In this verse the meaning of the expression translated hot as an oven is not certain. AB and New English Bible say something like “black as an oven,” in which the Hebrew word rendered hot by Revised Standard Version is associated with one of the words meaning “darkness” in Job 3.5. Another possibility is “shriveled,” favored by the Septuagint and Syriac. The Handbook recommends that translators follow Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.

The burning heat of famine is taken by most translators to mean fever brought on by hunger. New English Bible, however, takes it as a figurative expression and translates more generally “the ravages of starvation.” The word translated burning heat occurs also in Psalm 11.6 (“scorching”); 119.53 (“hot indignation”). In order to make this verse clear, in some languages it may be necessary to restructure it. For example, “Hunger causes us to burn with fever, and our skin has become hot like an oven.” Bible en français courant says “Hunger gnaws on us so much that our skin burns as if we were inside an oven.” These, as well as Good News Translation, are suitable translation models.

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 .