Book of Lamentations
 | |||||
| Hebrew Bible (Judaism) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||||
| Old Testament (Christianity) | |||||
|
|
|||||
| Bible portal | |||||
The Book of Lamentations (
Some motifs of a traditional Mesopotamian "city lament" are evident in the book, such as mourning the desertion of the city by God, its destruction, and the ultimate return of the divinity; others "parallel the funeral dirge in which the bereaved bewails... and... addresses the [dead]".[2] The tone is bleak: God does not speak, the degree of suffering is presented as overwhelming, and expectations of future redemption are minimal. Nonetheless, the author repeatedly makes clear that the city, and even the author himself, have profusely sinned against God, justifying his wrath. In doing so the author does not blame God but rather presents him as righteous, just, and sometimes even as merciful.
Summary
The book consists of five separate poems.[3] In the first (chapter 1), the city sits as a desolate weeping widow overcome with miseries. In chapter 2, these miseries are described in connection with national sins and acts of God. Chapter 3 speaks of hope for the people of God: that the chastisement would only be for their good; a better day would dawn for them. Chapter 4 laments the ruin and desolation of the city and temple, but traces it 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.
Themes
Lamentations combines elements of the
Beginning with the reality of disaster, Lamentations concludes with the bitter possibility that God may have finally rejected Israel (5:22). Sufferers in the face of grief are not urged to a confidence in the goodness of God; in fact, God is accountable for the disaster. The poet acknowledges that this suffering is a just punishment, still God is held to have had choice over whether to act in this way and at this time. Hope arises from a recollection of God's past goodness, but although this justifies a cry to God to act in deliverance, there is no guarantee that he will. Repentance will not persuade God to be gracious, since he is free to give or withhold grace as he chooses. In the end, the possibility is that God has finally rejected his people and may not again deliver them. Nevertheless, it also affirms confidence that the mercies of Yahweh (the God of Israel) never end, but are new every morning (3:22–33).[7]
Structure
Lamentations consists of five distinct (and non-chronological) poems,[3] corresponding to its five chapters. Two of its defining characteristic features are the alphabetic acrostic and its qinah meter. However, few English translations capture either of these; even fewer attempt to capture both.[8]
Acrostic
The first four chapters are written as
This pe-ayin order may be based on the pre-exilic
The fifth poem, corresponding to the fifth chapter, is not acrostic but still has 22 lines.[3][12]
Although some claim that purpose or function of the acrostic form is unknown,[5] it is frequently thought that a complete alphabetical order expresses a principle of completeness, from alef (first letter) to tav (22nd letter); the English equivalent would be "from A to Z".[3][6][13]
English translations that attempt to capture this acrostic nature are few in number. They include those by Ronald Knox[14] and by David R. Slavitt.[15] In both cases their mapping of the 22 Hebrew letters into the Latin alphabet's 26 uses 'A' to 'V' (omitting W, X, Y and Z), thus lacking the "A to Z" sense of completeness.
Qinah
The book's first four chapters have a well-defined
Composition
Lamentations has traditionally been ascribed to Jeremiah.[3][6][12] The ascription of authorship to Jeremiah derives from the impetus to ascribe all biblical books to inspired biblical authors, and Jeremiah being a prophet at the time who prophesied its demise was an obvious choice.[3] Additionally in 2 Chronicles 35:25 Jeremiah is said to have composed a lament on the death of King Josiah,[3][6][12] but there is no reference to Josiah in the book of Lamentations and no reason to connect it to Jeremiah.[12] However, the modern consensus amongst scholars is that Jeremiah did not write Lamentations; like most ancient literature, the author or authors remain anonymous.
Scholars are divided over whether the book is the work of one or multiple authors.[19] According to the latter position, each of the book's chapters was written by a different poet, and they then were joined to form the book.[3][6] One clue pointing to multiple authors is that the gender and situation of the first-person witness changes – the narration is feminine in the first and second lamentation, and masculine in the third, while the fourth and fifth are eyewitness reports of Jerusalem's destruction;[20] conversely, the similarities of style, vocabulary, and theological outlook, as well as the uniform historical setting, are arguments for one author.[21]
The book's language fits an
In liturgy
Lamentations is recited annually by Jews on the fast day of
In Christian tradition, readings from Lamentations are part of the Holy Week liturgies.[3]
In
.In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the book's third chapter is chanted on the 12th hour of the Good Friday service, which commemorates the burial of Jesus.[23]
References
Citations
- ^ Berlin 2004, p. 1.
