Internet Verse Search Commentaries Word Analysis ITL - draft

Lamentations 2:20

NETBible	ר (Resh) Look, O Lord! Consider!¹ Whom have you ever afflicted² like this? Should women eat their offspring,³ their healthy infants?⁴ Should priest and prophet be killed in the Lord’s⁵ sanctuary?
NIV © biblegateway Lam 2:20	"Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
NASB © biblegateway Lam 2:20	See, O LORD, and look! With whom have You dealt thus? Should women eat their offspring, The little ones who were born healthy? Should priest and prophet be slain In the sanctuary of the Lord?
NLT © biblegateway Lam 2:20	"O LORD, think about this!" Jerusalem cries. "You are doing this to your own people! Should mothers eat their little children, those they once bounced on their knees? Should priests and prophets die within the Lord’s Temple?
MSG © biblegateway Lam 2:20	"Look at us, GOD. Think it over. Have you ever treated anyone like this? Should women eat their own babies, the very children they raised? Should priests and prophets be murdered in the Master's own Sanctuary?
BBE © SABDAweb Lam 2:20	Look! O Lord, see to whom you have done this! Are the women to take as their food the fruit of their bodies, the children who are folded in their arms? are the priest and the prophet to be put to death in the holy place of the Lord?
NRSV © bibleoremus Lam 2:20	Look, O LORD, and consider! To whom have you done this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have borne? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
NKJV © biblegateway Lam 2:20	"See, O LORD, and consider! To whom have You done this? Should the women eat their offspring, The children they have cuddled? Should the priest and prophet be slain In the sanctuary of the Lord?
[+] More English


KJV	Behold <07200> (8798)_, O LORD <03068>_, and consider <05027> (8685) to whom thou hast done <05953> (8782) this <03541>_. Shall the women <0802> eat <0398> (8799) their fruit <06529>_, [and] children <05768> of a span long <02949>_? shall the priest <03548> and the prophet <05030> be slain <02026> (8735) in the sanctuary <04720> of the Lord <0136>_? {of a span...: or, swaddled with their hands?}
NASB © biblegateway Lam 2:20	See <07200> , O LORD <03068> , and look <05027> ! With whom <04310> have You dealt <05953> thus <03541> ? Should women <0802> eat <0398> their offspring <06529> , The little <05768> ones <05768> who <02949> were born <02949> healthy <02949> ? Should priest <03548> and prophet <05030> be slain <02026> In the sanctuary <04720> of the Lord <0136> ?
LXXM	ide <3708> V-AAD-2S kurie <2962> N-VSM kai <2532> CONJ epibleqon <1914> V-AAD-2S tini <5100> I-DSN epefullisav {V-AAI-2S} outwv <3778> ADV ei <1487> CONJ fagontai <2068> V-FMI-3P gunaikev <1135> N-NPF karpon <2590> N-ASM koiliav <2836> N-GSF autwn <846> D-GPM epifullida {N-APF} epoihsen <4160> V-AAI-3S mageirov {N-NSM} foneuyhsontai <5407> V-FPI-3P nhpia <3516> A-APN yhlazonta <2337> V-PAPAP mastouv <3149> N-APM apokteneiv <615> V-FAI-2S en <1722> PREP agiasmati {N-DSN} kuriou <2962> N-GSM ierea <2409> N-ASM kai <2532> CONJ profhthn <4396> N-ASM
NET [draft] ITL	ר (Resh <07200> ) Look, O <03068> Lord <05027> ! Consider <04310> ! Whom have you ever <05953> afflicted like <03541> this <0518> ? Should <0802> women <0398> eat their <06529> offspring, their <02949> healthy <05768> infants <0518> ? Should <03548> priest and <05030> prophet be <02026> killed in the <0136> Lord’s <04720>
HEBREW	o aybnw <05030> Nhk <03548> ynda <0136> sdqmb <04720> grhy <02026> Ma <0518> Myxpj <02949> ylle <05768> Myrp <06529> Mysn <0802> hnlkat <0398> Ma <0518> hk <03541> tllwe <05953> yml <04310> hjybhw <05027> hwhy <03068> har (2:20) <07200>

NETBible

ר (Resh) Look, O Lord! Consider!¹ Whom have you ever afflicted² like this? Should women eat their offspring,³ their healthy infants?⁴ Should priest and prophet be killed in the Lord’s⁵ sanctuary?

NET Notes

¹tn Heb “Look, O Lord! See!” When used in collocation with verbs of cognition, רָאָה (ra’ah) means “to see for oneself” or “to take notice” (1 Sam 26:12). The parallelism between seeing and understanding is often emphasized (e.g., Exod 16:6; Isa 5:19; 29:15; Job 11:11; Eccl 6:5). See also 1:11 and cf. 1:9, 12, 20; 3:50, 59, 60; 5:1.

¹sn Integral to battered Jerusalem’s appeal, and part of the ancient Near Eastern lament genre, is the request for God to look at her pain. This should evoke pity regardless of the reason for punishment. The request is not for God to see merely that there are misfortunes, as one might note items on a checklist. The cognitive (facts) and affective (feelings) are not divided. The plea is for God to watch, think about, and be affected by these facts while listening to the petitioner’s perspective.

²tn For the nuance “afflict” see the note at 1:12.

³tn Heb “their fruit.” The term פְּרִי (pÿri, “fruit”) is used figuratively to refer to children as the fruit of a mother’s womb (e.g., Gen 30:2; Deut 7:13; 28:4, 11, 18, 53; 30:9; Pss 21:11; 127:3; 132:11; Isa 13:18; Mic 6:7).

⁴tn Heb “infants of healthy childbirth.” The genitive-construct phrase עֹלֲלֵי טִפֻּחִים (’olale tippukhim) functions as an attributive genitive construction: “healthy newborn infants.” The noun טִפֻּחִים (tippukhim) appears only here. It is related to the verb טָפַח (tafakh), meaning “to give birth to a healthy child” or “to raise children” depending on whether the Arabic or Akkadian cognate is emphasized. For the related verb, see below at 2:22.

⁴sn Placing the specific reference to children at the end of the line in apposition to clarify that it does not describe the normal eating of fruit helps produce the repulsive shock of the image. Furthermore, the root of the word for “infants” (עוֹלֵל, ’olel) has the same root letters for the verb “to afflict” occurring in the first line of the verse, making a pun (F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Lamentations [IBC], 99-100).

⁵tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”) as at the beginning of the verse. See the tc note at 1:14.