Ratapan 1:2

ב (Bet)

1:2 She weeps bitterly at night;

tears stream down her cheeks. ¹ 

She has no one to comfort her

among all her lovers. ² 

All her friends have betrayed her;

they have become her enemies.

Ratapan 4:3

ג (Gimel)

4:3 Even the jackals ³  nurse their young

at their breast, ⁴ 

but my people ⁵  are cruel,

like ostriches ⁶  in the desert.

[1:2]  ¹ tn Heb “her tears are on her cheek.”

[1:2]  ² tn Heb “lovers.” The term “lovers” is a figurative expression (hypocatastasis), comparing Jerusalem’s false gods and foreign political alliances to sexually immoral lovers. Hosea uses similar imagery (Hos 2:5, 7, 10, 13). It may also function as a double entendre, first evoking a disconcerting picture of a funeral where the widow has no loved ones present to comfort her. God also does not appear to be present to comfort Jerusalem and will later be called her enemy. The imagery in Lamentations frequently capitalizes on changing the reader’s expectations midstream.

[4:3]  ³ tn The noun תַּנִּין (tannin) means “jackals.” The plural ending ־ִין (-in) is diminutive (GKC 242 §87.e) (e.g., Lam 1:4).

[4:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “draw out the breast and suckle their young.”

[4:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”

[4:3]  ⁶ tc The MT Kethib form כִּי עֵנִים (ki ’enim) is by all accounts a textual corruption for כַּיְעֵנִים (kay’enim, “like ostriches”) which is preserved in the Qere and the medieval Hebrew mss, and reflected in the LXX.