- ^ a b Hayes 1998, p. 168.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Berlin 2018, p. 1163.
- ^ Berlin 2004, pp. 23–24.
- ^ a b Hillers 1993, p. 420.
- ^ a b c d e f g Berlin 2014.
- ^ Clines 2003, pp. 617–618.
- ^ Lee, David. "Lamentations: introducing this version". ServiceMusic. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
- ^ a b c First 2017.
- ^ a b c First 2014.
- ^ a b Pitre & Bergsma 2018.
- ^ a b c d Clines 2003, p. 617.
- ^ Assis 2007, p. 712.
- ^ Dobbs-Allsopp 2002, p. 17.
- Contemporary Poetry Review.
- ^ Joyce 2013.
- ^ Dobbs-Allsopp 2002, p. 22.
- ^ "The Book of Lamentations". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ a b Dobbs-Allsopp 2002, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Lee 2008, pp. 566–567.
- ^ Huey 1993, p. 443.
- ^ Aarons & Levitsky 2019, p. 36.
- ^ Robertson-Wilson, Marian (2011). "Chapter 18 Good Friday and the Copts: Glimpses in to the Drama of This Holy Day". In Skinner, Andrew (ed.). Bountiful Harvest: Essays in Honor of S. Kent Brown. Maxwell Institute Publications. p. 365-366.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
Sources
- Aarons, Victoria; Levitsky, Holli (2019). New Directions in Jewish American and Holocaust Literatures: Reading and Teaching. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-7320-8.
- Assis, Ellie (2007). "The Alphabetic Acrostic in the Book of Lamentations". The Catholic Biblical Quarterly.
- Berlin, Adele (2004). Lamentations: A Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664229740.
- Berlin, Adele (2014). Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi (eds.). The Jewish Study Bible: Second Edition (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-939387-9.
- Berlin, Adele (2018). Coogan, Michael; Brettler, Marc; Newsom, Carol; Perkins, Pheme (eds.). The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-027611-9.
- ISBN 9780802837110.
- Dobbs-Allsopp, F.W. (2002). Lamentations. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664237547.
- First, Mitchell (June 2014). "Using the Pe–Ayin Order of the Abecedaries of Ancient Israel to Date the Book of Psalms". Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. 38 (4): 471–485. S2CID 170926400.
- First, Mitchell (2017). Pe before Ayin in Biblical Pre-Exilic Acrostics.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - Hayes, John H. (1998). "The Songs of Israel". In McKenzie, Steven L.; Graham, Matt Patrick (eds.). The Hebrew Bible Today: An Introduction to Critical Issues. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664256524.
- Hillers, Delbert R. (1993). "Lamentations of Jeremiah". In Metzger, Bruce M.; Coogan, Michael D. (eds.). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199743919.
- Huey, F. B. (1993). "Jeremiah, Lamentations". The New American Commentary. Vol. 16. Broadman & Holman Publishers.
- Joyce, Paul M. (2013). Lamentations Through the Centuries. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781118332641.
- Lee, Archie C. C. (2008). "Book of Lamentations". In Sakenfeld, Katherine Doob (ed.). The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. Vol. 3. Abingdon Press. ISBN 978-0-687-33365-3.
- Pitre, Brant J.; Bergsma, John S. (2018). A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament. Ignatius Press. p. 280. ISBN 978-1-58617-722-5.
External links
- Jewish translations:
- Lamentations with multiple translations of the text & Rashi's commentary, as well as numerous other classic Hebrew commentaries at Sefaria.org
- Book of Lamentations with Hebrew/English and MP3 chanting of the entire book in Hebrew. (Website also contains other books of the bible.)
- Laments (R. David Seidenberg): a fresh translation with linear Hebrew and English, on neohasid.org
- A synopsis of Eichah's chapters
- Christian translations:
- Lamentations at Sacred Texts KJV, Tan, Sep, Vul
Lamentations public domain audiobook at LibriVox Various versions
- Translations maintaining acrostic structure
- Knox Translation (22 letters: A to V, omitting W to Z)
- Translations maintaining metrical rhythm (qinah)
- Translations maintaining both acrostics and qinah
- ServiceMusic translation (22 letters: A to Z, omitting four intermediate letters)
