Discovery BoxLamentations 2:5 
Contextה (He)
2:5 The Lord, 1 like an enemy,
destroyed 2 Israel.
He destroyed 3 all her palaces;
he ruined her 4 fortified cities.
He made everyone in Daughter Judah
mourn and lament. 5
Lamentations 4:2-3
Contextב (Bet)
4:2 The precious sons of Zion
were worth their weight in gold –
Alas! – but now they are treated like 6 broken clay pots,
made by a potter. 7
ג (Gimel)
4:3 Even the jackals 8 nurse their young
at their breast, 9
but my people 10 are cruel,
like ostriches 11 in the desert.
Lamentations 4:7
Contextז (Zayin)
4:7 Her consecrated ones 12 were brighter than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies more ruddy than corals,
1 tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the
2 tn Heb “swallowed up.”
3 tn Heb “swallowed up.”
4 tn Heb “his.” For consistency this has been translated as “her.”
5 tn Heb “He increased in Daughter Judah mourning and lamentation.”
6 tn Heb “they are regarded as.”
7 tn Heb “the work of the hands of a potter.”
8 tn The noun תַּנִּין (tannin) means “jackals.” The plural ending ־ִין (-in) is diminutive (GKC 242 §87.e) (e.g., Lam 1:4).
9 tn Heb “draw out the breast and suckle their young.”
10 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”
11 tc The MT Kethib form כִּי עֵנִים (ki ’enim) is by all accounts a textual corruption for כַּיְעֵנִים (kay’enim, “like ostriches”) which is preserved in the Qere and the medieval Hebrew
12 tn Heb “Nazirites” (so KJV). The Nazirites were consecrated under a vow to refrain from wine, contact with the dead, and from cutting their hair. In Gen 49:26 and Deut 33:16 Joseph, who was not a Nazirite, is called the “Nazir” of his brothers. From context, many translate this as “prince” (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), though the nuance is uncertain. If it is valid, then princes might be understood in this context as well.
13 tn The noun גִּזְרָה (gizrah) is used primarily in Ezekiel 41-42 (seven of its nine uses), where it refers to a separated area of the temple complex described in Ezekiel’s vision. It is not used of people other than here. Probably based on the reference to a precious stone BDB 160 s.v. 1 postulated that it refers to the cutting or polishing of precious stones, but this is conjecture. The English versions handle this variously. D. R. Hillers suggests beards, hair, or eyebrows based on other ancient Near Eastern comparisons between lapis lazuli and the body (Lamentations [AB], 81).
14 tn Heb “lapis lazuli.” Lapis lazuli is a dark blue semi-precious stone.
