Verse 4 expands the picture of Jerusalem’s suffering by focusing now on the disappearance of worship in the Temple. The Hebrew text, as represented by Revised Standard Version, says The roads to Zion mourn. The thought is that the roads that were once filled with worshipers are now desolate and empty. These roads led to the holy hill of Zion, where the Temple stood.
It may be necessary to modify the description of roads mourning and say, for example, “The roads to Zion are as people who mourn for their dead.” In some languages this would imply that the roads are noisy places filled with wailing mourners. However, as the second half-line points out, it is the absence of people walking along the roads on their way to the Temple that makes even the roads mourn. Good News Translation says “no one comes to the Temple.” Accordingly it may be necessary to say, for example, “The empty roads that lead to the Temple at Mount Zion are sad, like mourners at a burial.”
The names “Zion,” “Jerusalem,” and “Temple” are used interchangeably in Lamentations. Translators should make clear that Zion is the same as Jerusalem, or more exactly the Temple in Jerusalem; in fact they may wish to replace Zion with “Temple,” as in Good News Translation. “Temple,” as used here, is the place where God is worshiped in Jerusalem, and is considered to be his dwelling or building. In some languages “Temple” may be translated “the holy house,” “the holy building,” “house of God,” or “house where people worship God.”
Appointed feasts is literally “appointed,” but the reference is to the great festival times in the Old Testament. Good News Translation calls these “holy days,” and New English Bible “sacred feasts.” In languages in which appointed feasts would simply mean “scheduled eating and drinking,” it will be necessary to provide the idea of worship; for example, “the days when people came to worship” or “on the special days when people thanked God in the Temple.”
All her gates are desolate: it is not certain whether these are the gates of the city wall or the entrances to the Temple. Good News Translation and others make it clear that these are the “city gates.” Others translating more formally keep her gates. During the celebration of the great festivals of Israel, the worshipers would come crowding through both the city gates and the Temple entrances. Bible en français courant takes her gates to refer to the meeting area inside the city gates and translates “her public squares.” The word gates may sometimes be translated as “the entry place” or “where people went in and out of the city.” The word translated desolate, when used in reference to land or a place, means to be empty, without people, deserted.
Her priests groan: in a similar passage in Joel 1.9, the priests mourn at the destruction of the countryside. Since the priests are no longer present in the Temple, it may be assumed that they groan in captivity. A priest is one who is primarily engaged in leading the rituals of religion. In some societies where there are no priests, it may be necessary to substitute a local term, if it is acceptable. Whether or not this can be done successfully depends on the reaction of the people and their association with men of these professions. If it is felt that local terms designating the leader of the religious cult give a wrong impression, translators may sometimes speak of “the one who makes sacrifices,” where such practice is known, or say “the officer of the Temple” or “the one who functions in the house of God.”
Her maidens have been dragged away: maidens is literally “virgins,” but in English and many other languages the word “virgin” focuses upon a girl’s lack of sexual experience. Accordingly a more general term such as Good News Translation “girls” is more satisfactory. Like the priest these young women had a part to play in the regular Temple worship, as suggested in Psalm 68.25. Revised Standard Version assumes the Hebrew verb translated “afflicted” was originally dragged away, and so changes the verb on this basis. See Revised Standard Version footnote. Good News Translation does not change the word and so has “The girls … suffer.” Good News Translation “who sang there” further identifies these girls, who would otherwise have no expressed association with the Temple.
And she herself suffers bitterly: suffers has been supplied by Revised Standard Version but is required in the context. Just as “her” in the previous unit refers to “Zion” (the Temple), so also does she in the final half-line. Bible en français courant translates the final half-line as a summary statement, “How bitter all that is for Zion,” which may be recommended to translators. Suffer is sometimes translated “to have pain” or “to hurt with grief.”
Good News Translation has rearranged the second and third pair of half-lines of the Hebrew in verse 4 so as to bring together the description of the “girls who sang” and “the priests,” both of whose activities are related to the act of worship. The final line of Good News Translation then puts together “the city gates” and “Zion.” The effect of this reordering of the lines is to give greater coherence to the related parts of the verse.
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on Lamentations. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .