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 glory of Israel is slain upon the high hills: Oh how were the mighty overthrown! Tell it not in Gath, nor publish it in the streets of Ashkelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, and that the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph thereof. read more. Ye mountains of Gilboa, upon you be neither dew nor rain, nor fields whence heave offerings come: For there the shields of the mighty were cast from them, the shield of Saul as though he had not been anointed with oil. The bow of Jonathan and the sword of Saul turned never back again empty, from the blood of the wounded and from the fat of the mighty warriors. Saul and Jonathan lovely and pleasant in their lives, were in their deaths not divided; men swifter than Eagles and stronger than Lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, which clothed you in purple and garments of pleasure, and bordered your raiment with ornaments of gold. How were the mighty slain in battle? Jonathan on the high hills was wounded to death. Woe is me for thee, my brother Jonathan! Delectable to me wast thou, exceeding. Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How were the mighty overthrown, and how were the weapons of war forlorn!"
Hastings
LAMENTATIONS, BOOK OF
1. Occasion.
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And Jeremiah lamented Josiah, and all singing men and singing women speak of Josiah to this day, and made it an ordinance in Israel: and they be written in lamentations.
{Aleph} Alas, how sitteth the city so desolate, that some time was full of people? How is she become like a widow, which was the lady of all nations? How is she brought under tribute, that ruled all lands?
{Aleph} Alas, how sitteth the city so desolate, that some time was full of people? How is she become like a widow, which was the lady of all nations? How is she brought under tribute, that ruled all lands? {Beth} She weepeth sore in the night, so that the tears run down her cheeks: for among all her lovers, there is none that giveth her any comfort. Yea, her next friends transgress against her, and are become her enemies. read more. {Gimel} Judah is taken prisoner, because she was defiled: and for serving so many strange gods, she dwelleth now among the heathen. She findeth no rest: all they that persecuted her, took her in strait places where she could not escape. {Daleth} The streets of Zion mourn, because no man cometh to the solemn feasts. All her gates are desolate; her priests make lamentation; her maidens are careful; and she herself is in great heaviness. {He} Her enemies have been rulers over her, and have prospered: because the LORD hath chastened her for her great wickedness. Her children are led away captive before their enemy. {Vav} All the beauty of the daughter of Zion is away, her princes are become like harts that find no pasture. They are driven away before their enemy, so that they have no more power. {Zayin} Now doth Jerusalem remember the time of her misery and disobedience, yea the joy and pleasure that she hath had in times past: seeing her people is brought down through the power of their enemy, and there is no man for to help her. Her enemies stand looking at her, and laughing her Sabbath days to scorn. {Khet} Jerusalem sinned ever more and more, therefore is she come in decay. All they that had her in honour, despise her: for they have seen her filthiness. Yea she sigheth and is ashamed of herself. {Tet} Her skirts are defiled, she remembered not what would follow: therefore is her fall so great, and there is no man to comfort her. O LORD, consider my trouble, for my enemy hath the upper hand. {Yod} The enemy hath put his hand to all the precious things that she had, yea even before her eyes came the Heathen in and out of the Sanctuary: whom thou, nevertheless, hast forbidden to come within thy congregation. {Khaf} All her people seek their bread with heaviness, and look: what precious things every man hath, that giveth he for meat to save his life. Consider, O LORD, and see, how vile I am become. {Lamed} O ye all that go fore by, behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto mine. wherewith the LORD hath troubled me in the day of his fearful wrath. {Mem} From above hath he sent down a fire into my bones: and it burned them cruelly. He hath laid a net for my feet, and thrown me wide open: he hath made me desolate, so that I must ever be mourning. {Nun} The yoke of my transgression is come at the last; with his hand hath he taken it up, and put it about my neck. My strength is gone: the LORD hath delivered me into those hands, whereout I cannot quit myself. {Samekh} The LORD hath destroyed all the mighty men, that were in me. He hath proclaimed a feast, to slaughter all my best men. The LORD hath trodden down the daughter of Judah, like as it were in a wine press. {Ayin} Therefore do I weep, and mine eyes gush out of water: for the comforter that should quicken me is far from me. My children are driven away. For why? The enemy hath gotten the over hand. {Pe} Zion casteth out her hands, and there is no man to comfort her. The LORD hath laid the enemies round about Jacob, and Jerusalem is as it were a menstruous woman in the midst of them. {Tsadi} The LORD is righteous, for I provoked his countenance unto anger. O take heed all ye people, and consider my heaviness: My maidens and my young men are led away in to captivity. {Kuf} I called for my lovers, but they beguiled me; for my Priests and counselors, but they perished: even while they sought for meat, to save their lives. {Res} Consider, O LORD, how I am troubled: my womb is disquieted, my heart turneth about in me, and I am full of heaviness. The sword hurteth me without, and within I am like unto death. {Shin} They hear my mourning, but there is none that will comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble, and are glad thereof, because thou hast done it. But thou shalt bring forth the time, when they also shall be like unto me. {Tav} From thee shall come all their adversity: thou shalt pluck them away, even as thou hast plucked me, because of all my wickedness. For my sorrow is very great, and my heart is heavy.
{Aleph} I am the man, that, through the rod of his wrath, have experience of misery. He drove me forth, and led me: Yea, into darkness, but not in to light. read more. Against me only he turneth his hand, and layeth it ever upon me. {Beth} My flesh and my skin hath he made old, my bones hath he bruised. He hath builded round about me, and closed me in with gall and travail. He hath set me in darkness, as they that be dead forever. {Gimel} He hath so hedged me in, that I cannot get out; and hath laid heavy links upon me. Though I cry and call piteously, yet heareth he not my prayer. He hath stopped up my ways with four square stones, and made my paths crooked. {Daleth} He layeth wait for me like a Bear, and as a lion in a hole. He hath marred my ways, and broken me in pieces: he hath laid me waste altogether. He hath bent his bow, and made me as it were a mark to shoot at. {He} The arrows of his quiver hath he shot, even into my reins. I am laughed to scorn of all my people; they make songs upon me all the day long. He hath filled me with bitterness, and given me wormwood to drink. {Vav} He hath smitten my teeth in pieces, and rolled me in the dust. He hath put my soul out of rest; I forget all good things. I thought in myself, "I am undone; there is no hope for me in the LORD." {Zayin} O remember yet my misery and my trouble; the wormwood and the gall. Yea, thou shalt remember them, for my soul melteth away in me. While I consider these things in my heart, I get a hope again. {Khet} Namely, that the mercies of the LORD are not clean gone, and that his loving-kindness ceaseth not. His faithfulness is great and reneweth itself as the morning. "The LORD is my portion," sayeth my soul; therefore will I hope in him. {Tet} O how good is the LORD unto them that put their trust in him, and to the soul that seeketh after him? O how good is it, with stillness, to wait and tarry for the health of the LORD? O how good is it, for a man, to take the yoke upon him from his youth up? {Yod} He sitteth alone, he holdeth him still, and dwelleth quietly by himself. He layeth his face upon the earth, if, percase, there happen to be any hope. He offereth his cheek to the smiter; he will be content with reproves. {Khaf} For the LORD will not forsake forever. But though he do cast off, yet according to the multitude of his mercies, he receiveth to grace again. For he doth not plague, and cast out the children of men from his heart. {Lamed} To tread all the prisoners of the earth under his feet. To move the judgment of man before the most highest. To condemn a man in his cause; The LORD hath no pleasure in such things. {Mem} What is he then that sayeth, "There should something be done without the LORD's commandment: out of the mouth of the most Highest goeth not evil and good"? Wherefore then murmureth the living man, let him murmur at his own sin. {Nun} Let us look well upon our own ways, and remember ourselves, and turn again to the LORD.
{Nun} Let us look well upon our own ways, and remember ourselves, and turn again to the LORD. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto the God that is in heaven. read more. We have been dissemblers, and have offended; will thou therefore not be intreated? {Samekh} Thou hast covered us in thy wrath, and persecuted us, thou hast slain us, without any favour. Thou hast hid thyself in a cloud, that our prayer should not go through. Thou hast made us outcasts, and to be despised among the Heathen. {Ayin} All our enemies gape upon us. Fear and snare is come upon us; yea, despite and destruction. Whole rivers of water gush out of mine eyes, for the great hurt of my people. {Pe} Mine eyes run, and cannot cease, for there is no rest. O LORD, when will thou look down from heaven, and consider? Mine eye breaketh my heart, because of all the daughters of my city. {Tsadi} Mine enemies hunted me out sharply, like a bird; yea, and that without a cause. They have put down my life into a pit, and laid a stone upon me. They poured water upon my head, then thought I, "Now am I undone." {Kuf} I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the deep pit. Thou hast heard my voice, and hast not turned away thine ears from my sighing and crying. Thou hast inclined thyself unto me, when I called upon thee, and haste said, "Fear not." {Res} Thou, O LORD, hast maintained the cause of my soul, and hast redeemed my life. O LORD, thou hast seen my blasphemers; take thou my cause upon thee. Thou hast well considered how they go about to do me harm, and that all their counsels are against me. {Shin} Thou hast heard their despiteful words, O LORD; yea, and all their imaginations against me. The lips of mine enemies, and their devices that they take against me, all the day long. Thou seest also their sitting down and their rising up. They make their songs of nothing but me. {Tav} Reward them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. Give them the thing, that their own heart is afraid of: even thy curse. Persecute them, O LORD, with thine indignation, and root them out from under the heaven.
{Gimel} The Dragons give their young ones suck with bare breasts: but the daughter of my people is cruel, and dwelleth in the wilderness like the Ostriches.
{Pe} Wherefore yet our eyes fail us, while we look for vain help: seeing we be ever waiting upon a people that can do us no good.
Wherefore wilt thou still forget us, and forsake us so long?