9:21 ‘Death has climbed in 1 through our windows.
It has entered into our fortified houses.
It has taken away our children who play in the streets.
It has taken away our young men who gather in the city squares.’
21:8 “But 2 tell the people of Jerusalem 3 that the Lord says, ‘I will give you a choice between two courses of action. One will result in life; the other will result in death. 4
31:2 The Lord says,
“The people of Israel who survived
death at the hands of the enemy 5
will find favor in the wilderness
as they journey to find rest for themselves.
1 sn Here Death is personified (treated as though it were a person). Some have seen as possible background to this lament an allusion to Mesopotamian mythology where the demon Lamastu climbs in through the windows of houses and over their walls to kill children and babies.
2 tn Heb “And/But unto this people you shall say…” “But” is suggested here by the unusual word order which offsets what they are to say to Zedekiah (v. 3).
3 tn Heb “these people.”
4 tn Heb “Behold I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.”
5 tn Heb “who survived the sword.”
sn This refers to the remnant of northern Israel who had not been killed when Assyria conquered Israel in 722