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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The splendor of Israel lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen! Do not tell it in Gath, don't announce it in the streets of Ashkelon, or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice, and the daughters of the uncircumcised will gloat. read more. Mountains of Gilboa, let no dew or rain be on you, or fields of offerings, for there the shield of the mighty was defiled- the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil. Jonathan's bow never retreated, Saul's sword never returned unstained, from the blood of the slain, from the bodies of the mighty. Saul and Jonathan, loved and delightful, they were not parted in life or in death. They were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions. Daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with luxurious things, who decked your garments with gold ornaments. How the mighty have fallen in the thick of battle! Jonathan [lies] slain on your heights. I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother. You were such a friend to me. Your love for me was more wonderful than the love of a woman [for me]. How the mighty have fallen and the weapons of war have perished!
Hastings
LAMENTATIONS, BOOK OF
1. Occasion.
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Jeremiah chanted a dirge over Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women still speak of Josiah in their dirges to this very day. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Dirges.
How she sits alone, the city [once] crowded with people! She who was great among the nations has become like a widow. The princess among the provinces has become a slave.
How she sits alone, the city [once] crowded with people! She who was great among the nations has become like a widow. The princess among the provinces has become a slave. She weeps aloud during the night, with tears on her cheeks. There is no one to offer her comfort, [not one] from all her lovers. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies. read more. Judah has gone into exile following affliction and harsh slavery; she lives among the nations but finds no place to rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in narrow places. The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the appointed festivals. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her young women grieve, and she herself is bitter. Her adversaries have become [her] masters; her enemies are at ease, for the Lord has made her suffer because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away as captives before the adversary. All her splendor has vanished from Daughter Zion. Her leaders are like stags that find no pasture; they walk away exhausted before the hunter. During the days of her affliction and homelessness Jerusalem remembers all her precious belongings that were [hers] in days of old. When her people fell into the adversary's hand, she had no one to help. The adversaries looked at her, laughing over her downfall. Jerusalem has sinned grievously; therefore, she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her [now] despise her, for they have seen her nakedness. She herself groans and turns away. Her uncleanness [stains] her skirts. She never considered her end. Her downfall was astonishing; there was no one to comfort her. Lord, look on my affliction, for the enemy triumphs! The adversary has seized all her precious belongings. She has even seen the nations enter her sanctuary- those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly. All her people groan while they search for bread. They have traded their precious belongings for food in order to stay alive. Lord, look and see how I have become despised. Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see! Is there any pain like mine, which was dealt out to me, which the Lord made [me] suffer on the day of His burning anger? He sent fire from on high into my bones; He made it descend. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, sick all day long. My transgressions have been formed into a yoke, fastened together by His hand; they have been placed on my neck, and the Lord has broken my strength. He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand. The Lord has rejected all the mighty men within me. He has summoned an army against me to crush my young warriors. The Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah [like grapes] in a winepress. I weep because of these things; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort [me], no one to keep me alive. My children are desolate because the enemy has prevailed. Zion stretches out her hands; there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob that his neighbors should be his adversaries. Jerusalem has become something impure among them. The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look at my pain. My young men and women have gone into captivity. I called to my lovers, but they betrayed me. My priests and elders perished in the city while searching for food to keep themselves alive. Lord, see how I am in distress. I am churning within; my heart is broken, for I have been very rebellious. Outside, the sword takes the children; inside, there is death. People have heard me groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my misfortune; they are glad that You have caused [it]. Bring on the day You have announced, so that they may 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 groans are many, and I am sick at heart.
I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God's wrath. He has driven me away and forced [me] to walk in darkness instead of light. read more. Yes, He repeatedly turns His hand against me all day long. He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones. He has laid siege against me, encircling me with bitterness and hardship. He has made me dwell in darkness like those who have been dead for ages. He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains. Even when I cry out and plead for help, He rejects my prayer. He has walled in my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked. He is a bear waiting in ambush, a lion in hiding; He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces; He left me desolate. He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow. He pierced my kidneys with His arrows. I am a laughingstock to all my people, mocked by their songs all day long. He filled me with bitterness, sated me with wormwood. He ground my teeth on gravel and made me cower in the dust. My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. Then I thought: My future is lost, as well as my hope from the Lord. Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the wormwood and the poison. I continually remember [them] and have become depressed. Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: [Because of] the Lord's faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! I say: The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is [still] young. Let him sit alone and be silent, for God has disciplined him. Let him put his mouth in the dust- perhaps there is [still] hope. Let him offer [his] cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with shame. For the Lord will not reject [us] forever. Even if He causes suffering, He will show compassion according to His abundant, faithful love. For He does not enjoy bringing affliction or suffering on mankind. Crushing all the prisoners of the land beneath one's feet, denying justice to a man in the presence of the Most High, or suppressing a person's lawsuit- the Lord does not approve [of these things]. Who is there who speaks and it happens, unless the Lord has ordained [it]? Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High? Why should [any] living person complain, [any] man, because of the punishment for his sins? Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord.
Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and [our] hands to God in heaven: read more. We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven. You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without compassion. You have covered Yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. You have made us disgusting filth among the peoples. All our enemies open their mouths against us. We have experienced panic and pitfall, devastation and destruction. My eyes flow with streams of tears because of the destruction of my dear people. My eyes overflow unceasingly, without end, until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees. My eyes bring me grief because of [the fate of] all the women in my city. For no [apparent] reason, my enemies hunted me like a bird. They dropped me alive into a pit and threw stones at me. Water flooded over my head, and I thought: I'm going to die! I called on Your name, Yahweh, from the depths of the Pit. You hear my plea: Do not ignore my cry for relief. You come near when I call on You; You say: "Do not be afraid." You defend my cause, Lord; You redeem my life. Lord, You see the wrong done to me; judge my case. You see all their malice, all their plots against me. Lord, You hear their insults, all their plots against me. The slander and murmuring of my opponents attack me all day long. When they sit and when they rise, look, I am mocked by their songs. You will pay them back what they deserve, Lord, according to the work of their hands. You will give them a heart filled with anguish. May Your curse be on them! You will pursue [them] in anger and destroy them under Your heavens.
Even jackals offer [their] breasts to nurse their young, but my dear people have become cruel like ostriches in the wilderness.
All the while our eyes were failing [as we looked] in vain for assistance; we watched from our towers for a nation that refused to help.
Why have You forgotten us forever, abandoned us for [our] entire lives?