This verse has two related textual problems. The first is the word soul in My soul continually thinks of it. This is said to be one of the so-called “scribal corrections.” According to Jewish tradition, some words in the Old Testament were intentionally altered so as to avoid saying something unsuitable about God. New English Bible restores what is thought to be the original form, “your soul,” and so translates verse 20 as “Remember, O remember, and stoop down to me,” with a footnote saying that “stoop down to me” is probably the original wording but has been altered in the Hebrew to mean “I sink down.” Good News Translation translates the text as it now stands, “my spirit is depressed.” Most translators agree with this interpretation, which is supported also by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. My soul, meaning “I,” may be taken as the subject of both Hebrew verbs.

The other textual problem in this verse relates to the interpretation of the verb translated is bowed down. According to one form of the Hebrew text, it means “think, meditate,” which evidently lies behind the Septuagint translation. But the great majority of modern translators accept the other form of the verb, meaning “to stoop or to bow down.” The two verbs can in fact be understood to have much the same meaning in this context, so that Good News Translation‘s wording “my spirit is depressed” safely represents the intended meaning. My soul … is bowed down within me expresses a depressed emotional state which may sometimes be translated idiomatically; for example, “My eyes look down,” “My heart fades away,” “I am like a shadow,” or “I sit apart from my people.”

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 .