Lamentations 4:20

ר (Resh) Our very life breath – the Lord’s anointed king ¹  – was caught in their traps, ²  of whom we thought, ³  “Under his protection ⁴  we will survive among the nations.”

Ge 2:7; Ge 44:30; 1Sa 12:3,5; 1Sa 16:6; 1Sa 24:6,10; 1Sa 26:9,16; 2Sa 1:14,21; 2Sa 18:3; 2Sa 19:21; Ps 89:20,21; Jer 39:5; Jer 52:8; La 2:9; Eze 12:13; Eze 17:18; Eze 19:4-8

¹ tn Heb “the anointed one of the Lord.” The term “king” is added in the translation to clarify the referent of the phrase “the Lord’s anointed.”

² tn Heb “was captured in their pits.”

³ tn Heb “of whom we had said.”

⁴ tn Heb “under his shadow.” The term צֵל (tsel, “shadow”) is used figuratively here to refer the source of protection from military enemies. In the same way that the shade of a tree gives physical relief and protection from the heat of the sun (e.g., Judg 9:15; Job 40:22; Ps 80:11; Song 2:3; Ezek 17:23; 31:6, 12, 17; Hos 4:13; 14:8; Jon 4:5, 6), a faithful and powerful king can provide “shade” (= protection) from enemies and military attack (Num 14:19; Ps 91:1; Isa 30:2, 3; 49:2; 51:16; Jer 48:45; Lam 4:20).