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Lamentations 3:17–18

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3:17I38 am deprived39 of peace;40

I have forgotten what happiness41 is.

3:18So I said, “My endurance has expired;

I have lost all hope of deliverance42 from the Lord.”

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Footnotes

  1. 38 Heb “my soul.” The term נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) is used as a synecdoche of part (= my soul) for the whole person (= I).
  2. 39 The reads וַתִּזְנַח (vattiznakh), vav (ו) consecutive + Qal preterite 3rd person feminine singular from זָנַח (zanakh, “to reject”), resulting in the awkward phrase “my soul rejected from peace.” The καὶ ἀπώσατο (kai apōsato) reflects a of וַיִּזְנַח (vayyiznakh), vav (ו) consecutive + Qal preterite 3rd person masculine singular from זָנַח (zanakh): “He deprives my soul of peace.” Latin repulsa est reflects a of וַתִּזָּנַח (vattizzanakh), vav (ו) consecutive + Niphal preterite 3rd person feminine singular from זָנַח (zanakh): “My soul is excluded from peace.” The best explains the origin of the and readings. The ם (mem) beginning the next word may have been an enclitic on the verb rather than a preposition on the noun. This would be the only Qal occurrence of זָנַח (zanakh) used with the preposition מִן (min). Placing the ם (mem) on the noun would have created the confusion leading to the changes made by the and . II זנח attempts to deal with the problem lexically by positing a meaning “to exclude from” for זָנַח (zanakh) plus מִן (min), but also allows that the Niphal may be the correct reading.
  3. 40 Heb “from peace.” H. Hummel suggests that שָׁלוֹם (shalom) is the object and the ם (mem) is not the preposition מִן (min), but an enclitic on the verb (“Enclitic Mem in Early Northwest Semitic, Especially in Hebrew” 76 [1957]: 105). שָׁלוֹם (shalom) has a wide range of meaning. The connotation is that there is no peace within; the speaker is too troubled for any calm to take hold.
  4. 41 Heb “goodness.”
  5. 42 Heb “and my hope from the Lord.” The hope is for deliverance. The words, “I have lost all …” have been supplied in the translation in order to clarify the Hebrew idiom for the English reader.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

my soul is bereft of peace;

I have forgotten what happiness is;

so I say, “My endurance has perished;

so has my hope from the Lord.”

NIVNew International Version (2011)

I have been deprived of peace;

I have forgotten what prosperity is.

So I say, “My splendor is gone

and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”

CSBChristian Standard Bible

I have been deprived of peace;

I have forgotten what prosperity is.

Then I thought, “My future is lost,

as well as my hope from the Lord.”

NLTNew Living Translation

Peace has been stripped away,

and I have forgotten what prosperity is.

I cry out, “My splendor is gone!

Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!”

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

My life has been removed from peace,

I have forgotten goodness.

And I have said, “My glory is ruined,

my expectation from Yahweh.”

KJV 1900King James Version

And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.

And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord: