Reference: Lamentations, Book Of
Easton
called in the Hebrew canon 'Ekhah, meaning "How," being the formula for the commencement of a song of wailing. It is the first word of the book (see 2Sa 1:19-27). The LXX. adopted the name rendered "Lamentations" (Gr. threnoi = Heb qinoth) now in common use, to denote the character of the book, in which the prophet mourns over the desolations brought on the city and the holy land by Chaldeans. In the Hebrew Bible it is placed among the Khethubim. (See Bible.)
As to its authorship, there is no room for hesitancy in following the LXX. and the Targum in ascribing it to Jeremiah. The spirit, tone, language, and subject-matter are in accord with the testimony of tradition in assigning it to him. According to tradition, he retired after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar to a cavern outside the Damascus gate, where he wrote this book. That cavern is still pointed out. "In the face of a rocky hill, on the western side of the city, the local belief has placed 'the grotto of Jeremiah.' There, in that fixed attitude of grief which Michael Angelo has immortalized, the prophet may well be supposed to have mourned the fall of his country" (Stanley, Jewish Church).
The book consists of five separate poems. In chapter 1 the prophet dwells on the manifold miseries oppressed by which the city sits as a solitary widow weeping sorely. In chapter 2 these miseries are described in connection with the national sins that had caused them. Chapter 3 speaks of hope for the people of God. The chastisement would only be for their good; a better day would dawn for them. Chapter 4 laments the ruin and desolation that had come upon the city and temple, but traces it only to the people's sins. Chapter 5 is a prayer that Zion's reproach may be taken away in the repentance and recovery of the people.
The first four poems (chapters) are acrostics, like some of the Psalms (25, 34, 37, 119), i.e., each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet taken in order. The first, second, and fourth have each twenty-two verses, the number of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The third has sixty-six verses, in which each three successive verses begin with the same letter. The fifth is not acrostic.
Speaking of the "Wailing-place (q.v.) of the Jews" at Jerusalem, a portion of the old wall of the temple of Solomon, Schaff says: "There the Jews assemble every Friday afternoon to bewail the downfall of the holy city, kissing the stone wall and watering it with their tears. They repeat from their well-worn Hebrew Bibles and prayer-books the Lamentations of Jeremiah and suitable Psalms."
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Your glory, O Israel, is slain upon your high places. How have the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath, announce it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult. read more. O mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, or fields with offerings. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, as though he were not anointed with oil. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely! In their lives and in their deaths they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet with [other] delights, who put ornaments of gold upon your apparel. How have the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan lies slain upon your high places. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant have you been to me. Your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How have the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!
Hastings
LAMENTATIONS, BOOK OF
1. Occasion.
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Jeremiah gave a lament for Josiah, and all the singing men and women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made them an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments.
How solitary and lonely sits the city [Jerusalem] that was [once] full of people! How like a widow has she become! She who was great among the nations and princess among the provinces has become a tributary [in servitude]!
How solitary and lonely sits the city [Jerusalem] that was [once] full of people! How like a widow has she become! She who was great among the nations and princess among the provinces has become a tributary [in servitude]! She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are [constantly] on her cheeks. Among all her lovers (allies) she has no one to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies. read more. Judah has gone into exile [to escape] from the affliction and laborious servitude [of the homeland]. She dwells among the [heathen] nations, but she finds no rest; all her persecutors overtook her amid the [dire] straits [of her distress]. The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to the solemn assembly or the appointed feasts. All her gates are desolate, her priests sigh and groan, her maidens are grieved and vexed, and she herself is in bitterness. Her adversaries have become the head; her enemies prosper. For the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her young children have gone into captivity before the enemy. From the Daughter of Zion all her beauty and majesty have departed. Her princes have become like harts that find no pasture; they have fled without strength before the pursuer. Jerusalem [earnestly] remembers in the days of her affliction, in the days of her [compulsory] wanderings and her bitterness, all the pleasant and precious things that she had from the days of old. When her people fell into and at the hands of the adversary, and there was none to help her, the enemy [gloated as they] looked at her, and they mocked at her desolations and downfall. Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she has become an unclean thing and has been removed. All who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness; yes, she herself groans and sighs and turns [her face] away. Her filthiness was in and on her skirts; she did not [seriously and earnestly] consider her final end. Therefore she has come down [from throne to slavery] singularly and astonishingly; she has no comforter. O Lord [cries Jerusalem], look at my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself [in triumph]! The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her precious and desirable things; for she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary [of the temple] -- " when You commanded that they should not even enter Your congregation [in the outer courts]. All her people groan and sigh, seeking for bread; they have given their desirable and precious things [in exchange] for food to revive their strength and bring back life. See, O Lord, and consider how wretched and lightly esteemed, how vile and abominable, I have become! Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was dealt out to me, with which the Lord has afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger! From above He has sent fire into my bones, and it prevailed against them. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back. He has made me hopelessly miserable and faint all the day long. The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hand; they were twined together; they were set upon my neck. He has made my strength fail and [me to] stumble; the Lord has delivered me into the hands of those I am unable to resist or withstand. The Lord has made of no account all my [Jerusalem's] mighty men in the midst of me; He has proclaimed a set time against me to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden as in a winepress the Virgin Daughter of Judah. For these things I weep; my eyes overflow with tears, because a comforter, one who could refresh and restore my soul, is far from me. My children are desolate and perishing, for the enemy has prevailed. Zion stretches forth her hands, but there is no comforter for her. The Lord has commanded concerning and against Jacob that his neighbors should be his adversaries; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them [an object of contempt]. The Lord is righteous (just and in the right); for I have rebelled against His commandment (His word). Hear, I pray you, all you peoples, and look at my sorrow and suffering; my maidens and my young men have gone into captivity. I [Jerusalem] called to my lovers [allies], but they deceived me. My priests and my elders expired in the city while they sought food to save their lives. Behold, O Lord, how distressed I am! My vital parts (emotions) are in tumult and are deeply disturbed; my heart cannot rest and is violently agitated within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Outside the house the sword bereaves, at home there is [famine, pestilence] death! [My foes] have heard that I [Jerusalem] sigh and groan, that I have no comforter [in You]. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad [O Lord] that You have done it. You will bring the day [of Judah's punishment] that you have foretold and proclaimed; [it involves also my foes' punishment] and they will become like me. Let all their wickedness come before You; and deal with them as You have dealt with me because of all my transgressions; for my sighs and groans are many and my heart is faint.
