Lamentations 3:58-60

ר (Resh)

3:58 O Lord, ¹  you championed ²  my cause, ³ 

you redeemed my life.

3:59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;

pronounce judgment on my behalf! ⁴ 

3:60 You have seen all their vengeance,

all their plots against me. ⁵ 

[3:58]  ¹ 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.

[3:58]  ² tn This verb, like others in this stanza, could be understood as a precative (“Plead”).

[3:58]  ³ 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).

[3:59]  ⁴ tn Heb “Please judge my judgment.”

[3:60]  ⁵ tc The MT reads לִי (li, “to me”); but many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions (Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate) all reflect a Vorlage of עָלָי (’alay, “against me”).