In the days before the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, there was no question of paying for water or for firewood. The inhabitants were able to use the wells and forests to supply their own needs. According to Deuteronomy 29.11 foreigners could cut wood and carry water for the people of Israel; but now all that was changed, and foreigners made the people pay for what had been theirs by right. No indication is given in the text of the way in which payment was enforced.

The Hebrew for this verse is literally “Our water for silver we drink, and our wood for a price comes.” The two parts of this verse are parallel in form, in that the order of words in both half-lines in Hebrew is: noun phrase (“our water … our wood”), means (“for silver … for a price”), subject with verb (“we have drunk … it comes”). Translators may prefer to keep the two half-lines closely parallel in structure. But in some languages translators may find it more natural to use only a single verb; for example, “We have to pay for the water we drink and for the wood we burn.” In many languages the term for “firewood” is distinct from the one for wood that is used for construction.

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 .