Lamentations 2:5 Commentary: Rashi

הָיָ֨ה אֲדֹנָ֤י ׀ כְּאוֹיֵב֙ בִּלַּ֣ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בִּלַּע֙ כָּל־אַרְמְנוֹתֶ֔יהָ שִׁחֵ֖ת מִבְצָרָ֑יו וַיֶּ֙רֶב֙ בְּבַת־יְהוּדָ֔ה תַּאֲנִיָּ֖ה וַאֲנִיָּֽה׃ (ס)

The Lord is become as an enemy, He hath swallowed up Israel; He hath swallowed up all her palaces, He hath destroyed his strongholds; And He hath multiplied in the daughter of Judah Mourning and moaning.

Rashi on Lamentations

He magnified in the community of Yehudah. He increased in the congregation of Yehudah.
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Rashi on Lamentations

Suffering and lamentation. Pain and wailing.
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Rashi on Lamentations

He magnified. The yud is vowelized with a small patach [=segol], which is an expression of increasing others, [as in,] “And the people increased וַיִּרֶב and were very mighty,”12Shemos 1:20. See Rashi there on וייטב. is vowelized [under the yud] with a chirik, which is an expression meaning that he himself increased. Similarly, every word whose radical ends with a hei, e.g., to turn פָּנָה, to go astray זָנָה, to weep בָּכָה, are vowelized in that manner when the hei is missing, when it speaks of itself it is vowelized with a chirik, e.g., “And Pharaoh turned.”13Shemos 17:23. But when it speaks of others it is vowelized with a small patach [=segol], e.g., “and he turned [the foxes] tail to tail,”14Shoftim 15:4. [and] “and Yehudah went into exile from his land,”15II Melochim 25:21. Here, ויגל is vowelized with a chirik. [and] “and the king of Bavel exiled Yisroel into Assyria.”16Ibid., 18:11.
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