The first two units of verse 5 contrast Jerusalem’s powerful enemies with the suffering of the defeated city. Her occurs five times with reference to Jerusalem (or, Zion). Good News Translation makes this reference to Zion clear by placing that name in the final line of verse 4. The translator must examine the repeated use of the pronoun her and decide whether or not it will be clearer in some cases to say “Jerusalem’s” or “of Jerusalem.”
Her foes have become the head is a literal translation of the Hebrew. The meaning is that Jerusalem’s enemies have triumphed and defeated her. Good News Translation “succeeded” implies that her enemies have succeeded in conquering her. Bible en français courant translates “Her enemies have got the upper hand,” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “The enemies are at the peak of their fortune,” and New English Bible “Her adversaries have become her masters.” This use of head may be picking up the thought of Deuteronomy 28.44, which Revised Standard Version translates “He shall be the head and you shall be the tail.”
Her enemies prosper translates the Hebrew for “her enemies are at ease,” which New English Bible renders “her enemies take their ease.” This means that they scarcely need to exert themselves to conquer Jerusalem, since their victory is given to them by God. The poet clearly looks at the conquest of Jerusalem as a fulfillment of the warnings of the prophets. This half-line may also be rendered, for example, “It is easy for Jerusalem’s enemies to win their battles.”
Because the LORD has made her suffer provides the reason why her enemies prosper. In some languages “to cause to suffer” is expressed as “because the LORD punished her.” For the translation of suffer see verse 4.
LORD translates in English the four Hebrew letters YHWH, which represent the personal name of the God of the Israelites.
For the multitude of her transgressions gives the reason for Jerusalem’s suffering. The word translated transgressions and “sins” (Good News Translation) carries a strong element of disobedience and willful rebellion and is sometimes used to refer to political rebellions. If the idea of rebellion is to be stressed, we may sometimes say, for example, “because the people of Jerusalem disobeyed God” or “because Jerusalem turned away from God.” Some languages say idiomatically “The people of Jerusalem made their livers hard toward God.” It may be necessary in translation to make the cause-effect relation clearer than in Good News Translation; for example, “God has made Jerusalem suffer because she has sinned” or “Jerusalem suffers because of her sins. God makes her suffer.”
Her children is taken by nearly all translations to refer to the young offspring of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. To speak of her children … gone away gives the impression that they have left voluntarily, which is hardly the case. Good News Translation “have been captured and taken away” may suggest the picture of children being pursued and caught. Good News Translation translates a similar Hebrew expression in Deuteronomy 28.41, “they will be taken away as prisoners of war,” which is also a good model for translation in this verse. In languages which do not have a general term for children, it is usually possible to say “her sons and daughters” or “Jerusalem’s sons and daughters.”
Captives before the foe: in Deuteronomy 28.36, 63-68 it is the LORD who leads the rebellious nation of Israel away into captivity for breaking the covenant. The last pair of half-lines of verse 5 depict the children of Jerusalem being led away by their captors. The final half-line seems to indicate that these children are forced to march off into captivity, perhaps like sheep driven before their captors. This suggests that the children are old enough to be led away. Captives are persons captured, seized, imprisoned by conquering armies. We may translate “Her children have become prisoners of war and have been taken away” or “The enemy has taken away the children of Jerusalem as prisoners of war.”
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 .