Lamentations 3:13

ה (He) He shot ¹  his arrows ²  into my heart. ³ 

He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.

He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts.

He shot his arrows deep into my heart.

He shot me in the stomach with arrows from his quiver.

He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body.

He shot into my vitals the arrows of his quiver;

He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins.

ה (He) He shot ¹  his arrows ²  into my heart. ³ 

¹ tn The Hiphil stem of בוֹא (bo’, lit., “cause to come in”) here means “to shoot” arrows.

² tn Heb “sons of his quiver.” This idiom refers to arrows (BDB 121 s.v. בֵּן 6). The term “son” (בֵּן, ben) is often used idiomatically with a following genitive, e.g., “son of flame” = sparks (Job 5:7), “son of a constellation” = stars (Job 38:22), “son of a bow” = arrows (Job 41:2), “son of a quiver” = arrows (Lam 3:13), “son of threshing-floor” = corn (Isa 21:10).

³ tn Heb “my kidneys.” In Hebrew anthropology, the kidneys are often portrayed as the most sensitive and vital part of man. Poetic texts sometimes portray a person fatally wounded, being shot by the Lord’s arrows in the kidneys (Job 16:13; here in Lam 3:13). The equivalent English idiomatic counterpart is the heart, which is employed in the present translation.