Behold (as in 1.18) is a plea addressed to the LORD, meaning “Look and see.” Their sitting and their rising is a figure of speech, which emphasizes the totality of their activities. The thought is similarly expressed in Deuteronomy 6.7 “… when you sit … and when you walk … when you lie down and when you rise.” The sense is “all the time, no matter what you are doing, anytime, day or night.” Good News Translation “From morning to night” means “all the time.”

For burden of their songs see 3.14.

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 .