From here to the end of chapter 1, Jerusalem is once again the speaker.
The LORD is in the right is a confession made by Jerusalem and its people. In the right means that God was right, justified in bringing about the downfall of Jerusalem. Similarly in Nehemiah 9.33 the people confess “You have done right to punish us” (Good News Translation), where the word translated “have done right” is the same as the word used here. The translation of right and “just” (Good News Translation) requires considerable adjustment in some languages. We can sometimes use a clause; for example, “God has done the right thing to me” or “What God has done to me is right.” This may be expressed idiomatically in some languages; for example, “The LORD has been straight with me” or “The LORD has cut my affairs in the right way.”
For I have rebelled against his word: rebelled is the same word used in Exodus 23.21, “… hearken to his voice, do not rebel against him….” Rebel means to resist or oppose authority, which in this case is God and his laws. His word is literally “his mouth” and refers to God’s commands. Good News Translation “I have disobeyed him” is more general than the Hebrew suggests. A better model is Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, “I have opposed his commands.” In some languages to rebel is expressed idiomatically; for example, “I have laughed at what God commanded people to do” or “what God commanded I have thrown over my shoulder.”
The middle unit of the verse is a call to the people as a warning. Revised Standard Version supplies but at the beginning of this unit as a contrast between the confession in the first unit and the warning in the second. A transition may well be required; however, “but” in English is hardly satisfactory.
All you peoples is everyone, not just the “nations” or non-Israelites. Jerusalem’s plea is for everyone to behold, that is, “look at my suffering” or “see how badly I suffer.”
My maidens and my young men: maidens translates the Hebrew for “virgins,” as in verse 4. See there for comments. Young men is the same expression used in verse 15. There young men is used in parallel with “mighty men” and refers to soldiers. In verse 18 my maidens and my young men refers to the youth, the young people who are the future of Jerusalem.
For captivity see the discussion at verse 5. In languages which require an active construction, it may be necessary to say, for example, “the enemy has captured my young men and women and taken them away to other countries.”
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 .