Lamentations 3:7-9

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Lamentations 3:7 tn The verb גָּדַר (gadar) has a twofold range of meaning: (1) “to build up a wall” with stones, and (2) “to block a road” with a wall of stones. The imagery either depicts the Lord building a wall to seal off personified Jerusalem with no way to escape the city, or his blocking her road of escape. Siege imagery prevails in 3:4-6, but 3:7-9 pictures an unsuccessful escape that is thwarted due to blocked roads in 3:7 and 3:9.
2. Lamentations 3:7 tn Heb “he has made heavy my chains.”
3. Lamentations 3:8 tn Heb “I call and I cry out.” The verbs אֶזְעַק וַאֲשַׁוֵּעַ (ʾezʿaq vaʾashavveaʿ, “I call and I cry out”) form a verbal hendiadys where the second retains its full verbal sense while the first functions adverbially: “I cry out desperately.”
4. Lamentations 3:8 tn The verb שׁוע (“to cry out”) usually denotes calling out to God for help or deliverance from a lamentable plight (e.g., Job 30:20; 36:13; 38:41; Pss 5:3; 18:7, 42; 22:25; 28:2; 30:3; 31:23; 88:14; 119:147; Isa 58:9; Lam 3:8; Jon 2:3; Hab 1:2).
5. Lamentations 3:8 tn The verb שָׂתַם (satam) is a hapax legomenon (term that appears in the Hebrew scriptures only once) meaning “stop up” or “shut out.” It functions as an idiom here, meaning “he has shut his ears to my prayer” (BDB 979 s.v.).
6. Lamentations 3:9 tn The verb גָּדַר (gadar) has a twofold 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 (d^erakhay, “my roads”) in 3:9 clearly indicate that the second category of meaning is in view.
7. Lamentations 3:9 tn Heb “my roads.”
8. Lamentations 3:9 tn Heb “he has made my paths crooked.” The implication is that the paths by which one might escape cannot be traversed.