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, Israel, is slain on your high places. How the mighty have fallen. Do not tell it in Gath. Do not publish it in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. read more. You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew nor rain on you, nor fields of offerings. For there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away. The shield of Saul was not anointed with oil. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, Jonathan's bow did not turn back. Saul's sword did not return empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives. In their death, 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 delicately, who put ornaments of gold on your clothing. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle. Jonathan is slain on your high places. I grieve for you, my brother Jonathan. You have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished."
Hastings
LAMENTATIONS, BOOK OF
1. Occasion.
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Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel: and behold, they are written in the lamentations.
How the city sits solitary, that was full of people. She has become as a widow, who was great among the nations. She who was a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer.
How the city sits solitary, that was full of people. She has become as a widow, who was great among the nations. She who was a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer. She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies. read more. Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and harsh servitude; she dwells among the nations, she finds no rest: all her persecutors overtook her in the midst of her distress. The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to the solemn assembly; all her gates are desolate, her priests groan: her virgins are afflicted, 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 adversary. All majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion: her leaders have become like deer that find no pasture, they fled exhausted before the pursuer. Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and wandering all her precious things that were from the days of old: when her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and no one helped her. The adversaries saw her, they mocked at her desolations. Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she has become as an unclean thing; all who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yes, she groans, and turns away. Her filthiness was in her skirts; she did not remember her latter end; therefore her fall was astonishing; she has no comforter. "Look, LORD, on my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself." The adversary has spread out his hand on all her precious things: for she has seen that the nations have entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom you commanded that they should not enter into your assembly. All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their precious things for food to refresh the soul. "Look, LORD, and see, for I am despised." Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, with which the LORD has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. From on high he has sent fire into my bones, and it overcame them. He has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back. He has made me desolate and faint all the day. My transgressions are bound into a yoke; by his hand they are fastened together, they are set upon my neck; he has made my strength to fail. The Lord has delivered me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand. The Lord has rejected all my mighty men in my midst; he has called a solemn assembly 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, my eyes flow with tears; because the comforter who should refresh my soul is far from me. My children are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed. Zion spreads forth her hands; there is none to comfort her. The LORD has commanded concerning Jacob, that those who are around him should be his adversaries. Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing. The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against his commandment. Please listen all you people, and see my suffering. My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity. I called for my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city, while they searched for food to refresh their souls. See, LORD, for I am in distress; my stomach churns; my heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled. Outside the sword bereaves, inside there is death. They have heard that I groan; there is none to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it. Bring the day that you have proclaimed, so that they shall end up like me. Let all their wickedness come before you. Do to them, as you have done to me for all my transgressions. For my groans are many, and my heart is faint.
I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light. read more. Surely against me he turns his hand again and again all the day. My flesh and my skin he has made old; he has broken my bones. He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. He has made me to dwell in dark places, like those that have been long dead. He has walled me in, so I can't escape; he has made my chains heavy. Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has walled up my ways with cut stone; he has made my paths crooked. He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding. He has obstructed my path, and torn 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 pierce my inward parts. I have become a laughingstock to all my people, and their song all the day. He has filled me with bitterness, he has given me in full measure wormwood. He has also broken my teeth with gravel; he has pressed me down in the dust. You have removed my soul far away from peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. And I said, "My strength and my hope has perished from the LORD." Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul considers them, and is depressed. But this I call to my mind; therefore I have hope: The LORD's faithful love does not cease; his compassion does not fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone and keep silence when he is disciplining him. Let him put his mouth to the dust, there may yet be hope. Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him; let him be filled with insults. For the Lord will not reject forever. For though he may cause grief, yet he will have compassion according to the abundance of his loving kindness. For he is not predisposed to bring affliction or suffering to the children of men. To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth; to deprive a man of justice before the face of the Most High, to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve. Who can speak a thing and have it come to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Doesn't both calamity and good come out of the mouth of the Most High? Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us examine and search our ways, and return to the LORD.
Let us examine and search our ways, and return to the LORD. Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens. read more. We have transgressed and have rebelled, and you have not forgiven. You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you killed without sparing. You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through. You have made us rubbish and refuse in the midst of the peoples. All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us. Fear and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction. Streams of tears run down from my eyes because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. My tears flow and do not cease, without respite, until the LORD looks down and sees from heaven. My eyes bring my soul grief, because of all the daughters of my city. They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause. They have cut off my life in a pit, and have cast a stone on me. Waters flowed over my head; I said, 'I am finished.' I called on your name, LORD, out of the depths of the pit. You heard my voice; do not hide your ear at my sighs, to my cry. You drew near in the day that I called on you; you said, "Do not be afraid." Lord, you have taken up the case for my soul; you have redeemed my life. LORD, you have seen the wrong done to me; judge my case. You have seen all their vengeance and all their plots against me. You have heard their insults, LORD, and all their plots against me. The lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their mocking song. You will render to them what they deserve, LORD, according to the work of their hands. You will give them hardness of heart as your curse to them. You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
Even the jackals offer the breast, they nurse their young ones, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help. In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
Why do you keep on forgetting us? Why do you forsake us so long?