Verse 16 continues the description of the attitude and actions of the enemies of Jerusalem, following on from the previous verse. As in verse 15, a description of the enemy’s gestures is followed by a quotation of their words.

All your enemies rail against you is literally “All your enemies have opened their mouths against you.” Rail is an English verb meaning to scold, scoff, make fun of with abusive language. Many translators keep the Hebrew expression and add the purpose for opening their mouths; for example, Bible en français courant has “They open their mouths to provoke you.”

Hiss and gnash their teeth are literal translations referring to actions, which will usually require adjusting to other gestures and expressions in translation. Expressions of derision are not lacking in most languages; for example, “to speak of someone with laughter,” “to make funny stories about someone,” or by means of gestures, “to put the nose in the air at someone,” or “to flap the lips at someone.” Good News Translation “glare at you with hate” corresponds to gnash their teeth, and “curl the lips” is Good News Translation‘s equivalent of rail against. “Sneer” translates the word rendered hiss in Revised Standard Version. Translators should note that Good News Translation has changed the order for stylistic reasons.

We have destroyed her!: destroyed translates the Hebrew for “swallow,” as in verse 2. Her refers to Jerusalem.

Ah, this is the day we longed for: Ah, an exclamation, translates a word meaning “truly, indeed.” The poet no doubt intends this sentence as a reference to the “day of the LORD,” which the people of Jerusalem had been longing for as a day of the LORD’s victory over Israel’s enemies. But as Amos 5.18 had warned, the day of the LORD turned out to be “a day of darkness” for Israel and a day of victory for her enemies. Longed for means “waited for,” that is, “the day we have looked forward to.”

Now we have it; we see it translates two Hebrew verbs, “We have found” and “we have seen,” which are not really represented in Good News Translation. New English Bible says “We have lived to see it,” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “Finally, we have been able to see it,” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “Finally, the day we have so long awaited has come!”

In some languages the insertion of direct speech requires an element which indicates that it is direct speech. For example, “saying it like this,” or if placed after the quotation, “having said it like that.” Here it will sometimes be necessary to add that this is the speech of the enemies; for example, “that is what the enemies said.”

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 .