Ratapan 2:12

ל (Lamed)

2:12 Children ¹  say to their mothers, ² 

“Where are food and drink?” ³ 

They faint ⁴  like a wounded warrior

in the city squares.

They die slowly ⁵ 

in their mothers’ arms. ⁶ 

[2:12]  ¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:12]  ² tn Heb “to their mother,” understood as a collective singular.

[2:12]  ³ tn Heb “Where is bread and wine?” The terms “bread” and “wine” are synecdoches of specific (= bread, wine) for general (= food, drink).

[2:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “as they faint” or “when they faint.”

[2:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “as their life is poured out.” The term בְּהִשְׁתַּפֵּךְ (bÿhishtappekh), Hitpael infinitive construct + the preposition בּ (bet), from שָׁפַךְ (shafakh, “to pour out”) may be rendered “as they expire” (BDB 1050 s.v. שָׁפַךְ), referring to the process of dying. Note the repetition of the word “pour out” with various direct objects in this poem at 2:4, 11, 12, and 19.

[2:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “chest, lap.”