Lamentations 3:14

I have become the laughingstock of all people, ¹  their mocking song ²  all day long. ³ 

I became the laughing-stock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.

I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day.

My own people laugh at me. All day long they sing their mocking songs.

Everyone took me for a joke, made me the butt of their mocking ballads.

I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day.

I have become the laughingstock of all my people, the object of their taunt-songs all day long.

I have become the ridicule of all my people––Their taunting song all the day.

I have become the laughingstock of all people, ¹  their mocking song ²  all day long. ³ 

¹ tc The MT reads עַמִּי (’ammi, “my people”). Many medieval Hebrew mss read עַמִּים (’ammim, “peoples”), as reflected also in Syriac Peshitta. The internal evidence (contextual congruence) favors the variant עַמִּים (’ammim, “peoples”).

² tn The noun נְגִינָה (nÿginah) is a musical term: (1) “music” played on strings (Isa 38:20; Lam 5:14), (2) a technical musical term (Pss 4:1; 6:1; 54:1; 55:1; 67:1; 76:1; Hab 3:19) and (3) “mocking song” (Pss 69:13; 77:7; Job 30:9; Lam 3:14). The parallelism with שׂחוֹק “laughingstock” indicates that the latter category of meaning is in view.

³ tn Heb “all of the day.” The idiom כָּל־הַיּוֹם (kol-hayyom, “all day”) means “continually” (Gen 6:5; Deut 28:32; 33:12; Pss 25:5; 32:3; 35:28; 37:26; 38:7, 13; 42:4, 11; 44:9, 16, 23; 52:3; 56:2, 3, 6; 71:8, 15, 24; 72:15; 73:14; 74:22; 86:3; 88:18; 89:17; 102:9; 119:97; Prov 21:26; 23:17; Isa 28:24; 51:13; 52:5; 65:2, 5; Jer 20:7, 8; Lam 1:13; 3:3, 62; Hos 12:2).