Tafsiran Ratapan 4:17: Tze'enah Ure'enah & Rashi

“Even now” [4:17]. Our eyes still hope for our helpers. It is foolish and the hope that we had for a nation that does not help.

We persisted in longingly eyeing illusive reinforcements. When the evil befell us, our eyes were still looking forward to Pharaoh’s army, concerning whom it is stated, “And the Egyptians, they help in vain and to no purpose,”²³Yeshayahu 30:7. for they would promise us aid but they would not come, as it is stated concerning them, “Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help [you], is returning to its land, to Egypt.”²⁴Yirmiyahu 37:7. We find in Midrash Kinos that they were coming in ships. The Holy One, Blessed Is He, hinted to the sea and caused inflated flasks²⁵The text in the Midrash is שלדותיהן, i.e., their skeletons. like human intestines to move about in the water. They said to each other, “These flasks are our forefathers, the men of Egypt who drowned in the sea on account of these Jews, and we are gong out to assist them?” They stopped and turned back.

Yearning. We waited.