Lamentations 1:20

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Lamentations 1:20 tn Heb “because distress belongs to me” (כִּי־צַר־לִי, ki tsar li).
2. Lamentations 1:20 tn Heb “my bowels burn,” or “my bowels are in a ferment.” The verb חֳמַרְמָרוּ (khamarmaru) is an unusual form and derived from a debated root: Poalal perfect third person common plural from III חָמַר (khamar, “to be red,” HALOT 330 s.v. III חמר) or Peʿalʿal perfect third person common plural from I חָמַר (khamar, “to ferment, boil up,” BDB 330 s.v. I חָמַר). The Poalal stem of this verb occurs only three times in the OT: with פָּנִים (panim, “face,” Job 16:16) and מֵעִים (meʿim, “bowels,” Lam 1:20; 2:11). The phrase מֵעַי חֳמַרְמָרוּ (meʿay khamarmaru) means “my bowels burned” (HALOT 330 s.v.) or “my bowels are in a ferment,” as a euphemism for lower-intestinal bowel problems (BDB 330 s.v.). This phrase also occurs in later rabbinic literature (m. Sanhedrin 7:2). The present translation, “my stomach is in knots,” is not a literal equivalent to this Hebrew idiom; however, it is an attempt to approximate the equivalent English idiom.
3. Lamentations 1:20 tn The Niphl participle from הָפַךְ (hafakh, “to turn over”) functions verbally, referring to progressive present-time action (from the speaker’s viewpoint).
4. Lamentations 1:20 tn Heb “because I was certainly rebellious.” Using the infinitive absolute before the finite verb of the same root emphasizes the verb’s modality, here indicative mode.
5. Lamentations 1:20 tn Heb “in the street the sword bereaves.” The words “a mother of her children” are supplied in the translation as a clarification.
6. Lamentations 1:20 tn Heb “in the house it is like death.”