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 beauty, Israel, lies slain on your high places! O, how the valiant have fallen! Don't make it known in Gath! Don't declare it in the avenues of Ashkelon! Otherwise, the daughters of Philistia will rejoice; and the daughters of the uncircumcised will triumph. read more. Mountains of Gilboa, let no dew or rain fall on you, and may none of your fields be filled with plenty, because in that place the shield of the valiant ones was defiled, the shield of Saul without an anointing with oil. From the blood of the slain, from the blood of the valiant, Jonathan's bow would not retreat nor would Saul's sword return empty. Saul and Jonathan, loved and handsome in life, in death were not separated. Swifter than eagles they were, and more valiant than lions. Daughters of Israel, weep over Saul! He clothed you in scarlet luxury and decorated your garments with gold. How have the valiant fallen in the tumult of battle! Jonathan lies slain on your high places. I am in distress for you, my brother Jonathan. You have been most kind to me. Your love for me was extraordinary beyond love from women. How the valiant have fallen! How the weapons of war are destroyed!"
Hastings
LAMENTATIONS, BOOK OF
1. Occasion.
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Jeremiah sang a lament for Josiah, and all the male and female singers recite that lamentation about Josiah to this day. In fact, they made singing it an ordinance in Israel, and they are recorded in the Lamentations.
How lonely she lies, the city that thronged with people! Like a widow she has become, this great one among nations! The princess among provinces has become a vassal.
How lonely she lies, the city that thronged with people! Like a widow she has become, this great one among nations! The princess among provinces has become a vassal. Bitterly she cries in the night, as tears stream down her cheeks. No one consoles her of all her friends. All her neighbors have betrayed her; they have become her enemies. read more. Judah has gone into exile to escape affliction and servitude. She that sat among the nations, has found no rest. All her pursuers overtook her amid narrow passes. The roads that lead to Zion are in mourning, because no one travels to the festivals. All her gates are desolate; her priests are moaning. Her young women are grieving, and she is bitter. Her adversaries dominate her, her enemies prosper. For the LORD has made her suffer because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away, taken into captivity in the presence of the enemy. Fled from cherished Zion are all that were her splendor. Her princes have become like deer that cannot find their feeding grounds. They flee with strength exhausted from their pursuers. Jerusalem remembers her time of affliction and misery; all her valued belongings of days gone by, when her people fell into enemy hands, with no one to help her, and her enemies stared at her, mocking her downfall. Jerusalem sinned greatly, and she became unclean. All who honored her now despise her, because they saw her naked. She herself groans and turns her face away. Uncleanness has soiled her skirts, and she gave no thought to what would follow. She fell in such a startling way, with no one to comfort her. Look, LORD, upon my affliction, because my enemy is boasting. The adversary seized in his hands everything she valued. She watched the nations enter her sanctuary; those you forbade to enter your place of meeting. All her people groaned as they searched for food. They traded their valuables in order to eat, to keep themselves alive. Look, LORD, and see how I have become dishonored. May it not befall you, all who pass along the road! Look and see: Is there any grief like my grief dealt out to me, by which the LORD afflicted me in the time of his fierce wrath? He sent fire from on high, making it penetrate my bones. He stretched out a net at my feet, forcing me to turn back. He made me desolate; I'm fainting all day long. The yoke of my sins was bound on, fastened together by his hand. They settled on my neck; he caused my strength to fail. The LORD placed me in the power of those I cannot resist. He rejected all the valiant men the LORD, in my midst. He set a time to meet with me to crush my young warriors. The LORD has trampled, as in a winepress, the fair virgin that is Judah. Because of all this, I weep; my eyes stream with tears because far from me is the comforter of my soul. My children are sorrowful, because the enemy has won. Zion spreads out her hands; no one is there to comfort her. The LORD has issued an order against Jacob, that all who are around him are to be his enemies; Jerusalem has become unclean among them. The LORD is in the right, but I rebelled against his commands. Listen, please, all you people, and look at my pain my young men and women have gone into captivity. I called out to my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders have died within the city while looking for something to eat to keep themselves alive. Look, LORD, how distressed I am; all my insides are churning. My heart is troubled within me, because I vigorously rebelled. Outside the sword brings loss of life, while at home death rules. People heard how I groan, with no one to comfort me. All my adversaries have heard about my troubles; they rejoice that you have caused them. Bring on the day you have promised, so my adversaries will become like me. May all of their wickedness come to your attention, and deal with them as you have done with me because of all my transgressions. For I am constantly groaning, and my heart is faint.
