Lamentations 2:16

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Lamentations 2:16 tn Heb “they have opened wide their mouth against you.”
2. Lamentations 2:16 tn Heb “We have swallowed!”
3. Lamentations 2:16 tn Heb “We have attained; we have seen!” The verbs מָצָאנוּ רָאִינוּ (matsaʾnu raʾinu) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first retains its full verbal sense and the second functions as an object complement. It forms a Hebrew idiom that means something like, “We have lived to see it!” The three asyndetic first person common plural statements in 2:16 (“We waited; we destroyed; we saw!”) are spoken in an impassioned, staccato style reflecting the delight of the conquerors.