Ratapan 3:9

3:9 He has blocked ¹  every road I take ²  with a wall of hewn stones;

he has made every path impassable. ³ 

Ratapan 3:53-54

3:53 They shut me ⁴  up in a pit

and threw stones at me.

3:54 The waters closed over my head;

I thought ⁵  I was about to die. ⁶ 

[3:9]  ¹ tn The verb גָּדַר (garad) has a two-fold range of meanings: (1) “to build up a wall” with stones, and (2) “to block a road” with a wall of stones. The collocated terms דְּרָכַי (dÿrakhay, “my roads”) in 3:9 clearly indicate that the second category of meaning is in view.

[3:9]  ² tn Heb “my roads.”

[3:9]  ³ tn Heb “he had made my paths crooked.” The implication is that the paths by which one might escape cannot be traversed.

[3:53]  ⁴ tn Heb “my life.”

[3:54]  ⁵ tn Heb “I said,” meaning “I said to myself” = “I thought.”

[3:54]  ⁶ tn Heb “I was about to be cut off.” The verb נִגְזָרְתִּי (nigzarti), Niphal perfect 1st person common singular from גָּזַר (gazar, “to be cut off”), functions in an ingressive sense: “about to be cut off.” It is used in reference to the threat of death (e.g., Ezek 37:11). To be “cut off” from the hand of the living means to experience death (Ps 88:6).