Yeremia 16:9

16:9 For I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, tell you what will happen. ¹  I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in this land. You and the rest of the people will live to see this happen.’” ² 

Ratapan 4:5

ה (He)

4:5 Those who once feasted on delicacies ³ 

are now starving to death ⁴  in the streets.

Those who grew up ⁵  wearing expensive clothes ⁶ 

are now dying ⁷  amid garbage. ⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “For thus says Yahweh of armies the God of Israel.” The introductory formula which appears three times in vv. 1-9 (vv. 1, 3, 5) has been recast for smoother English style.

sn For the title “the Lord God of Israel who rules over all” see 7:3 and the study note on 2:19.

² tn Heb “before your eyes and in your days.” The pronouns are plural including others than Jeremiah.

³ tn Heb “eaters of delicacies.” An alternate English gloss would be “connoisseurs of fine foods.”

⁴ tn Heb “are desolate.”

⁵ tn Heb “were reared.”

⁶ tn Heb “in purple.” The term תוֹלָע (tola’, “purple”) is a figurative description of expensive clothing: it is a metonymy of association: the color of the dyed clothes (= purple) stands for the clothes themselves.

⁷ tn Heb “embrace garbage.” One may also translate “rummage through” (cf. NCV “pick through trash piles”; TEV “pawing through refuse”; NLT “search the garbage pits.”

⁸ tn The Hebrew word אַשְׁפַּתּוֹת (’ashpatot) can also mean “ash heaps.” Though not used as a combination elsewhere, to “embrace ash heaps” might also envision a state of mourning or even dead bodies lying on the ash heaps.