Discovery BoxLamentations 1:2 
Contextב (Bet)
1:2 She weeps bitterly at night;
tears stream down her cheeks. 1
She has no one to comfort her
among all her lovers. 2
All her friends have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.
Lamentations 1:5
Contextה (He)
1:5 Her foes subjugated her; 3
her enemies are at ease. 4
For the Lord afflicted her
because of her many acts of rebellion. 5
Her children went away
captive 6 before the enemy.
Lamentations 1:17
Contextפ (Pe)
1:17 Zion spread out her hands,
but there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob;
his neighbors 7 have become his enemies.
Jerusalem has become
like filthy garbage 8 in their midst. 9
Lamentations 2:16
Contextפ (Pe)
2:16 All your enemies
gloated over you. 10
They sneered and gnashed their teeth;
they said, “We have destroyed 11 her!
Ha! We have waited a long time for this day.
We have lived to see it!” 12
Lamentations 4:18
Contextצ (Tsade)
4:18 Our enemies 13 hunted us down at every step 14
so that we could not walk about in our streets.
Our end drew near, our days were numbered, 15
for our end had come!
1 tn Heb “her tears are on her cheek.”
2 tn Heb “lovers.” The term “lovers” is a figurative expression (hypocatastasis), comparing Jerusalem’s false gods and foreign political alliances to sexually immoral lovers. Hosea uses similar imagery (Hos 2:5, 7, 10, 13). It may also function as a double entendre, first evoking a disconcerting picture of a funeral where the widow has no loved ones present to comfort her. God also does not appear to be present to comfort Jerusalem and will later be called her enemy. The imagery in Lamentations frequently capitalizes on changing the reader’s expectations midstream.
3 tn Heb “her foes became [her] head” (הָיוּ צָרֶיהָ לְרֹאשׁ, hayu tsareha lÿro’sh) or more idiomatically “have come out on top.” This is a Semitic idiom for domination or subjugation, with “head” as a metaphor for leader.
4 tn The nuance expressed in the LXX is that her enemies prosper (cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
5 tn Heb “because of her many rebellions.” The plural פְּשָׁעֶיהָ (pÿsha’eha, “her rebellions”) is an example of the plural of repeated action or characteristic behavior (see IBHS 121 §7.4.2c). The 3rd person feminine singular suffix (“her”) probably functions as a subjective genitive: “her rebellions” = “she has rebelled.”
6 tn The singular noun שְׁבִי (shÿvi) is a collective singular, meaning “captives, prisoners.” It functions as an adverbial accusative of state: “[they] went away as captives.”
7 tn Heb “his neighbors,” which refers to the surrounding nations.
8 tn The noun II נִדָּה (niddah, “unclean thing”) has three basic categories of meaning: (1) biological uncleanness: menstruation of a woman (Lev 12:2, 5; 15:19-33 [9x]; Num 19:9, 13, 20; 31:23; Ezek 18:6; 22:10; 36:17); (2) ceremonial uncleanness: moral impurity and idolatry (Lev 20:21; 2 Chr 29:5; Ezra 9:11; Zech 13:1); and (3) physical uncleanness: filthy garbage (Lam 1:17; Ezek 7:19, 20).
9 tc The MT reads בֵּינֵיהֶם (bÿnehem, “in them” = “in their midst”). The BHS editors suggest that this is a textual corruption for בְּעֵינֵיהֶם (be’enehem, “in their eyes” = “in their view”). The ע (ayin) might have dropped out due to orthographic confusion.
tn Or “in their eyes.” See the preceding tc note.
10 tn Heb “they have opened wide their mouth against you.”
11 tn Heb “We have swallowed!”
12 tn Heb “We have attained, we have seen!” The verbs מָצָאנוּ רָאִינוּ (matsa’nu ra’inu) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first retains its full verbal sense and the second functions as an object complement. It forms a Hebrew idiom that means something like, “We have lived to see it!” The three asyndetic 1st person common plural statements in 2:16 (“We waited, we destroyed, we saw!”) are spoken in an impassioned, staccato style reflecting the delight of the conquerors.
13 tn Heb “they”; this has been specified in the translation as “our enemies” for clarity.
14 tn Heb “they hunted our steps.”
15 tn Heb “our days were full.”
