Lamentations 2:21 New English Translation
ש (Sin/Shin)
21 The young boys and old men
lie dead on the ground in the streets.
My young women[a] and my young men
have fallen by the sword.
You killed them when you were angry;[b]
you slaughtered them without mercy.[c]
Footnotes
- Lamentations 2:21 tn Heb “virgins.” The term “virgin” probably functions as a metonymy of association for single young women.
- Lamentations 2:21 tn Heb “in the day of your anger.” The construction בָּיוֹם (bayom, “in the day of…”) is a common Hebrew idiom, meaning “when…” (e.g., Gen 2:4; Lev 7:35; Num 3:1; Deut 4:15; 2 Sam 22:1; Pss 18:1; 138:3; Zech 8:9). This temporal idiom refers to a general time period but uses the term “day” as a forceful rhetorical device to emphasize the vividness and drama of the event, depicting it as occurring within a single day. In the ancient Near East, military-minded kings often referred to a successful campaign as “the day of X” in order to portray themselves as powerful conquerors who, as it were, could inaugurate and complete a victorious military campaign within the span of one day.
- Lamentations 2:21 tc The MT reads לֹא חָמָלְתָּ (loʾ khamalta, “You showed no mercy”). However, many medieval Hebrew mss and most of the ancient versions (Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta and Latin Vulgate) read וְלֹא חָמָלְתָּ (veloʾ khamalta, “and You showed no mercy”).
New English Translation (NET)
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