Hear how I groan: Hear, a command, is noted in the footnotes of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation as being “They heard (or, listened)” in the Hebrew text. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends translating “They heard how I groan.” However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives the Hebrew only a “C” rating, meaning that there is considerable doubt about it. The context of the first unit as well as the unit beginning with Bring thou favor interpreting these as imperatives, as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. The question then becomes whether the command “hear, listen” is in the singular or plural. In view of the other singular imperatives in the context, it is preferable to understand these (“hear” and “bring”) as addressed to the LORD, as they are in the Syriac version. Therefore the Handbook recommends that translators follow Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. “Listen (you singular—Yahweh) to my groans.”

There is none to comfort me is nearly the same expression used in verse 2.

All my enemies have heard of my trouble: have heard is the same verb translated hear in the unit before. However, here there is no need to modify the Hebrew text. My trouble translates a general term meaning “evil, misfortune.” This is not the evil or trouble that Jerusalem does, but rather the trouble that has been forced on her. In some languages it will be clearer to say, for example, “All my enemies have heard how I am troubled” or “… the misfortune that has happened to me.”

They are glad that thou hast done it: they refers to Jerusalem’s enemies and thou to the LORD. In some languages it will be necessary to say, for example, “All my enemies have heard how you have made me suffer, and they are glad.”

Bring thou the day thou hast announced: Bring thou, as pointed out above, is in Hebrew “You (singular) have brought” (see also the footnotes of Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation). If the translator has followed the Handbook recommendation for the first unit of verse 21, the same should be done here; that is, the translator should follow Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, however, supports the unchanged Hebrew text here also (a “B” rating) and recommends “You have brought….”

In 1.12; 2.1, 21-22, the day refers to the time when God judged and punished Israel, without regard to the length of time this required. However, here that expression refers to the coming event of God’s judgment of Israel’s enemies. In some languages it is not possible to speak of “bringing a day” as if a day were a material object to be carried. Accordingly the translator must often say something like “Make the day dawn which you promised” or “You promised to make a certain day. Now keep your promise.”

And let them be as I am: them refers to Jerusalem’s enemies. And so this half-line may be translated, for example, “Let my enemies suffer as I have suffered.”

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 .