Yesaya 5:25

5:25 So the Lord is furious ¹  with his people;

he lifts ²  his hand and strikes them.

The mountains shake,

and corpses lie like manure ³  in the middle of the streets.

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ⁴ 

Yeremia 14:16

14:16 The people to whom they are prophesying will die through war and famine. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem ⁵  and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to the men and their wives, their sons, and their daughters. ⁶  For I will pour out on them the destruction they deserve.” ⁷ 

Ratapan 2:19

ק (Qof)

2:19 Get up! Cry out in the night ⁸ 

when the night watches start! ⁹ 

Pour out your heart ¹⁰  like water

before the face of the Lord! ¹¹ 

Lift up your hands ¹²  to him

for your children’s lives; ¹³ 

they are fainting ¹⁴ 

at every street corner. ¹⁵ 

[5:25]  ¹ tn Heb “the anger of the Lord rages.”

[5:25]  ² tn Or “extends”; KJV, ASV “he hath stretched forth.”

[5:25]  ³ tn Or “garbage” (NCV, CEV, NLT); NAB, NASB, NIV “refuse.”

[5:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.”

[14:16]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[14:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “And the people to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem and there will not be anyone to bury them, they, their wives, and their sons and their daughters.” This sentence has been restructured to break up a long Hebrew sentence and to avoid some awkwardness due to differences in the ancient Hebrew and contemporary English styles.

[14:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “their evil.” Hebrew words often include within them a polarity of cause and effect. Thus the word for “evil” includes both the concept of wickedness and the punishment for it. Other words that function this way are “iniquity” = “guilt [of iniquity]” = “punishment [for iniquity].” Context determines which nuance is proper.

[2:19]  ⁸ tc The Kethib is written בַּלַּיִל (ballayil) a defective spelling for בַּלַּיְלָה (ballaylah, “night”). The Qere reads בַּלַּיְלָה (ballaylah, “night”), which is preserved in numerous medieval Hebrew mss.

[2:19]  tn The noun בַּלַּיְלָה (ballaylah, “night”) functions as an adverbial accusative of time: “in the night.”

[2:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “at the head of the watches.”

[2:19]  ¹⁰ tn The noun לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) functions here as a metonymy of association for the thoughts and emotions in the heart. The Hebrew לֵבָב (levav) includes the mind so that in some cases the translation “heart” implies an inappropriate division between the cognitive and affective. This context is certainly emotionally loaded, but as part of a series of admonitions to address God in prayer, these emotions are inextricably bound with the thoughts of the mind. The singular “heart” is retained in the translation to be consistent with the personification of Jerusalem (cf. v. 18).

[2:19]  ¹¹ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[2:19]  ¹² sn Lifting up the palms or hands is a metaphor for prayer.

[2:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “on account of the life of your children.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) refers to the “life” of their dying children (e.g., Lam 2:12). The singular noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”) is used as a collective, as the plural genitive noun that follows makes clear: “your children.”

[2:19]  ¹⁴ tc The BHS editors and many commentators suggest that the fourth bicola in 2:19 is a late addition and should be deleted. Apart from the four sets of bicola in 1:7 and 2:19, every stanza in chapters 1-4 consists of three sets of bicola.

[2:19]  tn Heb “who are fainting.”

[2:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “at the head of every street.”