Lamentations 2:5

ה (He)

2:5 The Lord, ¹  like an enemy,

destroyed ²  Israel.

He destroyed ³  all her palaces;

he ruined her ⁴  fortified cities.

He made everyone in Daughter Judah

mourn and lament. ⁵ 

Lamentations 2:16

פ (Pe)

2:16 All your enemies

gloated over you. ⁶ 

They sneered and gnashed their teeth;

they said, “We have destroyed ⁷  her!

Ha! We have waited a long time for this day.

We have lived to see it!” ⁸ 

[2:5]  ¹ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[2:5]  ² tn Heb “swallowed up.”

[2:5]  ³ tn Heb “swallowed up.”

[2:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “his.” For consistency this has been translated as “her.”

[2:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “He increased in Daughter Judah mourning and lamentation.”

[2:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “they have opened wide their mouth against you.”

[2:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “We have swallowed!”

[2:16]  ⁸ 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.