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ו (Vav)

The punishment[a] of my people[b]
exceeds that of[c] Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment
with no one to help her.[d]

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 4:6 tn The noun עֲוֹן (ʿavon) has a basic, twofold range of meaning: (1) basic meaning: “iniquity, sin,” and (2) metonymical cause-for-effect meaning: “punishment for iniquity.”
  2. Lamentations 4:6 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”
  3. Lamentations 4:6 tn Heb “the sin of.” The noun חַטָּאת (khattaʾt) often means “sin, rebellion,” but here it probably functions in a metonymical (cause for effect) sense: “punishment for sin” (e.g., Zech 14:19). The context focuses on the severity of the punishment of Jerusalem rather than the depths of its degradation and depravity that led to the judgment.
  4. Lamentations 4:6 tn Heb “without a hand turned.” The preposition ב (bet) after the verb חוּל (khul) in Hos 11:6 is adversative: “the sword will turn against [Assyria’s] cities.” Other contexts with חוּל (khul) plus ב (bet) are not comparable (ב [bet] often being locative). However, it is not certain that hands must be adversarial, as the sword clearly is in Hos 11:6. The present translation pictures the suddenness of Sodom’s overthrow as an easier fate than the protracted military campaign and subsequent exile and poverty of Judah’s survivors.