Lamentations 3:18

3:18 So I said, “My endurance has expired;

I have lost all hope of deliverance ¹  from the Lord.”

Lamentations 3:25-26

ט (Tet)

3:25 The Lord is good to those who trust ²  in him,

to the one ³  who seeks him.

3:26 It is good to wait patiently ⁴ 

for deliverance from the Lord. ⁵ 

Lamentations 3:40

נ (Nun)

3:40 Let us carefully examine our ways, ⁶ 

and let us return to the Lord.

Lamentations 3:50

3:50 until the Lord looks down from heaven

and sees what has happened. ⁷ 

Lamentations 3:55

ק (Qof)

3:55 I have called on your name, O Lord,

from the deepest pit. ⁸ 

Lamentations 3:59

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

pronounce judgment on my behalf! ⁹ 

Lamentations 3:61

ש (Sin/Shin)

3:61 You have heard ¹⁰  their taunts, O Lord,

all their plots against me.

Lamentations 3:64

ת (Tav)

3:64 Pay them back ¹¹  what they deserve, ¹²  O Lord,

according to what they ¹³  have done. ¹⁴ 

Lamentations 3:66

3:66 Pursue them ¹⁵  in anger and eradicate them

from under the Lord’s heaven.

[3:18]  ¹ tn Heb “and my hope from the Lord.” The hope is for deliverance. The words, “I have lost all…” have been supplied in the translation in order to clarify the Hebrew idiom for the English reader.

[3:25]  ² tn Heb “wait for him”

[3:25]  ³ tn Heb “to the soul…” The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) is a synecdoche of part (= “the soul who seeks him”) for the whole person (= “the person who seeks him”).

[3:26]  ³ tn Heb “waiting and silently.” The two adjectives וְיָחִיל וְדוּמָם (vÿyakhil vÿdumam, “waiting and silently”) form a hendiadys: The first functions verbally and the second functions adverbially: “to wait silently.” The adjective דוּמָם (dumam, “silently”) also functions as a metonymy of association, standing for patience or rest (HALOT 217 s.v.). This metonymical nuance is captured well in less literal English versions: “wait in patience” (TEV) and “wait patiently” (CEV, NJPS). The more literal English versions do not express the metonymy as well: “quietly wait” (KJV, NKJV, ASV), “waits silently” (NASB), “wait quietly” (RSV, NRSV, NIV).

[3:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “deliverance of the Lord.” In the genitive-construct, the genitive יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”) denotes source, that is, he is the source of the deliverance: “deliverance from the Lord.”

[3:40]  ⁴ tn Heb “Let us test our ways and examine.” The two verbs וְנַחְקֹרָה…נַחְפְּשָׂה (nakhpÿsah…vÿnakhqorah, “Let us test and let us examine”) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal force: “Let us carefully examine our ways.”

[3:50]  ⁵ tn The phrase “what has happened” is added in the translation for smoother English style and readability.

[3:55]  ⁶ tn Heb “from a pit of lowest places.”

[3:59]  ⁷ tn Heb “Please judge my judgment.”

[3:61]  ⁸ tn The verb could be understood as a precative (“Hear”).

[3:64]  ⁹ tn Heb “Please cause to return.” The imperfect verb תָּשִׁיב (tashiv), Hiphil imperfect 2nd person masculine singular from שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”), functions in a volitional sense, like an imperative of request. The Hiphil stem of שׁוּב (shuv, in the Hiphil “to cause to return”) often means “to make requital, to pay back” (e.g., Judg 9:5, 56; 1 Sam 25:39; 1 Kgs 2:32, 44; Neh 3:36; Prov 24:12, 29; Hos 12:3; Joel 4:4, 7) (BDB 999 s.v. שׁוּב 4.a).

[3:64]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “recompense to them.” The noun גְּמוּל (gÿmul, “dealing, accomplishment”) has two metonymical (cause-effect) meanings: (1) positive “benefit” and (2) negative “retribution, requital, recompense,” the sense used here (e.g., Pss 28:4; 94:2; 137:8; Prov 19:17; Isa 35:4; 59:18; 66:6; Jer 51:6; Lam 3:64; Joel 4:4, 7). The phrase תָּשִׁיב גְּמוּל (tashiv gÿmul) means “to pay back retribution” (e.g., Joel 4:4, 7), that is, to return the deeds of the wicked upon them as a display of talionic or poetic justice.

[3:64]  ¹¹ tn Heb “their hands.” The term “hand” is a synecdoche of part (= hands) for the whole person (= they).

[3:64]  ¹² tn Heb “according to the work of their hands.”

[3:66]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “pursue.” The accusative direct object is implied in the Hebrew, and inserted in the translation.