Lamentations 2:15

ס (Samek)

2:15 All who passed by on the road

clapped their hands to mock you. ¹ 

They sneered and shook their heads

at Daughter Jerusalem.

“Ha! Is this the city they called ² 

‘The perfection of beauty, ³ 

the source of joy of the whole earth!’?” ⁴ 

[2:15]  ¹ 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).

[2:15]  ² tn Heb “of which they said.”

[2:15]  ³ 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.

[2:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “the joy of all the earth.” This is similar to statements found in Pss 48:2 and 50:2.