Lam 2:19 | NET2full | STEP | Get up ! Cry out in the night when the night watches start ! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord ! Lift up your hands to him for your children’s lives ; they are fainting from hunger at every street corner .

Lamentations 2:19

ק (Qof)

19 Get up! Cry out in the night
when the night watches start! ^{▼▼tn Heb “at the head of the watches.”}
Pour out your heart ^{▼▼tn The noun לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) functions here as a metonymy of association for the thoughts and emotions in the heart. The Hebrew לֵבָב (levav) includes the mind, so in some cases the translation “heart” implies an inappropriate division between the cognitive and affective. This context is certainly emotionally loaded, but as part of a series of admonitions to address God in prayer, these emotions are inextricably bound with the thoughts of the mind. The singular “heart” is retained in the translation to be consistent with the personification of Jerusalem (cf. v. 18).} like water
before the face of the Lord! ^{▼▼tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.}
Lift up your hands ^{▼▼sn Lifting up the palms or hands is a metaphor for prayer.} to him
for your children’s lives; ^{▼▼tn Heb “on account of the life of your children.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) refers to the “life” of their dying children (e.g., Lam 2:12). The singular noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”) is used as a collective, as the plural genitive noun that follows makes clear: “your children.”}
they are fainting ^{▼▼tc The BHS editors and many commentators suggest that the fourth bicolon in 2:19 is a late addition and should be deleted. Apart from the four sets of bicola in 1:7 and 2:19, every stanza in chapters 1-4 consists of three sets of bicola.} ^{▼▼tn Heb “who are fainting.”} from hunger
at every street corner. ^{▼▼tn Heb “at the head of every street.”}