Lamentations 3:45-47

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Lamentations 3:45 tn Heb “offscouring and refuse.” The two nouns סְחִי וּמָאוֹס (s^ekhi umaʾos) probably form a nominal hendiadys in which the first noun functions as an adjective and the second retains its full nominal sense: “filthy refuse,” i.e., “filthy scum.”
2. Lamentations 3:45 tn Heb “in the midst of.”
3. Lamentations 3:46 tn Heb “open wide their mouths.”
4. Lamentations 3:47 tn The similar sounding nouns פַּחַד וָפַחַת (pakhad vafakhat, “panic and pitfall”) are an example of paronomasia.
5. Lamentations 3:47 tn Similar to the paronomasia in the preceding line, the words הַשֵּׁאת וְהַשָּׁבֶר (hasheʾt v^ehashaver, “devastation and destruction”) form an example of alliteration: the beginning of the words sound alike.