SIL Translator’s Notes on Lamentations 2020 – Page 3

SIL Translator’s Notes on Lamentations 3:2

3:2a He has driven me away

He chased me away
-or-
He drove me into captivity. (NET Bible)

3:2b and made me walk

and forced me to go
-or-
I had to walk

3:2c in darkness instead of light.

in darkness instead of light.
-or-
in dark places without light.

3:2a-c (combined)

He chased me into a dark place, where no light could enter. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
God has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light. (God’s Word)

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SIL Translator’s Notes on Lamentations 3:34

3:34a To crush underfoot

⌊Yahweh sees it if people⌋ mistreat
-or-
Bad people may be cruel (Easy English Bible)

3:34b all the prisoners of the land,

all the prisoners in the country.
-or-
to those who are in prison. (Easy English Bible)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Lamentations 3:66

3:66a You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them

Hunt them down in anger and kill them.
-or-
Chase them in anger and destroy them. (English Easy-to-Read Version)

3:66b from under Your heavens, O LORD.

Get rid of them, Yahweh!
-or-
Make them disappear from the earth, Yahweh!

Section 4:1-22

Song four: The people suffered in the last days of Jerusalem

SIL Translator’s Notes on Lamentations 5:10

5:10a Our skin is as hot as an oven

Our skin has become hot like an oven (Translation for Translators)
-or-
Our skin feels as if we are burning. (Easy English Bible)

5:10b with fever from our hunger.

because of the fever caused by hunger.
-or-
We are so hungry that we are ill. (Easy English Bible)

5:10a-b (combined)

Our skin was hot from famine.
-or-
Hunger has made us burn with fever until our skin is as hot as an oven. (GNTD)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Lamentations 2:3

2:3a In fierce anger He has cut off every horn of Israel

Because he was extremely angry, he caused Israel to not be powerful anymore. (Translation for Translators)
-or-
He was furious and therefore he destroyed all that made Israel proud and all their power.
-or-
In fierce anger he destroyed the whole army of Israel. (NET Bible)

2:3b and withdrawn His right hand

He refused to help them
-or-
He did not fight for us (incl.)

2:3c at the approach of the enemy.

when the enemies came.
-or-
when our enemies attacked us.

2:3b-c (reordered)

When the enemies came he refused to help them.

2:3d He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire

He was like a hot fire in the land of Jacob,
-or-
God burned across ⌊the land of⌋ Israel like a raging fire

2:3e that consumes everything around it.

⌊a fire⌋ that burned everything it touched.
-or-
and destroyed everything.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Lamentations 3:13

3:13a He pierced my kidneys

He shot deep into my body
-or-
He shot me in my innermost self

3:13b with His arrows

with his arrows. (FBV)
-or-
with the arrows from his bag of arrows.

3:13a-b (combined)

It is as though he shot his arrows deep into my body. (Translation for Translators)
-or-
He has shot the arrows from his quiver into my heart. (God’s Word)
-or-
He took arrow after arrow from the container at his waist and shot them at me. He hit me deep in my body.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Lamentations 3:45

3:45a You have made us scum and refuse

You made us trash and rubbish
-or-
You have made us a garbage dump

3:45b among the nations.

to the nations around.
-or-
of the world. (GNTD)

3:45a-b (combined)

You have caused the people of other nations to consider us like useless garbage.
-or-
You let people from other countries think bad things about us. They think that we have no value. We are like things that nobody can use any longer. (Easy English Bible)
-or-
Other nations treat us like dirt and rubbish. This is all your fault ⌊, Lord⌋ .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Lamentations 4:11

4:11a The LORD has exhausted His wrath;

Yahweh has shown that he was extremely angry. (Translation for Translators)
-or-
But now at last Yahweh’s anger is satisfied,

4:11b He has poured out His fierce anger;

He did not hold his anger back ⌊anymore⌋ .
-or-
his fiercest anger has been poured out. (TLB)

4:11c He has kindled a fire in Zion,

He started a fire in Zion. (New International Reader’s Version)
-or-
He set a fire in Jerusalem,

4:11d and it has consumed her foundations.

It burned its foundations. (New International Reader’s Version)
-or-
which destroyed the city to the ground.

4:11a-d (combined)

Yahweh was very angry. So he sent a fire to burn Jerusalem. It destroyed the whole city, even the strongest houses.

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Source: SIL Translator’s Notes on Lamentations 2020