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LAMENTATIONS (Lamentations of Jeremiah)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 129 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LAMENTATIONS (Lamentations of See also:Jeremiah) , a See also:book of the Old Testament. In See also:Hebrew See also:MSS. and See also:editions this little collection of liturgical poems is entitled nri Ah howl, the first word of ch. i. (and chs. ii., iv.); cf. the books of the See also:Pentateuch, and the Babylonian Epic of Creation (a far older example). In the See also:Septuagint it is called Opilvoc, " Funeral-songs " or " Dirges," the usual rendering of Heb. nu'p (Am. v. 1; Jer. Vii. 29; 2 Sam. i. 17), which is, in fact, the name in the See also:Talmud (Baba Bathra 15a) and other Jewish writings; and it was known as such to the Fathers (See also:Jerome, Cinoth). The Septuagint (B) introduces the book thus: " And it came to pass, after See also:Israel was taken See also:captive and See also:Jerusalem laid See also:waste, Jeremiah sat weeping, and lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and said . . .," a See also:notice which may have related originally to the first poem only. Some Septuagint MSS., and the See also:Syriac and other versions, have the See also:fuller See also:title Lamentations of Jeremiah. In the Hebrew See also:Bible Lamentations is placed among the Cetubim or Hagiographa, usually as the See also:middle book of the five Megilloth or Ferial Rolls (See also:Canticles, See also:Ruth, Lamentations, See also:Ecclesiastes, See also:Esther) according to the See also:order of the days on which they are read in the See also:Synagogue, Lamentations being read on the 9th of Ab (6th of See also:August), when the destruction of the See also:Temple is commemorated (See also:Mass.

Sopherim 18). But the Septuagint appends the book to Jeremiah (See also:

Baruch intervening), just as it adds Ruth to See also:Judges; thus making the number of the books of the Hebrew See also:Canon the same as that of the letters of the Hebrew See also:alphabet, viz. twenty-two (so Jos. c. Ap. i. 8), instead of the Synagogal twenty-four (see Baba Bathra r4b). See also:External features and poetical structure.—These poems exhibit a See also:peculiar See also:metre, the so-called " limping See also:verse," of which Am. V. 2 is a See also:good instance: " She is fallen, to rise no more Maid Israel ! See also:Left Torn upon her See also:land none raising her ! " A longer See also:line, with three accented syllables, is followed by a shorter with two. Chs. i.-iii. consist of stanzas of three such couplets each; chs. iv. and v. of two like Am. v. 2. This metre came in See also:time to be distinctive of See also:elegy.

The See also:

text of Lamentations, however, so often deviates from it, that we can only affirm the tendency of the poet to See also:cast his couplets into this type (See also:Driver). Some anomalies; both of metre and of sense, may be removed by judicious emendation; and many lines become smooth enough, if we assume a crasis of open vowels of the same class, or a diphthongal See also:pronunciation of others, or contraction or silence of certain suffixes as in Syriac. The See also:oldest elegiac utterances are not couched in this metre; e.g. See also:David's (2 Sam. iii. 33 f. See also:Abner; ib. i. 19-27 See also:Saul and See also:Jonathan). Yet the refrain of the latter, 'Eik ndf 'lu gibborim, " Ah how are heroes fallen! " agrees with our longer line. The remote ancestor of Kiki liiskut I Kiki luq;%l-ma Ibri shd ardmmu j Itemi tittish " How shall I be dumb ? I How shall I bewail ? The friend whom I love I Is turned to See also:clay !

Like a few of the See also:

Psalms, Lamentations i.-iv. are alphabetical acrostics. Each poem contains twenty-two stanzas, corresponding to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet; and each See also:stanza begins with its proper See also:letter. (In ch. iii. each of the three couplets in a stanza begins with the same letter, so that the alphabet is repeated thrice: cf. See also:Psalm cxix. for an eight-See also:fold repetition.) The alphabet of Lamentations ii. iii. iv. varies from the usual order of the letters by placing Pe before See also:Ain. The same was doubtless the See also:case in ch. i. also until some See also:scribe altered it. He went no further, because the sense forbade it in the other instances. The variation may have been one of See also:local use, either in Judea or in Babylonia; or the author may have had some fanciful See also:reason for the transposition, such as, for example, that Pe following Samech (nn) might suggest the word nhn, " Wail ye! " (2 Sam. iii. 31). Although the eldes_ Hebrew elegies are not alphabetic acrostics, it is a curious fact that the word n'r, " Was he a See also:coward? " (Sc. ia5 ; Is. vii. 4), is formed by the initial letters of the four lines on Abner (om.

