Ratapan 5:2-18
Konteks5:2 Our inheritance 1 is turned over to strangers;
foreigners now occupy our homes. 2
5:3 We have become fatherless orphans;
our mothers have become widows.
5:4 We must pay money 3 for our own water; 4
we must buy our own wood at a steep price. 5
5:5 We are pursued – they are breathing down our necks; 6
we are weary and have no rest. 7
5:6 We have submitted 8 to Egypt and Assyria
in order to buy food to eat. 9
5:7 Our forefathers 10 sinned and are dead, 11
but we 12 suffer 13 their punishment. 14
there is no one to rescue us from their power. 16
5:9 At the risk 17 of our lives 18 we get our food 19
because robbers lurk 20 in the countryside. 21
5:10 Our skin is hot as an oven
due to a fever from hunger. 22
5:11 They raped 23 women in Zion,
virgins in the towns of Judah.
5:12 Princes were hung by their hands;
elders were mistreated. 24
5:13 The young men perform menial labor; 25
boys stagger from their labor. 26
5:14 The elders are gone from the city gate;
the young men have stopped playing their music.
5:15 Our hearts no longer have any joy; 27
our dancing is turned to mourning.
5:16 The crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!
5:17 Because of this, our hearts are sick; 28
because of these things, we can hardly see 29 through our tears. 30
5:18 For wild animals 31 are prowling over Mount Zion,
which lies desolate.
[5:2] 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
[5:2] 2 tn Heb “our homes [are turned over] to foreigners.”
[5:4] 3 tn Heb “silver.” The term “silver” is a synecdoche of species (= silver) for general (= money).
[5:4] 4 tn Heb “We drink our water for silver.”
[5:4] 5 tn Heb “our wood comes for a price.”
[5:5] 6 tn Heb “We are hard-driven on our necks”
[5:5] 7 sn For the theological allusion that goes beyond physical rest, see, e.g., Deut 12:10; 25:19; Josh 1:13; 11:23; 2 Sam 7:1, 11; 1 Chron 22:18; 2 Chron 14:6-7
[5:6] 8 tn Heb “we have given the hand”; cf. NRSV “We have made a pact.” This is a Semitic idiom meaning “to make a treaty with” someone, placing oneself in a subservient position as vassal. The prophets criticized these treaties.
[5:6] 9 tn Heb “bread.” The term “bread” is a synecdoche of specific (= bread) for the general (= food).
[5:7] 10 tn Heb “fathers,” but here the term also refers to “forefathers,” i.e., more distant ancestors.
[5:7] 11 tn Heb “and are no more.”
[5:7] 12 tc The Kethib is written אֲנַחְנוּ (’anakhnu, “we”) but the Qere reads וַאֲנַחְנוּ (va’anakhnu, “but we”). The Qere is supported by many medieval Hebrew
[5:7] 14 tn Heb “their iniquities.” The noun עָוֹן (’avon) has a broad range of meanings, including: (1) iniquity, (2) guilt of iniquity, and (3) consequence or punishment for iniquity (cause-effect metonymical relation). The context suggests that “punishment for sin” is most appropriate here (e.g., Gen 4:13; 19:15; Exod 28:38, 43; Lev 5:1, 17; 7:18; 10:17; 16:22; 17:16; 19:8; 20:17, 19; 22:16; 26:39, 41, 43; Num 5:31; 14:34; 18:1, 23; 30:15; 1 Sam 25:24; 28:10; 2 Sam 14:9; 2 Kgs 7:9; Job 10:14; Pss 31:11; 69:28; 106:43; Prov 5:22; Isa 5:18; 30:13; 40:2; 53:6, 11; 64:5, 6; Jer 51:6; Lam 4:22; 5:7; Ezek 4:4-6, 17; 7:16; 14:10; 18:19-20; 21:30, 34; 24:23; 32:27; 35:5; 39:23; 44:10, 12).
