The first word of this chapter, as in chapters 1 and 2, is the Hebrew exclamatory word meaning “How…!” It introduces a contrast between the past and the present. The contrast is between the dullness of the gold in the present (after the fall of the city) and the way the gold appeared before. Gold, as verse 2 shows, is a poetic image standing for the people of Jerusalem.

The gold has grown dim is a problematic statement, if taken literally. Gold does not tarnish or darken, and is normally used in the Old Testament as a picture of the value of something. Therefore some scholars alter the word translated has grown dim to get “is despised.” In the second line of Revised Standard Version the word translated is changed is modified by changing one letter to get “is hated.” However, poetry is not always guided by concern for factual statements, and nothing much is gained by changing the text to get a statement that may be more factual. The poet is using gold as a comparison to the very great worth of the young men of Jerusalem, as will become evident in verse 2. Bible en français courant attempts to avoid the statement that gold tarnishes, by shifting to a question: “How can gold that is so brilliant, the metal that is so lovely, become tarnished?” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible is similar. The Hebrew syntax does not support a question in verse 1, and so it is best to follow Revised Standard Version. The first two half-lines are very closely parallel in meaning.

There are two Hebrew words translated gold. The second is a literary form meaning the same as the first, and is often translated “pure or fine gold.” In Hebrew the adjective translated pure is “good.” See also Job 31.24. The use of pure gold in the second half-line raises the poetic impact through the use of a literary-level word. Rather than mentioning two qualities of gold, Good News Translation has “our glittering gold,” which is an attempt to relate the image gold to “Zion’s young men” in verse 2.

For translation gold is so widely known that translators have little trouble with the word. However, in some areas a borrowed word must be used. Grown dim may be translated “lost its brightness” or “is no longer bright to look at.” In some cases one verb will be sufficient. If, however, the translator keeps the two parallel structures, we may say, for example, “dulled” in the first half-line and “tarnished” or “darkened” in the second. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “Oh, how the gold has become dark, and the pure gold has lost its glitter.”

These translations, however, do not make it clear that the poet is using gold as a reference to the value or worth of the people of Jerusalem, and the comparison may be lost unless some adaptation is made. One way to do this is to use a simile and say, for example, “Our young men are now as gold that has little value, as pure gold that has become worthless.”

Holy stones is a literal translation, but it does not indicate what the poet has in mind. Good News Translation “stones of the Temple” presumably means the stones from which the Temple was built; but if this is the meaning, we would expect to find a definite article before the Hebrew word for holy, making it refer to the Temple. New English Bible‘s translation agrees with that of Good News Translation, but an alternative is offered in the footnote, “Bright gems.” The verb which Good News Translation translates “lie scattered” is more suited to the second of these meanings, or to the translation of this unit in New Jerusalem Bible, “The sacred gems are spilled at every street corner.” The poet may be thinking of the jewels forming part of the priestly garments, such as are listed in Exodus 28.17-20. On the other hand, the translation in the footnote of New English Bible is based on the view that the Hebrew expression used here is a general term for jewelry, unconnected with the Temple. This would continue the thought of the first unit, which speaks of gold but does not connect it with the Temple.

Holy stones, if rendered literally, will have little meaning in many languages, and so some adjustment is required. If the translator follows Good News Translation, “stones of the Temple” could imply that these are merely stones associated with the Temple, but not necessarily the stones with which it was built. In order to make it clear that these are the stones from the destroyed Temple, it may be necessary to say, for example, “the stones remaining after the Temple was torn down” or “the stones from the walls of the Temple.”

The holy stones, like gold in the first half of this verse, reinforce the comparison of the worth and even the sacredness of the people they represent poetically. Just as the stones of the Temple have been scattered, so have the young men of Jerusalem. In translation we may make this clear by translating the second half of the verse, for example, “They (the young men in the simile in the first half) are like the sacred stones of the Temple that now lie scattered in the streets.”

For a discussion of at the head of every street, see 2.19.

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 .