Lamentations 5:2-6

5:2 Our inheritance ¹  is turned over to strangers;

foreigners now occupy our homes. ² 

5:3 We have become fatherless orphans;

our mothers have become widows.

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

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

5:5 We are pursued – they are breathing down our necks; ⁶ 

we are weary and have no rest. ⁷ 

5:6 We have submitted ⁸  to Egypt and Assyria

in order to buy food to eat. ⁹ 

[5:2]  ¹ tn Heb “Our inheritance”; or “Our inherited possessions/property.” The term נַחֲלָה (nakhalah) has a range of meanings: (1) “inheritance,” (2) “portion, share” and (3) “possession, property.” The land of Canaan was given by the Lord to Israel as its inheritance (Deut 4:21; 15:4; 19:10; 20:16; 21:23; 24:4; 25:19; 26:1; Josh 20:6) and distributed among the tribes, clans and families (Num 16:14; 36:2; Deut 29:7; Josh 11:23; 13:6; 14:3, 13; 17:4, 6, 14; 19:49; 23:4; Judg 18:1; Ezek 45:1; 47:22, 29). Through the family, the family provided an inheritance (property) to its children with the first-born receiving pride of position (Gen 31:14; Num 27:7-11; 36:3, 8; 1 Kgs 21:3, 4; Job 42:15; Prov 19:14; Ezek 46:16). Here, the parallelism between “our inheritance” and “our homes” would allow for the specific referent of the phrase “our inheritance” to be (1) land or (2) material possessions, or given the nature of the poetry in Lamentations, to carry both meanings at the same time.

[5:2]  ² tn Heb “our homes [are turned over] to foreigners.”

[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.”

[5:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “We are hard-driven on our necks”

[5:5]  ⁷ 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

[5:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “we have given the hand”; cf. NRSV “We have made a pact.” This is a Semitic idiom meaning “to make a treaty with” someone, placing oneself in a subservient position as vassal. The prophets criticized these treaties.

[5:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “bread.” The term “bread” is a synecdoche of specific (= bread) for the general (= food).