1, line 3); and the See also:

initials of the verses of David's See also:great elegy are 1.= nranr1 rem, which may be read as a See also:sentence meaning, perhaps, " Lo, I the Avenger " (cf. Deut. xxxii. 41, 43) " will go forth! "; or the first two letters (Wm) may stand for mK •tn, " Alas, my See also:brother! " (Jer. xxii. 18; cf. xxxiv. 5). In cryptic See also:fashion the poet thus registers a See also:vow of vengeance on the See also:Philistines. Both kinds of See also:acrostic occur See also:side by side in the Psalms. Psalm cx., an acrostic of the same See also:kind as David's elegy, is followed by Psalms cxi. cxii., which are alphabetical acrostics, like the Lamentations. Such artifices are not in them-selves greater clogs on poetic expression than the excessive See also:alliteration of old Saxon verse or the strict rhymes of See also:modern lyrics. (Alliteration, both initial and See also:internal, is See also:common in Lamentations.) .

As the final piece, ch. v. may have suffered more in transmission than those which precede it—even to the extent of losing the acrostic See also:

form (like some of the Psalms and See also:Nahum i.), besides See also:half of its stanzas. If we See also:divide the See also:chapter into quatrains, like ch. iv., we notice several vestiges of an acrostic. The Aleph stanza (verses 7, 8) still precedes the Beth (verses 9, so), and the Ain is still quite clear (verses 17, 18; cf. i. 16). Transposing verses 5, 6, and correcting their text, we see that the Jod stanza (verses 3, 4) precedes the Lamed (verses 6, 5), Caph having disappeared between them. With this See also:clue, we may rearrange the other quatrains in alphabetical sequence, each according to its initial letter. We thus get a broken See also:series of eleven stanzas, beginning with the letters it (verses 7, 8), a (9, so), n (21, 22), (19, cf. Psalm cii. 13; and 20), 1 (I, 2), n (13, o,-nn; 14), ' (3, 4), 5 (6, n'135; 5, 11'7nn . . . 5i), ] (I1, 12), y (17, 18), and v, (15, 16), successively. An internal connexion will now be apparent in all the stanzas.

See also:

General subject and outline of contents.—The theme of Lamentations is the final See also:siege and fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.), and the attendant and subsequent miseries of the Jewish See also:people. In ch. i. we have a vivid picture of the See also:distress of See also:Zion, after all is over. The poet does not describe the events of the siege, nor the horrors of the See also:capture, but the painful experience of subjection and tyranny which followed. Neither this nor ch. ii. is strictly a " See also:dirge." Zion is not dead. She is personified as a widowed princess, bereaved and desolate, sitting amid the ruins of her former joys, and brooding over her calamities. From verse sic to the end (except verse 17) she herself is the See also:speaker: " O come, ye travellers all ! Behold and see If grief there be like mine ! this Hebrew metre may be recognized in the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, written at least a thousand years earlier:—See also:Ea-bdni ibri kutdni Nimru sha Geri, " See also:Eabani, my friend, my little brother ! ~ See also:Leopard of the See also:Wild!" and. again: She images her sorrows under a variety of metaphors (cf. ch. iii. 1-18) ; ascribing all her woes to Yahweh's righteous wrath, provoked by her sins, and crying for vengeance on the malicious rivals who had rejoiced at her overthrow. The text has suffered much. Verse 5c read: 'See also:eel: (v.

