This verse and the next form another contrast. Verse 7 describes how strong and beautiful the men of Jerusalem were in the past, and verse 8 goes on to describe what they looked like when the poet wrote.
Her princes were purer than snow: Her refers to Jerusalem, not to Sodom, and so Good News Translation has “our princes.” Princes is literally “Nazirites.” However, some interpreters alter one letter in that word and get “youths,” and so New Jerusalem Bible has “young people.” There is no good reason, however, to change the Hebrew. The word is used in Genesis 49.26 and Deuteronomy 33.16, in which Joseph is called the nazir of his brothers, and which Good News Translation translates as “the one set apart” and “the leader.” A Nazirite took a special vow not to drink wine, not to touch a dead body, and to let his hair grow long. Good News Translation and others that translate “princes” in the text place “Nazirite” in the footnote. If this is done, a brief explanation of “Nazirite” should be given. In any case, princes should not be translated as “sons of a king” but as people set aside to serve as leaders or rulers.
Purer than snow, whiter than milk: these comparisons probably describe moral attributes as much as physical ones. The physical reference may be to the clear and unblemished condition of their skin rather than its color, which is referred to in the next unit. Snow and milk used here are contrasted with “blacker than soot” in verse 8. Most modern translations keep the images of snow and milk. However, Good News Translation is probably right when it translates “undefiled and pure as snow.” In languages where snow is unknown, or not in any way associated with purity, we may translate “very pure” or “very good,” or idiomatically in some languages, “with very good hearts.”
Their bodies were more ruddy than coral: bodies is literally “bones,” which may be an example of a part of the body standing for the whole body. See also Proverbs 15.30; 16.24. Here, however, the comparison is clearly between the color of the skin on the body and the color of coral. Coral in the Mediterranean is a reddish-colored limestone produced by small sea creatures; it is in the form of small branches and is valued for making ornaments. New Jerusalem Bible understands “bones” here to refer to the limbs (arms and legs) of these men and translates “Their limbs were ruddier than coral.” Since coral will not be known in some languages, translators may find it necessary to use a very different object for the color comparison; for example, a certain wood or stone with a reddish hue.
Yet another precious and beautiful substance is mentioned in the final line of Revised Standard Version, the beauty of their form was like sapphire. New English Bible says “their limbs were lapis lazuli.” Both sapphires and lapis lazuli are blue, and this same material is also mentioned in Job 28.6 in the poem in praise of Wisdom. Lapis lazuli is an opaque blue stone, speckled with yellow, which was often used in jewelry in the Middle East, and is the more likely stone here. It is not clear why the princes should be described as being blue in color, although some interpreters think it is a reference to the blue color of their veins.
Revised Standard Version remarks in its footnote that the beauty of their form is uncertain. AB translates this expression as “beards,” in view of the use of lapis lazuli in ancient eastern art to represent the hair or the beard. It must be admitted that any translation of this expression can be no more than a guess. So Good News Translation sums up the essential meaning of the half-line with its emphasis on the bright, healthy color of Jerusalem’s nobles in former days as “vigorous and strong, glowing with health.” Translators are well advised to attempt to do the same.
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 .