The closest parallel to this verse is Job 13.27: “Thou puttest my feet in the stocks, and watchest all my paths.” See also Psalm 88.8. Good News Translation reverses the order of the two halves of verse 7.

Walled me about or “built a wall around me” continues the poetic description of the way God torments the man. Walled … about means imprisoned, or as Good News Translation says, “I am a prisoner.” The consequence of the wall about him is I cannot escape or “I cannot go free.”

Not only does the wall keep him in, God has also put heavy chains on me, where chains translates the Hebrew for “bronze” (a metal produced from tin and copper). “Bronze” is used here not to refer to the metal as such but to an object which is made from this metal. In this context the object is heavy chains.

The expression heavy chains on me will often require some adjustments in translation. In some areas chains are not known, and even where they are widely known, they may not be used to bind people. Therefore the translator must often substitute a local material used for binding someone; for example, “He has tied me up with vines,” or simply “He has tied me up” or “He has tied my hands and feet.”

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 .