The first line in Revised Standard Version states the fact, the second states the reason. Bread is again the main item of food and is used to represent all food, produce, crops. At the peril of our lives is literally “With our souls we bring in our bread.” The sense here is “we risk our lives” (Good News Translation). We may also say, for example, “We put our lives in danger to get food.”

Because of the sword in the wilderness is literally “from the face of the sword in the wilderness,” which means “from the presence of the sword….” However, in this context sword probably refers to people who use their swords to rob, and therefore, as in Bible en français courant, to “armed bands,” or in Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, to “desert warriors.” New English Bible finds the expression sword in the wilderness too odd, and so alters one vowel in the Hebrew to get “heat” and translates “in the scorching heat.” Moffatt takes the expression to refer to Arabs who carried swords, and translates “Arabs of the desert.” Good News Translation says “Murderers.” The Handbook recommends an expression like that of Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, or Good News Translation. Wilderness is the same word used in 4.3, but here it refers to the outlying areas in the country away from the city, and presumably to places where crops may grow or where wild plants may be available for food.

Note that Good News Translation and others reverse the order of the statements in this verse so that the situation is named first, followed by the consequence. We may also translate, for example, “Because armed people wander through the countryside, we risk our lives when we go there in search of food.”

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 .