Discovery BoxLamentations 3:6 
Context3:6 He has made me reside in deepest darkness 1
like those who died long ago.
Lamentations 3:12
Context3:12 He drew 2 his bow and made me 3
the target for his arrow.
Lamentations 3:16
Contextו (Vav)
3:16 He ground 4 my teeth in gravel;
he trampled 5 me in the dust.
Lamentations 3:51-52
Context3:51 What my eyes see 6 grieves me 7 –
all the suffering of the daughters in my city. 8
צ (Tsade)
3:52 For no good reason 9 my enemies
hunted me down 10 like a bird.
Lamentations 3:59-61
Context3:59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
pronounce judgment on my behalf! 11
3:60 You have seen all their vengeance,
all their plots against me. 12
ש (Sin/Shin)
3:61 You have heard 13 their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.
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 Heb “bent.”
3 tn Heb “and set me as the target.”
4 tn Heb “crushed.”
5 tn The Hiphil stem of כָּפַשׁ (kafash) means “to tread down” or “make someone cower.” It is rendered variously: “trampled me in the dust” (NIV), “covered me with ashes” (KJV, NKJV), “ground me into the dust” (NJPS), “made me cower in ashes” (RSV, NRSV), “rubbed my face in the ground” (TEV) and “rubbed me in the dirt” (CEV).
6 tn Heb “my eye causes grief to my soul.” The term “eye” is a metonymy of association, standing for that which one sees with the eyes.
7 tn Heb “my soul.” The term נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) is a synecdoche of part (= my soul) for the whole person (= me).
8 tn Heb “at the sight of all the daughters of my city.” It is understood that seeing the plight of the women, not simply seeing the women, is what is so grievous. To make this clear, “suffering” was supplied in the translation.
9 tn Heb “without cause.”
10 tn The construction צוֹד צָדוּנִי (tsod tsaduni, “they have hunted me down”) is emphatic: Qal infinitive absolute of the same root of Qal perfect 3rd person common plural + 1st person common singular suffix.
11 tn Heb “Please judge my judgment.”
12 tc The MT reads לִי (li, “to me”); but many medieval Hebrew
13 tn The verb could be understood as a precative (“Hear”).
