Lamentations 3:6-7

3:6 He has made me reside in deepest darkness 1 

like those who died long ago.

ג (Gimel)

3:7 He has walled me in 2  so that I cannot get out;

he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains. 3 

1 tn The plural form of the noun מַחֲשַׁכִּים (makhashakkim, “darknesses”) is an example of the plural of intensity (see IBHS 122 §7.4.3a).

2 tn The verb גָּדַר (garad) has a two-fold range of meanings: (1) “to build up a wall” with stones, and (2) “to block a road” with a wall of stones. The imagery depicts the Lord building a wall to seal off personified Jerusalem with no way of escape out of the city, or the Lord blocking the road of escape. Siege imagery prevails in 3:4-6, but 3:7-9 pictures an unsuccessful escape that is thwarted due to blocked roads in 3:7 and 3:9.

3 tn Heb “he has made heavy my chains.”