Lamentations 3:49

ע (Ayin)

3:49 Tears flow from my eyes ¹  and will not stop;

there will be no break ² 

Lamentations 5:3

5:3 We have become fatherless orphans;

our mothers have become widows.

Lamentations 5:8

5:8 Slaves ³  rule over us;

there is no one to rescue us from their power. ⁴ 

[3:49]  ¹ tn Heb “my eye flows.” The term “eye” is a metonymy of association, standing for the “tears” which flow from one’s eyes.

[3:49]  ² tn Heb “without stopping.” The noun הַפוּגָה (hafugah, “stop”) is a hapax legomenon (word that occurs only once in Hebrew scriptures). The form of the noun is unusual, probably being derived from the denominative Hiphil verbal stem of the root פּוּג (pug, “to grow weary, ineffective; numb, become cold”).

[5:8]  ³ tn Heb “slaves.” While indicating that social structures are awry, the expression “slaves rule over us” might be an idiom for “tyrants rule over us.” This might find its counterpart in the gnomic truth that the most ruthless rulers are made of former slaves: “Under three things the earth quakes, under four it cannot bear up: under a slave when he becomes king” (Prov 30:21-22a).

[5:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “hand.”