Lamentations 5:5-6

5:5 We are pursued – they are breathing down our necks; ¹ 

we are weary and have no rest. ² 

5:6 We have submitted ³  to Egypt and Assyria

in order to buy food to eat. ⁴ 

[5:5]  ¹ tn Heb “We are hard-driven on our necks”

[5:5]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “bread.” The term “bread” is a synecdoche of specific (= bread) for the general (= food).