Lamentations 5:2

Our inheritance ¹  is turned over to strangers; foreigners now occupy our homes. ² 

Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens, our homes to foreigners.

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, Our houses to aliens.

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.

Our precious land has been given to outsiders, our homes to strangers.

Our heritage is given up to men of strange lands, our houses to those who are not our countrymen.

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens.

Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens, And our houses to foreigners.

Our inheritance ¹  is turned over to strangers; foreigners now occupy our homes. ² 

¹ tn Heb “Our inheritance”; or “Our inherited possessions/property.” The term נַחֲלָה (nakhalah) has a range of meanings: (1) “inheritance,” (2) “portion, share” and (3) “possession, property.” The land of Canaan was given by the Lord to Israel as its inheritance (Deut 4:21; 15:4; 19:10; 20:16; 21:23; 24:4; 25:19; 26:1; Josh 20:6) and distributed among the tribes, clans and families (Num 16:14; 36:2; Deut 29:7; Josh 11:23; 13:6; 14:3, 13; 17:4, 6, 14; 19:49; 23:4; Judg 18:1; Ezek 45:1; 47:22, 29). Through the family, the family provided an inheritance (property) to its children with the first-born receiving pride of position (Gen 31:14; Num 27:7-11; 36:3, 8; 1 Kgs 21:3, 4; Job 42:15; Prov 19:14; Ezek 46:16). Here, the parallelism between “our inheritance” and “our homes” would allow for the specific referent of the phrase “our inheritance” to be (1) land or (2) material possessions, or given the nature of the poetry in Lamentations, to carry both meanings at the same time.

² tn Heb “our homes [are turned over] to foreigners.”