[5:8] 15 tn Heb “slaves.” While indicating that social structures are awry, the expression “slaves rule over us” might be an idiom for “tyrants rule over us.” This might find its counterpart in the gnomic truth that the most ruthless rulers are made of former slaves: “Under three things the earth quakes, under four it cannot bear up: under a slave when he becomes king” (Prov 30:21-22a).
[5:9] 17 tn Heb “at the cost of our lives.” The preposition ב (bet) here denotes purchase price paid (e.g., Gen 30:16; Exod 34:20; 2 Sam 3:14; 24:24) (BDB 90 s.v. בְּ 3.a). The expression בְּנַפְשֵׁנוּ (bÿnafshenu) means “at the risk of our lives.” Similar expressions include בְנַפְשׁוֹ (bÿnafsho, “at the cost of his life,” 1 Kgs 2:23; Prov 7:23) and בְּנַפְשׁוֹתָם (bÿnafshotam, “at peril of their lives,” 2 Sam 23:17).
[5:9] 18 tn Heb “our soul.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) is used as a metonymy (= soul) of association (= life) (e.g., Gen 44:30; Exod 21:23; 2 Sam 14:7; Jon 1:14).
[5:9] 19 tn Heb “bread.” The term “bread” is a synecdoche of specific (= bread) for the general (= food).
[5:9] 20 tn Heb “because of the sword.” The term “sword” is a metonymy of instrument (= sword) for the persons who use the instrument (= murderers or marauders).
[5:9] 21 tn Heb “the wilderness.”
[5:10] 22 tn Heb “because of the burning heat of famine.”
[5:12] 24 tn Heb “elders were shown no respect.” The phrase “shown no respect” is an example of tapeinosis, a figurative expression of understatement: to show no respect to elders = to terribly mistreat elders.
[5:13] 25 tn The text is difficult. Word by word the MT has “young men hand mill(?) they take up” Perhaps it means “they take [our] young men for mill grinding,” or perhaps it means “the young men take up [the labor of] mill grinding.” This expression is an example of synecdoche where the mill stands for the labor at the mill and then that labor stands for performing menial physical labor as servants. The surface reading, “young men carry hand mills,” does not portray any great adversity for them. The Vulgate translates as an abusive sexual metaphor (see D. R. Hillers, Lamentations [AB], 99), but this gives no known parallel to the second part of the verse.
[5:13] 26 tc Heb “boys trip over wood.” This phrase makes little sense. The translation adopts D. R. Hillers’ suggestion (Lamentations [AB], 99) of בְּעֶצֶב כָּשָׁלוּ (bÿ’etsev kashalu). Due to letter confusion and haplography the final ב (bet) of בְּעֶצֶב (bÿ’etsev) which looks like the כ (kaf) beginning the next word, was dropped. This verb can have an abstract noun after the preposition ב (bet) meaning “from, due to” rather than “over.”
[5:15] 27 tn Heb “the joy of our heart has ceased.”
[5:17] 28 tn Heb “are faint” or “are sick.” The adjective דַּוָּי (davvay, “faint”) is used in reference to emotional sorrow (e.g., Isa 1:5; Lam 1:22; Jer 8:18). The related adjective דָּוֶה (daveh) means “(physically) sick” and “(emotionally) sad,” while the related verb דָּוָה (davah) means “to be sad.” The cognate Aramaic term means “sorrow,” and the cognate Syriac term refers to “misery.”
[5:17] 29 tn Heb “our eyes are dim.” The physical description of losing sight is metaphorical, perhaps for being blinded by tears or more abstractly for being unable to see (= envision) any hope. The collocation “darkened eyes” is too rare to clarify the nuance.
[5:17] 30 tn The phrase “through our tears” is added in the translation for the sake of clarification.
[5:18] 31 tn Heb “jackals.” The term “jackals” is a synecdoche of species (= jackals) for general (= wild animals).
