plead”).

⁴ tn Heb “the causes of my soul.” The term נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) is a synecdoche of part (= my soul) for the whole person (= me).

³ tn The Hebrew word here is אָדָם (’adam) which can mean “man” or “person.” The second half of the line is more personalized to the speaking voice of the defeated soldier using גֶּבֶר (gever, “man”). See the note at 3:1.

⁴ tc Kethib reads the singular חֶטְאוֹ (khet’o, “his sin”), which is reflected in the LXX. Qere reads the plural חֲטָאָיו (khata’ayv, “his sins”) which is preserved in many medieval Hebrew mss and reflected in the other early versions (Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate). The external and internal evidence are not decisive in favor of either reading.