Lamentations 3:54

3:54 The waters closed over my head;

I thought ¹  I was about to die. ² 

Lamentations 5:4

5:4 We must pay money ³  for our own water; ⁴ 

we must buy our own wood at a steep price. ⁵ 

[3:54]  ¹ tn Heb “I said,” meaning “I said to myself” = “I thought.”

[3:54]  ² tn Heb “I was about to be cut off.” The verb נִגְזָרְתִּי (nigzarti), Niphal perfect 1st person common singular from גָּזַר (gazar, “to be cut off”), functions in an ingressive sense: “about to be cut off.” It is used in reference to the threat of death (e.g., Ezek 37:11). To be “cut off” from the hand of the living means to experience death (Ps 88:6).

[5:4]  ³ tn Heb “silver.” The term “silver” is a synecdoche of species (= silver) for general (= money).

[5:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “We drink our water for silver.”

[5:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “our wood comes for a price.”