The crown has fallen from our head is a literal translation. A crown in the Old Testament is sometimes a symbol of royalty, as in 2 Samuel 12.30; Psalm 21.3; Jeremiah 13.18. But a crown of flowers is mentioned in Isaiah 28.1, 3 as a sign of festivity and celebration, just as the removal of his crown in Job 19.9 means that Job’s former position of dignity had ceased. So here the fact that the crown has fallen from Jerusalem’s head may possibly be a reference to the end of the royal line of David. However, in the context which speaks of misery taking the place of past glory, the poet is probably saying “The joyful celebrations are over.” Good News Translation expresses this in slightly different language by saying “Nothing is left of all we were proud of,” and New English Bible attempts to retain something of the figurative language, with “The garlands have fallen from our heads.” Bible en français courant says “It is the end of our dignity.” The sense of this half-line may also be translated figuratively in some languages; for example, “No one holds his face up any more” or “The eyes of everybody look downward now.”

Woe to us translates an interjection of grief, sadness, doom, which Good News Translation translates “we are doomed.” This cry is used many times in the Old Testament, and its sense is expressed in many languages by a repetition of sound suggesting wailing or weeping. The reason for this lament is for we have sinned, which repeats the confession of 3.42. This half of the verse may sometimes be translated, for example, “We have done wrong and so ay, ay, ay!” or “We have sinned and now evil (curse, damnation, suffering, doom) has taken hold of us!”

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 .