326 JERRY A. GLADSON past experience as a precedent for hope, or deliverance contempo- raneous with the present? The q strophe continues a sequence begun in v. 52, where tormentors are said to have flung the poet into a r/B (v. 53), here no doubt a euphemism for the place or sphere of the dead 24. Water surges over his head 25. He cries, “I am cut off” (v. 54). In the q strophe, which picks up the metaphor of r/B, the poet cries out to YHWH and finally hears, “Do not fear!” (vv. 55-57). The next strophe, and perhaps the following three (vv. 58-66), appear to respond. “You have taken up my cause, O Lord, / you have redeemed my life” (v. 58). Some type of deliverance is recalled. Whether in the past or in the present remains the question. Given that verbal action in the Semitic languages in general, and Hebrew in particular, signal only a “general temporal orientation” and not a true tense or temporal aspect 26, the syntax of the q strophe offers little help in resolving this question. Let us consider the following alternative renditions to discover whether some light can be shed upon this temporal issue. If the controlling verbs in vv. 55-57, arq, [mv, brq, and rma, respectively, be taken as perfectives of complete-action, designating an action now complete 27, and reading the two imperfectives (μl[t [v. 56], arqa [v. 57]) in accord with their controlling perfectives, the following rendition results: Thus, if this is a metaphor for the destruction and exile of Jerusalem, it 24 symbolizes a kind of death. Cf. W. REYBURN, A Handbook on Lamentations (United Bible Society Handbook Series; New York 1992) 100. Cf. Ps 88,6. Reyburn proposes a dynamic rendering as “From the deepest hole, Lord, I called out to you for help”, or “From the bottom of the pit I cried out, ‘Lord, help me’”. Cf. also H.-J. KRAUS, Klagelieder (Threni) (BKAT 22; Neukirchen 1956) 62. This expression may be metaphorical for overwhelming trouble or evil. 25 See Pss 18,4-5 (Heb: 5-6); 69,1-2.15 (Heb: 2-3.16); 124,4. Psalm 69,15[16] refers to this under the same image as Lamentations: a rab. P. KORCHIN, Markedness in Canaanite and Hebrew Verbs (HSS 58; 26 Winona Lake, IN 2008) 77. A Hebrew verb in the perfective form may express perfective, progressive or even future aspect, cf. B. WALTKE – M. O’CONNOR, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake, IN 1990) § 20.2c. R. WILLIAMS, Williams’ Hebrew Syntax (Toronto 32007) § 162. 27