Ratapan 2:12

ל (Lamed)

2:12 Children ¹  say to their mothers, ² 

“Where are food and drink?” ³ 

They faint ⁴  like a wounded warrior

in the city squares.

They die slowly ⁵ 

in their mothers’ arms. ⁶ 

Ratapan 4:21

The Prophet Speaks:

ש (Sin/Shin)

4:21 Rejoice and be glad for now, ⁷  O people of Edom, ⁸ 

who reside in the land of Uz.

But the cup of judgment ⁹  will pass ¹⁰  to you also;

you will get drunk and take off your clothes.

[2:12]  ¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:12]  ² tn Heb “to their mother,” understood as a collective singular.

[2:12]  ³ tn Heb “Where is bread and wine?” The terms “bread” and “wine” are synecdoches of specific (= bread, wine) for general (= food, drink).

[2:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “as they faint” or “when they faint.”

[2:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “as their life is poured out.” The term בְּהִשְׁתַּפֵּךְ (bÿhishtappekh), Hitpael infinitive construct + the preposition בּ (bet), from שָׁפַךְ (shafakh, “to pour out”) may be rendered “as they expire” (BDB 1050 s.v. שָׁפַךְ), referring to the process of dying. Note the repetition of the word “pour out” with various direct objects in this poem at 2:4, 11, 12, and 19.

[2:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “chest, lap.”

[4:21]  ⁷ tn The phrase “for now” is added in the translation to highlight the implied contrast between the present joy of the Gentiles (4:21a) and their future judgment (4:21b).

[4:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “O Daughter of Edom.”

[4:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “the cup.” Judgment is often depicted as a cup of wine that God forces a person to drink, causing him to lose consciousness, red wine drooling out of his mouth – resembling corpses lying on the ground as a result of the actual onslaught of the Lord’s judgment. The drunkard will reel and stagger, causing bodily injury to himself – an apt metaphor to describe the devastating effects of God’s judgment. Just as a cup of poison kills all those who are forced to drink it, the cup of God’s wrath destroys all those who must drink it (e.g., Ps 75:9; Isa 51:17, 22; Jer 25:15, 17, 28; 49:12; 51:7; Lam 4:21; Ezek 23:33; Hab 2:16).

[4:21]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect verb “will pass” may also be a jussive, continuing the element of request, “let the cup pass…”