This chapter begins, not with a contrast between past and present, but with an appeal to the LORD to keep in mind the sufferings of his people. It is the scorn and mockery resulting from defeat and failure that the poet is thinking of at this point, rather than physical suffering. The same attitude is found in Psalm 79.4; 123.3-4.
Remember, O LORD is a plea or prayer for mercy. A similar plea was voiced in 3.19; but unlike there, the imperative here is very emphatic. The poet is asking that God keep in mind and not forget the suffering of Jerusalem’s people. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Bible en français courant express this plea as a negative: “LORD, do not forget….” We may also translate, for example, “O LORD, think about…,” or idiomatically in some languages, “O LORD, do not let go…,” or “O LORD, keep tied tightly….” Befallen means “happened”: “what has happened to us” (Good News Translation), or “what the enemy has done to us.”
The second line of Revised Standard Version matches our disgrace with the more general expression what has befallen us of the first line. Disgrace translates a word meaning insult, shame, reproach. In Genesis 30.23 it applies to Rachel’s shame for having no children, “God has taken away my reproach.” Here it refers to the offense or shame of being conquered and insulted by a pagan nation. The nature of the disgrace is spelled out from verse 2 to 18. Behold, and see translates the same verbs used in 1.11; however, the verbs are in the reverse order here. The double use of verbs of seeing serves to emphasize the force of the poet’s plea for the LORD to recognize, acknowledge, be aware of what has happened to his people.
The expression see our disgrace may require some adjustment in translation, because “disgrace” is an abstract term, and it may not be possible to speak of seeing it. In some languages disgrace will have to be changed to a verb; for example, “look at us and see how our enemies have shamed us” or “look how much our enemies have insulted us.” Also in some languages see our disgrace must be expressed idiomatically; for example, “see how our faces are hot” or “… how we have turned away our eyes.”
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 .