Lamentations 3:33

3:33 For he is not predisposed to afflict ¹ 

or to grieve people. ² 

Lamentations 3:37

מ (Mem)

3:37 Whose command was ever fulfilled ³ 

unless the Lord ⁴  decreed it?

Lamentations 5:5

5:5 We are pursued – they are breathing down our necks; ⁵ 

we are weary and have no rest. ⁶ 

Lamentations 5:12

5:12 Princes were hung by their hands;

elders were mistreated. ⁷ 

[3:33]  ¹ tn Heb “he does not afflict from his heart.” The term לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) preceded by the preposition מִן (min) most often describes one’s initiative or motivation, e.g. “of one’s own accord” (Num. 16:28; 24:13; Deut. 4:9; 1Kings 12:33; Neh. 6:8; Job 8:10; Is. 59:13; Ezek. 13:2, 17). It is not God’s internal motivation to bring calamity and trouble upon people.

[3:33]  ² tn Heb “sons of men.”

[3:37]  ³ tn Heb “Who is this, he spoke and it came to pass?” The general sense is to ask whose commands are fulfilled. The phrase “he spoke and it came to pass” is taken as an allusion to the creation account (see Gen 1:3).

[3:37]  ⁴ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[5:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “We are hard-driven on our necks”

[5:5]  ⁶ sn For the theological allusion that goes beyond physical rest, see, e.g., Deut 12:10; 25:19; Josh 1:13; 11:23; 2 Sam 7:1, 11; 1 Chron 22:18; 2 Chron 14:6-7

[5:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “elders were shown no respect.” The phrase “shown no respect” is an example of tapeinosis, a figurative expression of understatement: to show no respect to elders = to terribly mistreat elders.