The development in the poet’s thought progresses as he now pleads with God to Remember my affliction. Remember, taken by Revised Standard Version as an imperative, is thought by others to be out of place here, and so some change it to “I remember” as in the Septuagint. Accordingly New International Version translates “I remember my affliction.” New Jerusalem Bible prefers an infinitive, “To recall my distress,” while Good News Translation takes it to require a verbal noun, “The thought of,” and New English Bible “the memory of.” Since the form of the verb Remember can be interpreted into so many different forms, the translator is free to decide. However, the context is still that of despair, which suggests that Good News Translation‘s expression may be the most satisfactory. If taken as an imperative, the poet asks God to Remember, that is, to think about his situation: “Think how much I have suffered.” Remember my affliction may sometimes be rendered as a time clause; for example, “When I remember…” or “When I think of….” Revised Standard Version‘s footnote shows that bitterness, as in 1.7, translates the Hebrew for “wandering.” Only one consonant is changed to yield the word for bitterness that was used in verse 15. See 1.7 for comments. In this context the original Hebrew, translated in Good News Translation as “homelessness” and in New English Bible as “wanderings,” makes good sense, and there is no need for any change.

Wormwood is the same word used in verse 15. The two Hebrew words which Revised Standard Version translates as wormwood and gall often occur together as a more emphatic substitute for the one word used alone in verse 15; for example, Deuteronomy 29.18 “a bitter and poisonous plant” (Good News Translation). If the translator uses a term or terms equivalent to wormwood and gall, it should be made clear that these are used in a figurative sense. Therefore it is often better to shift to a simile; for example, “When I think of my suffering and living away from home, it is like the taste of bitter liquid.”

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 .