Lamentations 3:14-16

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Lamentations 3:14 tc The MT reads עַמִּי (ʿammi, “my people”). Many medieval Hebrew mss read עַמִּים (ʿammim, “peoples”), as reflected also in the Syriac Peshitta. The internal evidence (contextual congruence) favors the variant עַמִּים (ʿammim, “peoples”).
2. Lamentations 3:14 tn The noun נְגִינָה (n^eginah) is a musical term: (1) “music” played on strings (Isa 38:20; Lam 5:14), (2) a technical musical term (Pss 4:1; 6:1; 54:1; 55:1; 67:1; 76:1; Hab 3:19) and (3) a “mocking song” (Pss 69:13; 77:7; Job 30:9; Lam 3:14). The parallelism with שְׂחֹק (s^ekhoq, “laughingstock”) indicates that the latter category of meaning is in view.
3. Lamentations 3:14 tn Heb “all of the day.” The idiom כָּל־הַיּוֹם (kol hayyom, “all day”) means “continually” (Gen 6:5; Deut 28:32; 33:12; Pss 25:5; 32:3; 35:28; 37:26; 38:7, 13; 42:4, 11; 44:9, 16, 23; 52:3; 56:2, 3, 6; 71:8, 15, 24; 72:15; 73:14; 74:22; 86:3; 88:18; 89:17; 102:9; 119:97; Prov 21:26; 23:17; Isa 28:24; 51:13; 52:5; 65:2, 5; Jer 20:7, 8; Lam 1:13; 3:3, 62; Hos 12:2).
4. Lamentations 3:15 tn Heb “wormwood” or “bitterness” (BDB 542 s.v. לַעֲנָה; HALOT 533 s.v. לַעֲנָה).
5. Lamentations 3:16 tn Heb “crushed.”
6. Lamentations 3:16 tn The Hiphil stem of כָּפַשׁ (kafash) means “to tread down” or “make someone cower.” It is rendered variously: “trampled me in the dust” (NIV), “covered me with ashes” (KJV, NKJV), “ground me into the dust” (NJPS), “made me cower in ashes” (RSV, NRSV), “rubbed my face in the ground” (TEV), and “rubbed me in the dirt” (CEV).