I am a man familiar with affliction under the rod of God's anger. He has led me brought me into darkness, not into light. read more. He truly turned his hand against me, again and again, all day long. He made my flesh and skin prematurely old; he broke my bones. He laid siege against me, surrounding me with bitterness and suffering. He has forced me to live in darkness, like those who are long dead. He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he placed heavy chains on me. Indeed, when I cry out, calling for help, he shuts out my prayer. He impeded my way with blocks of stone, making my paths uneven. He is like a bear that lies in wait for me, a lion in hiding. He forced me off my path, tearing me to pieces and making me desolate. He bent his bow, aiming at me with his arrow. He caused his war arrows to pierce my vital organs. I have become a laughingstock to all my people, the object of their taunts throughout the day. He has filled me with bitterness, making me drink wormwood. He broke my teeth on gravel, covering me with dust. You have removed peace from my life; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, "My strength is gone as is my hope in the LORD." Remember my affliction and homelessness wormwood and gall! My mind keeps reflecting on it, and I become depressed. This is what comes to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's gracious love we are not consumed, since his compassions never end. They are new every morning great is your faithfulness! "The LORD is all I have," says my soul, "Therefore I will trust in him." The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the person who searches for him. It is good to hope and wait patiently for the LORD's salvation. It is good when a young man carries the yoke of discipline in his youth. He is to sit apart and remain silent, because the LORD has laid it upon him. Let him fall face down in the dust, so there may yet be hope. He will endure being slapped in the face, bringing him public disgrace. Indeed, the Lord will not always reject us though he causes grief, his compassion abounds according to his gracious love. For he does not deliberately hurt or grieve human beings. When any of the prisoners of the earth are crushed underfoot, when a person's rights are perverted in defiance of the Most High. When a man is thwarted in his appeal, does the Lord condone it? Who can command, and it happens, without the Lord having ordered it? Do not both good and evil things proceed from the mouth of the Most High? Why should anyone living complain, any mortal, about being punished for sin? Let us examine our lifestyles, putting them to the test, and turn back to the LORD.
Let us examine our lifestyles, putting them to the test, and turn back to the LORD. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven. read more. As for us, we have sinned and rebelled; but you have not pardoned us. Clothing yourself with anger, you pursued us. You killed without pity, You covered yourself with a cloud that prayer cannot pierce. You have reduced us to scum and garbage among the nations. All our enemies jeer at us with gaping mouths. Panic and pitfalls beset us, along with devastation and ruin. My eyes run with rivers of tears over the destruction of my cherished people. My tears pour down ceaselessly; I am far from relief until the LORD bends down to see from heaven. What I see grieves my soul because of all the young women of my city. My enemies hunted me like a bird, viciously and without justification. They dumped me alive into a pit, sealing me in with stone. Water closed over my head, and I said, "I'm a dead man." I called on your name, LORD, from the depths of the Pit, You heard my voice don't close your ear to my sighs and cries. You drew near when I called out to you. You said, "Stop being afraid" Lord, you have defended my cause; you have redeemed my life. LORD, you observed how I have been wronged; now make your ruling in my case. You examined their plans for vengeance, all of their plots against me. LORD, you listened to their insults all their plots against me, the whisperings of my opponents, their scheming against me all day long. Watch! Whether they sit down or stand up, they mock me with their songs. Pay them back, LORD, according to their actions. Give them an anguished heart; may your curse be upon them! Pursue them in your anger and destroy them from under the LORD's heaven.
Even wild animals nurse, suckling their young; but the women of my people are cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness.
Our eyes failed, searching in vain for hope; we kept watching and looking for a nation that would not help.
So why have you completely forgotten us, forsaking us for so long?