18), " into captivity," e'ne (v. 7), " adversaries." For verse 7, see Budde, V. 14: npLi, read -See also:

asp), " was See also:bound." Verse 19c read: ivps 'e ins:e sell ea) e'e',n5 yes " For they sought See also:food to restore See also:life, and found it not: " cf. Septuagint; and verses II, i6. Verse 2o: the incongruous 'n',n rti~ 'e, " For I grievously re-belled," should be 'on, rtinzi, " My inwards See also:burn "; Hos. xi. 8. Verses 21 f.: " All my foes heard, rejoiced That IT " (cf. Psalm ix. 13), " See also:Thou didst. Bring Thou " (-See also:rat s»), " the See also:Day Thou hast proclaimed ; Let them become like me! Let the time " (ny; see Septuagint) " of their calamity come! " Chapter ii.—"Ah how in wrath the See also:Lord ~ Beclouds See also:Bath-See also:Sion!

" The poet laments Yahweh's anger as the true cause which destroyed See also:

city and See also:kingdom, suspended feast and See also:Sabbath, rejected See also:altar and See also:sanctuary. He mentions the uproar of the victors in the Temple; the dismantling of the walls; the See also:exile of See also:king and princes (verses 1-9). He recalls the See also:mourning in the doomed city; the See also:children dying of See also:hunger in the streets; the prophets deluding the people with vain hopes. Passers-by jeered at the fallen city; and all her enemies triumphed over her (verses 10-17). Sion is urged to cry to the Lord in protest against His pitiless See also:work (verses 18-22). Here too emendation is necessary. Verse 4a: See also:lee e'sn, " He fixed His arrow," sc. on the See also:string (Septuagint, L1-m1)&00-se) ; cf. Psalm xi. 2. Add at the end Imls (ne) n5:, " He spent His anger: " see iv. i i ; Ezek. vii. 8, xx. 8, 21.

Verse 6: u:/n n1 1 ran, " And He See also:

broke down the See also:wall of His dwelling-See also:place " (Septuagint ea asi/vmµa atrov; cf. Psalm Ixxxiv. 7f., where nee follows, as here). Is. v. 5; Psalms lxxx. 13, xxxxix. 41. Perhaps risen, verses 2, 17. But Septuagint Kai bis rtrar€v= (i. 13, 17) =ono'i (iv. 4) or even nee. Verse 9, perhaps: " He sunk (y2n) her See also:gates in the ground,—He shattered her bars; He made her king and her princes wander (12e, Jer. See also:xxiii.

1)—Among the nations without Torah " (cf. Ezek. vii. 26 f.). Verse 18: " Cry much " (nee; or bitterly, an, Zeph. i. 14) " unto the Lord, 0 Virgin Daughter of Zion! " Verse 19 is metrically redundant, and the last clauses do not agree with what follows. " For the life of thy children " was altered from " for what He hath done to thee " (,5 ''71 r/ 5c) ; and then the See also:

rest was added. The See also:uniform gloom of this, the most dirge-like of all the pieces, is unrelieved by a single See also:ray of See also:hope, even the hope of vengeance; cf. chapters i. iii. iv. ad fin. Chapter iii.—Here the nation is personified as a See also:man (cf. Hos. xi. I), who laments his own calamities. In view of i.

12-22, ii. 20-22, this is hardly a serious deviation from the strict form of elegy (Klagelied). Budde makes much of the See also:

close external connexion with ch. ii." The truth is that the break is as great as between any two of these poems. Chapter ii. ends with a See also:mother's lament over her slaughtered children; chapter iii. makes an entirely new beginning, with its abruptly See also:independent " I am the Man! " The suppression of the Divine Name is intentional. Israel durst not breathe it, until compelled by the See also:climax, verse 18: cf. Am. vi. 1o. Contrast its frequency afterwards, when ground of hope is found in the Divine pity and purpose (verses 22-40), and when the contrite nation turns to its See also:God in See also:prayer (verses 55-66). The spiritual aspect of things is now the See also:main topic. The poet deals less with incident, and more with the moral significance of the nation's sufferings. It is the religious See also:culmination of the book.

