In wrapped thyself with a cloud, wrapped translates the same verb used in the previous verse. The poet uses the expression “wrapped thyself with a cloud” as a description of God as the one who is present but hidden. Good News Translation takes cloud to mean “cloud of fury,” so that it becomes parallel to “hidden by your anger” in verse 43. However, the poet may well have been thinking in terms of the cloud in which God accompanied Israel in the wilderness, but which has now become an obstacle between him and his people’s prayers rather than a sign of his presence. It is characteristic of Lamentations that prayer is only mentioned in order to refer to its ineffectiveness.

We may take wrapped … with anger and wrapped … with a cloud to refer to God’s remoteness. In that case this may be expressed in nonfigurative terms; for example, “Because you were angry you hid yourself” and “… you kept yourself far from us.” Because the interpretation of these figures differs so much in translations, translators may wish to follow the model of a major language in their own area.

So that no prayer can pass through may also be rendered, for example, “so that you will not hear our prayers,” “so that you will not hear us when we pray to you,” or “… when we call on you to help us.”

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 .