Slaves rule over us: Slaves most likely refers here to minor Babylonian officials whom the people had to deal with, and who could act insultingly and cruelly. This verse recalls Proverbs 30.21-22, which speaks of the intolerable conditions resulting when a slave becomes a ruler. Good News Translation attempts to add a modifier to the term Slaves with “men who are no better than slaves.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “slaves who have become lords over us.”

In some cases the term Slaves in this context would be inappropriate, because it would be difficult for the reader to imagine how slaves could wield such power. Therefore it is preferable to connect these people to the ruling class of the invaders; for example, “The ones who rule over us are the slaves of those who destroyed us” or “The slaves who rule us are the servants of our enemies.”

None to deliver us from their hand is an idiom meaning “no one who can save us from their power” (Good News Translation) or “no one who can free us from them.”

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 .