Ratapan 3:48

3:48 Streams ¹  of tears flow from my eyes ² 

because my people ³  are destroyed. ⁴ 

Ratapan 4:3

ג (Gimel)

4:3 Even the jackals ⁵  nurse their young

at their breast, ⁶ 

but my people ⁷  are cruel,

like ostriches ⁸  in the desert.

Ratapan 4:6

ו (Vav)

4:6 The punishment ⁹  of my people ¹⁰ 

exceeded that of ¹¹  of Sodom,

which was overthrown in a moment

with no one to help her. ¹² 

Ratapan 4:10

י (Yod)

4:10 The hands of tenderhearted women ¹³ 

cooked their own children,

who became their food, ¹⁴ 

when my people ¹⁵  were destroyed. ¹⁶ 

[3:48]  ¹ tn Heb “canals.” The phrase “canals of water” (eye water = tears) is an example of hyperbole. The English idiom “streams of tears” is also hyperbolic.

[3:48]  ² tn Heb “my eyes flow down with canals of water.”

[3:48]  ³ tn Heb “the daughter of my people,” or “the Daughter, my people.”

[3:48]  ⁴ tn Heb “because of the destruction of [the daughter of my people].”

[4:3]  ⁵ tn The noun תַּנִּין (tannin) means “jackals.” The plural ending ־ִין (-in) is diminutive (GKC 242 §87.e) (e.g., Lam 1:4).

[4:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “draw out the breast and suckle their young.”

[4:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”

[4:3]  ⁸ tc The MT Kethib form כִּי עֵנִים (ki ’enim) is by all accounts a textual corruption for כַּיְעֵנִים (kay’enim, “like ostriches”) which is preserved in the Qere and the medieval Hebrew mss, and reflected in the LXX.

[4:6]  ⁹ tn The noun עֲוֹן (’avon) has a basic two-fold range of meanings: (1) basic meaning: “iniquity, sin” and (2) metonymical cause for effect meaning: “punishment for iniquity.”

[4:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”

[4:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the sin of.” The noun חַטָּאת (khatta’t) often means “sin, rebellion,” but here it probably functions in a metonymical (cause for effect) sense: “punishment for sin” (e.g., Zech 14:19). The context focuses on the severity of the punishment of Jerusalem rather than the depths of its degradation and depravity that led to the judgment.

[4:6]  ¹² tn Heb “without a hand turned.” The preposition ב (bet) after the verb חוּל (khul) in Hos 11:6 is adversative “the sword will turn against [Assyria’s] cities.” Other contexts with חוּל (khul) plus ב (bet) are not comparable (ב [bet] often being locative). However, it is not certain that hands must be adversarial as the sword clearly is in Hos 11:6. The present translation pictures the suddenness of Sodom’s overthrow as an easier fate than the protracted military campaign and subsequent exile and poverty of Judah’s survivor’s.

[4:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “the hands of compassionate women.”

[4:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “eating.” The infinitive construct (from I בָּרָה, barah) is translated as a noun. Three passages employ the verb (2 Sam 3:35; 12:17; 13:5,6,10) for eating when ill or in mourning.

[4:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”

[4:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the destruction of the daughter of my people.”