Lamentations 3:48

3:48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes

because my people are destroyed.

Lamentations 5:9

5:9 At the risk of our lives we get our food

because robbers lurk in the countryside.


tn Heb “canals.” The phrase “canals of water” (eye water = tears) is an example of hyperbole. The English idiom “streams of tears” is also hyperbolic.

tn Heb “my eyes flow down with canals of water.”

tn Heb “the daughter of my people,” or “the Daughter, my people.”

tn Heb “because of the destruction of [the daughter of my people].”

tn Heb “at the cost of our lives.” The preposition ב (bet) here denotes purchase price paid (e.g., Gen 30:16; Exod 34:20; 2 Sam 3:14; 24:24) (BDB 90 s.v. בְּ 3.a). The expression בְּנַפְשֵׁנוּ (bÿnafshenu) means “at the risk of our lives.” Similar expressions include בְנַפְשׁוֹ (bÿnafsho, “at the cost of his life,” 1 Kgs 2:23; Prov 7:23) and בְּנַפְשׁוֹתָם (bÿnafshotam, “at peril of their lives,” 2 Sam 23:17).

tn Heb “our soul.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) is used as a metonymy (= soul) of association (= life) (e.g., Gen 44:30; Exod 21:23; 2 Sam 14:7; Jon 1:14).

tn Heb “bread.” The term “bread” is a synecdoche of specific (= bread) for the general (= food).

tn Heb “because of the sword.” The term “sword” is a metonymy of instrument (= sword) for the persons who use the instrument (= murderers or marauders).

tn Heb “the wilderness.”