Lamentations 3:6

3:6 He has made me reside in deepest darkness ¹ 

like those who died long ago.

Lamentations 3:9

3:9 He has blocked ²  every road I take ³  with a wall of hewn stones;

he has made every path impassable. ⁴ 

Lamentations 3:12

3:12 He drew ⁵  his bow and made me ⁶ 

the target for his arrow.

Lamentations 3:15

3:15 He has given me my fill of bitter herbs

and made me drunk with bitterness. ⁷ 

Lamentations 3:18

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

I have lost all hope of deliverance ⁸  from the Lord.”

Lamentations 3:27

3:27 It is good for a man ⁹ 

to bear ¹⁰  the yoke ¹¹  while he is young. ¹² 

Lamentations 3:30

3:30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him; ¹³ 

let him have his fill of insults.

Lamentations 3:36

3:36 to defraud a person in a lawsuit –

the Lord ¹⁴  does not approve ¹⁵  of such things!

Lamentations 3:42

3:42 “We ¹⁶  have blatantly rebelled; ¹⁷ 

you ¹⁸  have not forgiven.”

Lamentations 3:45

3:45 You make us like filthy scum ¹⁹ 

in the estimation ²⁰  of the nations.

Lamentations 3:51

3:51 What my eyes see ²¹  grieves me ²²  –

all the suffering of the daughters in my city. ²³ 

Lamentations 3:54

3:54 The waters closed over my head;

I thought ²⁴  I was about to die. ²⁵ 

Lamentations 3:57

3:57 You came near ²⁶  on the day I called to you;

you said, ²⁷  “Do not fear!”

Lamentations 3:60

3:60 You have seen all their vengeance,

all their plots against me. ²⁸ 

Lamentations 3:63

3:63 Watch them from morning to evening; ²⁹ 

I am the object of their mocking songs.

[3:6]  ¹ tn The plural form of the noun מַחֲשַׁכִּים (makhashakkim, “darknesses”) is an example of the plural of intensity (see IBHS 122 §7.4.3a).

[3:9]  ² tn The verb גָּדַר (garad) has a two-fold range of meanings: (1) “to build up a wall” with stones, and (2) “to block a road” with a wall of stones. The collocated terms דְּרָכַי (dÿrakhay, “my roads”) in 3:9 clearly indicate that the second category of meaning is in view.

[3:9]  ³ tn Heb “my roads.”

[3:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “he had made my paths crooked.” The implication is that the paths by which one might escape cannot be traversed.

[3:12]  ³ tn Heb “bent.”

[3:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and set me as the target.”

[3:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “wormwood” or “bitterness” (BDB 542 s.v. לַעֲנָה; HALOT 533 s.v. לַעֲנָה).

[3:18]  ⁵ 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.

[3:27]  ⁶ tn See note at 3:1 on the Hebrew term for “man” here.

[3:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “that he bear.”

[3:27]  ⁸ sn Jeremiah is referring to the painful humiliation of subjugation to the Babylonians, particularly to the exile of the populace of Jerusalem. The Babylonians and Assyrians frequently used the phrase “bear the yoke” as a metaphor: their subjects were made as subservient to them as yoked oxen were to their masters. Because the Babylonian exile would last for seventy years, only those who were in their youth when Jerusalem fell would have any hope of living until the return of the remnant. For the middle-aged and elderly, the yoke of exile would be insufferable; but those who bore this “yoke” in their youth would have hope.

[3:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “in his youth.” The preposition ב (bet) functions in a temporal sense: “when.”

[3:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “to the smiter.”

[3:36]  ⁸ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[3:36]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Lord does not see.” The verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “to see”) is here used in reference to mental observation and approval: “to gaze at” with joy and pleasure (e.g., 2 Kgs 10:16; Mic 7:9; Jer 29:32; Isa 52:8; Job 20:17; 33:28; Pss 54:9; 106:5; 128:5; Son 3:11; 6:11; Eccl 2:1). If the line is parallel to the end of v. 35 then a circumstantial clause “the Lord not seeing” would be appropriate. The infinitives in 34-36 would then depend on the verbs in v. 33; see D. R. Hillers, Lamentations (AB), 71.

[3:42]  ⁹ tn The Heb emphasiszes the pronoun “We – we have sinned….” Given the contrast with the following, it means “For our part, we have sinned….” A poetic reading in English would place vocal emphasis on “we” followed by a short pause.

[3:42]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “We have revolted and we have rebelled.” The two verbs פָשַׁעְנוּ וּמָרִינוּ (pasha’nu umarinu, “we have revolted and we have rebelled”) form a verbal hendiadys in which the synonyms emphasize the single idea.

[3:42]  ¹¹ tn The Heb emphasiszes the pronoun “You – you have not forgiven.” Given the contrast with the preceding, it means “For your part, you have not forgiven.” A poetic reading in English would place vocal emphasis on “you” followed by a short pause.

[3:45]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “offscouring and refuse.” The two nouns סְחִי וּמָאוֹס (sÿkhi uma’os) probably form a nominal hendiadys, in which the first noun functions as an adjective and the second retains its full nominal sense: “filthy refuse,” i.e., “filthy scum.”

[3:45]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the midst of.”

[3:51]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my eye causes grief to my soul.” The term “eye” is a metonymy of association, standing for that which one sees with the eyes.

[3:51]  ¹² tn Heb “my soul.” The term נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) is a synecdoche of part (= my soul) for the whole person (= me).

[3:51]  ¹³ tn Heb “at the sight of all the daughters of my city.” It is understood that seeing the plight of the women, not simply seeing the women, is what is so grievous. To make this clear, “suffering” was supplied in the translation.

[3:54]  ¹² tn Heb “I said,” meaning “I said to myself” = “I thought.”

[3:54]  ¹³ 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).

[3:57]  ¹³ tn The verb could be understood as a precative (“Draw near”). The perspective of the poem seems to be that of prayer during distress rather than a testimony that God has delivered.

[3:57]  ¹⁴ tn The verb could be understood as a precative (“Say”).

[3:60]  ¹⁴ tc The MT reads לִי (li, “to me”); but many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions (Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate) all reflect a Vorlage of עָלָי (’alay, “against me”).

[3:63]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “their rising and their sitting.” The two terms שִׁבְתָּם וְקִימָתָם (shivtam vÿqimatam, “their sitting and their rising”) form a merism: two terms that are polar opposites are used to encompass everything in between. The idiom “from your rising to your sitting” refers to the earliest action in the morning and the latest action in the evening (e.g., Deut 6:7; Ps 139:3). The enemies mock Jerusalem from the moment they arise in the morning until the moment they sit down in the evening.