I am [Jeremiah] the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath. He has led me and brought me into darkness and not light. read more. Surely He has turned away from me; His hand is against me all the day. My flesh and my skin has He worn out and made old; He has shattered my bones. He has built up [siege mounds] against me and surrounded me with bitterness, tribulation, and anguish. He has caused me to dwell in dark places like those long dead. He walled me in so that I cannot get out; He has weighted down my chain. Even when I cry and shout for help, He shuts out my prayer. He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. He is to me like a bear lying in wait, and like a lion [hiding] in secret places. He has turned me off my ways and pulled me in pieces; He has made me desolate. He has bent His bow and set me as a mark for the arrow. He has caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my heart [the seat of my affections and desires]. I have become a derision to all my people, and [the subject of] their singsong all the day. He has filled me with bitterness; He has made me drink to excess and until drunken with wormwood [bitterness]. He has also broken my teeth with gravel (stones); He has covered me with ashes. And You have bereaved my soul and cast it off far from peace; I have forgotten what good and happiness are. And I say, Perished is my strength and my expectation from the Lord. [O Lord] remember [earnestly] my affliction and my misery, my wandering and my outcast state, the wormwood and the gall. My soul has them continually in remembrance and is bowed down within me. But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation: It is because of the Lord's mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness. The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him. The Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him [inquire of and for Him and require Him by right of necessity and on the authority of God's word]. It is good that one should hope in and wait quietly for the salvation (the safety and ease) of the Lord. It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke [of divine disciplinary dealings] in his youth. Let him sit alone uncomplaining and keeping silent [in hope], because [God] has laid [the yoke] upon him [for his benefit]. Let him put his mouth in the dust [in abject recognition of his unworthiness] -- "there may yet be hope. Let him give his cheek to the One Who smites him [even through His human agents]; let him be filled [full] with [men's] reproach [in meekness]. For the Lord will not cast off forever! But though He causes grief, yet will He be moved to compassion according to the multitude of His loving-kindness and tender mercy. For He does not willingly and from His heart afflict or grieve the children of men. To trample and crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth, To turn aside and deprive a man of his rights before the face of the Most High or a superior [acting as God's representative], To subvert a man in his cause -- "[of these things] the Lord does not approve. Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, if the Lord has not authorized and commanded it? Is it not out of the mouth of the Most High that evil and good both proceed [adversity and prosperity, physical evil or misfortune and physical good or happiness]? Why does a living man sigh [one who is still in this life's school of discipline]? [And why does] a man complain for the punishment of his sins? Let us test and examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord!
Let us test and examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord! Let us lift up our hearts and our hands [and then with them mount up in prayer] to God in heaven: read more. We have transgressed and rebelled and You have not pardoned. You have covered Yourself with wrath and pursued and afflicted us; You have slain without pity. You have covered Yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. You have made us offscouring and refuse among the nations. All our enemies have gaped at us and railed against us. Fear and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction. My eyes overflow with streams of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eyes overflow continually and will not cease Until the Lord looks down and sees from heaven. My eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens [and the daughter-towns] of my city [Jerusalem]. I have been hunted down like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause. They [thought they had] destroyed my life in the dungeon (pit) and cast a stone [over it] above me. The waters ran down on my head; I said, I am gone. I called upon Your name, O Lord, out of the depths [of the mire] of the dungeon. You heard my voice [then]: [Oh] hide not Your ear [now] at my prayer for relief. You drew near on the day I called to You; You said, Fear not. O Lord, You have pleaded the causes of my soul [You have managed my affairs and You have protected my person and my rights]; You have rescued and redeemed my life! O Lord, You have seen my wrong [done to me]; judge and maintain my cause. You have seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me. You have heard their reproach and revilings, O Lord, and all their devices against me -- " The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all day long. Look at their sitting down and their rising up [their movements, doings, and secret counsels]; I am their singsong [the subject of their derision and merriment]. Render to them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. You will give them hardness and blindness of heart; Your curse will be upon them. You will pursue and afflict them in anger and destroy them from under Your heavens, O Lord.
Even the jackals draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones, but the daughter of my people has become cruel like ostriches in the wilderness [that desert their young].
As for us, our eyes yet failed and wasted away in looking for our worthless help. In our watching [on our watchtower] we have watched and waited expectantly for a nation [Egypt or some other one to come to our rescue] that could not save us.
Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long?