Lamentations 3:54

3:54 The waters closed over my head;

I thought I was about to die.

Lamentations 5:16

5:16 The crown has fallen from our head;

woe to us, for we have sinned!


tn Heb “I said,” meaning “I said to myself” = “I thought.”

tn Heb “I was about to be cut off.” The verb נִגְזָרְתִּי (nigzarti), Niphal perfect 1st person common singular from גָּזַר (gazar, “to be cut off”), functions in an ingressive sense: “about to be cut off.” It is used in reference to the threat of death (e.g., Ezek 37:11). To be “cut off” from the hand of the living means to experience death (Ps 88:6).