Lamentations 1:2

ב (Bet) 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.

Job 6:15; Job 7:3; Job 19:13,14; Ps 6:6; Ps 31:11; Ps 77:2-6; Pr 19:7; Isa 51:18,19; Jer 4:30; Jer 9:1,17-19; Jer 13:17; Jer 22:20-22; Jer 30:14; La 1:9,16,17,21; La 1:16; La 1:19; La 2:11,18,19; Eze 16:37; Eze 23:22-25; Ho 2:7; Mic 7:5; Re 17:13,16

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.