Ratapan 3:37

מ (Mem)

3:37 Whose command was ever fulfilled ¹ 

unless the Lord ²  decreed it?

Ratapan 5:12

5:12 Princes were hung by their hands;

elders were mistreated. ³ 

[3:37]  ¹ tn Heb “Who is this, he spoke and it came to pass?” The general sense is to ask whose commands are fulfilled. The phrase “he spoke and it came to pass” is taken as an allusion to the creation account (see Gen 1:3).

[3:37]  ² tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[5:12]  ³ 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.