Ratapan 2:16

פ (Pe)

2:16 All your enemies

gloated over you. ¹ 

They sneered and gnashed their teeth;

they said, “We have destroyed ²  her!

Ha! We have waited a long time for this day.

We have lived to see it!” ³ 

Ratapan 4:18

צ (Tsade)

4:18 Our enemies ⁴  hunted us down at every step ⁵ 

so that we could not walk about in our streets.

Our end drew near, our days were numbered, ⁶ 

for our end had come!

[2:16]  ¹ tn Heb “they have opened wide their mouth against you.”

[2:16]  ² tn Heb “We have swallowed!”

[2:16]  ³ tn Heb “We have attained, we have seen!” The verbs מָצָאנוּ רָאִינוּ (matsa’nu ra’inu) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first retains its full verbal sense and the second functions as an object complement. It forms a Hebrew idiom that means something like, “We have lived to see it!” The three asyndetic 1st person common plural statements in 2:16 (“We waited, we destroyed, we saw!”) are spoken in an impassioned, staccato style reflecting the delight of the conquerors.

[4:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “they”; this has been specified in the translation as “our enemies” for clarity.

[4:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “they hunted our steps.”

[4:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “our days were full.”