Lamentations 1:16

ע (Ayin)

1:16 I weep because of these things;

my eyes ¹  flow with tears. ² 

For there is no one in sight who can comfort me ³ 

or encourage me. ⁴ 

My children ⁵  are desolated ⁶ 

because an enemy has prevailed.

Psalms 119:155

119:155 The wicked have no chance for deliverance, ⁷ 

for they do not seek your statutes.

Isaiah 38:17

38:17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. ⁸ 

You delivered me ⁹  from the pit of oblivion. ¹⁰ 

For you removed all my sins from your sight. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 54:10

54:10 Even if the mountains are removed

and the hills displaced,

my devotion will not be removed from you,

nor will my covenant of friendship ¹²  be displaced,”

says the Lord, the one who has compassion on you.

Isaiah 59:11

59:11 We all growl like bears,

we coo mournfully like doves;

we wait for deliverance, ¹³  but there is none,

for salvation, but it is far from us.

Jeremiah 8:15

8:15 We hoped for good fortune, but nothing good has come of it.

We hoped for a time of relief, but instead we experience terror. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 14:19

14:19 Then I said,

“Lord, ¹⁵  have you completely rejected the nation of Judah?

Do you despise ¹⁶  the city of Zion?

Why have you struck us with such force

that we are beyond recovery? ¹⁷ 

We hope for peace, but nothing good has come of it.

We hope for a time of relief from our troubles, but experience terror. ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 16:5

16:5 “Moreover I, the Lord, tell you: ¹⁹  ‘Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor, ²⁰  my love, and my compassion. I, the Lord, so affirm it! ²¹ 

Zechariah 8:10

8:10 Before that time there was no compensation for man or animal, nor was there any relief from adversity for those who came and went, because I had pitted everybody – each one – against everyone else.

[1:16]  ¹ tc The MT and several medieval Hebrew mss read עֵינִי עֵינִי (’eni, ’eni, “my eye, my eye”). However, the second עֵינִי (’eni) does not appear in several other medieval Hebrew mss, or in Old Greek, Syriac Peshitta or Latin Vulgate.

[1:16]  ² tn Heb “with water.” The noun מַּיִם (mayim, “water”) functions as an adverbial accusative of manner or impersonal instrument. The term מַּיִם (mayim, “water”) is a metonymy of material (= water) for the thing formed (= tears).

[1:16]  ³ tn Heb “For a comforter is far from me.”

[1:16]  ⁴ tn The phrase מֵשִׁיב נַפְשִׁי (meshiv nafshi, “one who could cause my soul to return”) is a Hebrew idiom that means “one who could encourage me.” The noun נַפְשִׁי (nafshi) refers to the whole person (e.g., Gen 27:4, 25; 49:6; Lev 26:11, 30; Num 23:10; Judg 5:21; 16:30; Isa 1:14; Lam 3:24). When used with the noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) the Hiphil הָשִׁיב (hashiv) of שׁוּב (shuv, “to turn, return”) means “to encourage, refresh, cheer” a person emotionally (Ruth 4:15; Pss 19:8; 23:3; Prov 25:13; Lam 1:11, 16, 19).

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “my sons.” The term “my sons” (בַנַי, banay) is a figurative description (hypocatastasis) of the former inhabitants of Jerusalem/Judah personified as the Lady Jerusalem’s children. Jerusalem mourns (and views) their devastation like a mother would her children.

[1:16]  ⁶ tn The verb שָׁמֵם (shamem) means “to be desolated.” The verb is used used in reference to land destroyed in battle and left “deserted” (Isa 49:8; Ezek 33:28; 35:12, 15; 36:4). When used in reference to persons, it describes the aftermath of a physical attack, such as rape (2 Sam 13:20) or military overthrow of a city (Isa 54:1; Lam 1:13, 16; 3:11).

[119:155]  ⁷ tn Heb “far from the wicked [is] deliverance.”

[38:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “Look, for peace bitterness was to me bitter”; NAB “thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.”

[38:17]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew text reads, “you loved my soul,” but this does not fit syntactically with the following prepositional phrase. חָשַׁקְתָּ (khashaqta, “you loved”), may reflect an aural error; most emend the form to חָשַׂכְת, (khasakht, “you held back”).

[38:17]  ¹⁰ tn בְּלִי (bÿli) most often appears as a negation, meaning “without,” suggesting the meaning “nothingness, oblivion,” here. Some translate “decay” or “destruction.”

[38:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for you threw behind your back all my sins.”

[54:10]  ¹² tn Heb “peace” (so many English versions); NLT “of blessing.”

[59:11]  ¹³ tn See the note at v. 9.

[8:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[We hoped] for a time of healing but behold terror.”

[14:19]  ¹⁵ tn The words, “Then I said, ‘Lord” are not in the Hebrew text. It is obvious from the context that the Lord is addressee. The question of the identity of the speaker is the same as that raised in vv. 7-9 and the arguments set forth there are applicable here as well. Jeremiah is here identifying with the people and doing what they refuse to do, i.e., confess their sins and express their trust in him.

[14:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “does your soul despise.” Here as in many places the word “soul” stands as part for whole for the person himself emphasizing emotional and volitional aspects of the person. However, in contemporary English one does not regularly speak of the “soul” in contexts such as this but of the person.

[14:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Why have you struck us and there is no healing for us.” The statement involves poetic exaggeration (hyperbole) for rhetorical effect.

[14:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[We hope] for a time of healing but behold terror.”

[16:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “For thus says the Lord…”

[16:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “my peace.” The Hebrew word שְׁלוֹמִי (shÿlomi) can be translated “peace, prosperity” or “well-being” (referring to wholeness or health of body and soul).

[16:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”