Lamentations 4:21

The Prophet Speaks:

ש (Sin/Shin)

4:21 Rejoice and be glad for now, ¹  O people of Edom, ² 

who reside in the land of Uz.

But the cup of judgment ³  will pass ⁴  to you also;

you will get drunk and take off your clothes.

Psalms 137:7

137:7 Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did

on the day Jerusalem fell. ⁵ 

They said, “Tear it down, tear it down, ⁶ 

right to its very foundation!”

[4:21]  ¹ tn The phrase “for now” is added in the translation to highlight the implied contrast between the present joy of the Gentiles (4:21a) and their future judgment (4:21b).

[4:21]  ² tn Heb “O Daughter of Edom.”

[4:21]  ³ tn Heb “the cup.” Judgment is often depicted as a cup of wine that God forces a person to drink, causing him to lose consciousness, red wine drooling out of his mouth – resembling corpses lying on the ground as a result of the actual onslaught of the Lord’s judgment. The drunkard will reel and stagger, causing bodily injury to himself – an apt metaphor to describe the devastating effects of God’s judgment. Just as a cup of poison kills all those who are forced to drink it, the cup of God’s wrath destroys all those who must drink it (e.g., Ps 75:9; Isa 51:17, 22; Jer 25:15, 17, 28; 49:12; 51:7; Lam 4:21; Ezek 23:33; Hab 2:16).

[4:21]  ⁴ tn The imperfect verb “will pass” may also be a jussive, continuing the element of request, “let the cup pass…”

[137:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem.”

[137:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “lay [it] bare, lay [it] bare.”