As suggested in the introduction to this chapter, verse 2 takes up the physical destruction which the Lord inflicts upon his people. The three units of this verse are parallel in meaning: the Lord destroys Jacob, breaks down Judah, and brings down the kingdom and its rulers.
Translators will notice that from verse 2 to verse 7 there is a difference in the English tenses used by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation to translate the Hebrew verbs. Revised Standard Version uses the present perfect tense, which indicates that the action of the verb in the past has consequences or effects in the present. This is very appropriate, since the poet is describing the picture of ruin and destruction all around him which is the result of the Lord’s action. And it also prepares the way for the very effective switch to the past tense in verse 8, “The LORD determined…,” highlighting the one decisive action of the LORD in the past which set the whole course of destruction in motion. Good News Translation‘s use of the past tense throughout verses 2-8 suggests that the poet is thinking back to a time in the past when the destruction took place. However, Good News Translation creates a bridge from the past to the present when it introduces “now” at the end of the first half-line in the final unit of verse 8, “The towers and walls now lie in ruins together.” Where translators need to be sensitive to the natural and idiomatic use of verb tense and aspect in their own language, and not just follow in a mechanical way the tenses used in one or another of the English versions.
The Lord has destroyed without mercy: as in verse 1, the actor is still the Lord. Destroyed translates in Revised Standard Version one of forty-seven different Hebrew verbs used in that sense in the Old Testament. This verb, used five times in Lamentations, literally means “swallow.” See similar examples in Job 2.3; 8.18; Isaiah 25.7. In some languages “to swallow” things that are not for eating refers to stealing, embezzling. In others “swallow” means to destroy, as here.
Without mercy is commonly translated idiomatically; for example, “without showing a good heart,” “without feeling in the intestines,” or “with a hard liver.”
Habitations of Jacob refers to the places where the people of Israel lived. This expression often refers to the territory of the former northern kingdom of Israel. However, at the time of the writing of this book, the name Israel or Jacob could be used when speaking of the southern kingdom as it had been enlarged by King Josiah. In translating habitations of Jacob it may be necessary to avoid confusing the reader with too many names for Judah and Jerusalem. In this passage it may be better to say “Israel,” since it identifies the whole area; for example, “The Lord has destroyed without mercy the towns of Israel.”
In his wrath matches without mercy in the previous unit. Good News Translation either allows the first instance to serve for both expressions, or allows the sense of “anger” in verse 1 to carry through into the second unit of verse 2, and so does not repeat in his wrath.
He has broken down the strongholds: strongholds means forts or fortifications and very likely refers to the fortified cities of Lachish and Azekah mentioned in Jeremiah 34.7. In some languages strongholds must be expressed by a descriptive phrase; for example, “He has torn down the places in Israel where people go for protection” or “… the walls that protect the people of Israel from their enemies.”
Daughter of Judah means the people of Judah. See comments on 1.15.
In the final unit of verse 2, the Lord destroys, disgraces, dishonors the kingdom of Judah and its rulers. Brought down to the ground echoes “cast down from heaven to earth” in verse 1. Just as in verse 1, where the poet emphasized the contrast between the height to which Jerusalem had risen and the depths to which it has now fallen, so also here he speaks of the kingdom as being brought down to the ground. The Hebrew verb translated in Good News Translation as “brought disgrace on” is the same as that used with reference to the royal crown in Psalm 89.39, where Good News Translation translates it “thrown … in the dirt.” New English Bible translates it as “desecrated.” In other words, the king is treated as though he is no longer a sacred person, and the promise of an eternal line of succession to David is seen to be broken.
To the ground in dishonor, meaning in disgrace or humiliation, is sometimes translated idiomatically; for example, “to cause someone to sit down,” “to take away someone’s swollen heart,” or “to put someone beneath everyone else.” Since kingdom matches Jacob and daughter of Judah in meaning, it will often be better to use a pronoun than to search for still another term; for example, “God has taken away their rulers’ swollen hearts” or “God has placed their rulers beneath everyone.”
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 .