Lam 2:16 | NETfull | STEP | All your enemies gloated over you. They sneered and gnashed their teeth; they said, “We have destroyed her! Ha! We have waited a long time for this day. We have lived to see it!”

Lamentations 2:16

פ (Pe)

16 All your enemies
gloated over you. ^{▼▼ Heb “they have opened wide their mouth against you.”}
They sneered and gnashed their teeth;
they said, “We have destroyed ^{▼▼ Heb “We have swallowed!”} her!
Ha! We have waited a long time for this day.
We have lived to see it!” ^{▼▼ Heb “We have attained, we have seen!” The verbs מָצָאנוּ רָאִינוּ (matsa’nu ra’inu) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first retains its full verbal sense and the second functions as an object complement. It forms a Hebrew idiom that means something like, “We have lived to see it!” The three asyndetic 1st person common plural statements in 2:16 (“We waited, we destroyed, we saw!”) are spoken in an impassioned, staccato style reflecting the delight of the conquerors.}