His poem is rather lyrical than narrative, which may See also:

account for some obscurities in the connexion of thought; but his alphabetic See also:scheme proves that he designed twenty-two stanzas, not sixty-six detached couplets. There is something arresting in that bold " I am the Man "; and the lyrical intensity, the religious See also:depth and beauty of the whole, may well See also:blind us to occasional ruggedness of metre and See also:language, abrupt transitions from figure to figure and other alleged blemishes, some of which may not have seemed such to the poet's contemporaries (e.g. the repetition of the acrostic word, far more frequent. in Psalm cxix.); and some disappear on revision of the text. Verse 5, perhaps: " He swallowed me up " (Jer. 34) " and begirt my See also:head " (Septuagint) " with gloom " (n5Dls Is. lviii. 10, cf.verse 6, yet cf. also :ir:w, Neh. ix. 32). Verse 14: " all my people," rather all peoples (Heb. MSS. and Syr.). Verse 16b, rd. ori" err, " He made me See also:bore " (i.e. grovel) " in the ashes:" cf. Jer. vi. 26; Ezek. See also:xxvii. 30.

Verse 17a should be : nn'i 'cm ehiy5 " And He cast off my soul for ever:" see verse 31; Psalm Ixxxviii. 15. Verse 26: " It is good to wait " (}•nn5) ' in silence "(o,n Is. xlvii. 5) ; or It is good that he wait and be silent " (00;? 'z; cf. verse 27). Verse 31, add Ire; " his soul." The verse is a reply to 17a. Verses 34-36 render: " To crush under His feet . . Adonai purposed not " (Gen. xx. 1o; Psalm lxvi. 18). Verse 39, 'n (Gen. v. 5; or n'n Neh. ix.

29) is the necessary second verb: " Why doth a mortal complain?" (or " What . . . lament? "). " Doth a man live by his sins? ": Man " lives by " righteousness (Ezek. xxxiii. 19). For the wording, cf. Psalm lxxxix. 49. Verse 43a: " Thou didst encompass with ' (rg. nniee; Hos. xii. I) `.` anger and pursue us." Syntax as verse 66a. Verse 49, rd.

Nine (cf. ii. 18 also). Verse 51: " Mine See also:

eye did hurt to herself " (ee)ni'i), " By weeping over my people:" Verse 48: ch. i. 16; Jer. xxxi. 15. Verse 52: " They quelled my life in the See also:pit " (Sheol; Psalms See also:xxx. 4, Ixxxviii. 4, 7; verse 55) ; " They brought me down to See also:Abaddon " (eels 'men; cf. Psalm lxxxvlii. 12). Verse 58: " 0 plead, Lord, the cause of my soul! 0 redeem my life!

"; cf. Psalm cxix. 154. If the prayer for vengeance begins here, Budde's " deep See also:

division in the middle of an acrostic letter-See also:group " vanishes. Verse 59, rd. 'rey, " my perverting; " inf. pi. c. suff. obj.; cf. verse 36. Verse 6ib repeated by See also:mistake from 6ob. Perhaps: " Wherewith they dogged my steps: " 'nepy Items: Psalm Ixxxix. 51 f. Verse 63, rd. env, as usual, and oru'n, as in verse 14 and See also:Job xxx. 9. Verse 65: " Thou wilt give them madness " (cf.

Arab. gundn; magndn, mad) " of See also:

heart; Thou wilt curse. and consume them! " (e,in eae). Chapter iv. Ah, how doth See also:gold grow dim, The finest ore See also:change See also:hue! " The poet shows how See also:famine and the See also:sword desolated Zion (verses i-1o). All was Yahweh's work; a wonder to the See also:heathen See also:world, but accounted for by the crimes of prophets and priests (Jer. xxiii. 11, 14, See also:xxvi. 8, 20 if., See also:xxix. 21-23), who, like See also:Cain, became homeless wanderers and outcasts (verses 1I-16). Vainly did the besieged See also:watch for succours from See also:Egypt (Jer. See also:xxxvii. 5 ff.); and even the last forlorn hope, the See also:flight of " Yahweh's Anointed," King See also:Zedekiah, was doomed to fail (verses 17-20; Jer. xxxix. 4 ff).

See also:

Edom rejoiced in her ruin (Ezek. See also:xxv. 12; See also:xxxv. 15; Obad.; Psalm exxxvii. 7); but Zion's See also:sin is now atoned for (cf. Is. xl. 2), and she may look forward to the See also:judgment of her foe (verses 21-22). Verse 6d, perhaps: " And their ruin tarried not " (Sm ls' See also:eve); cf. See also:Pro. See also:xxiv. 22. Verse 7d: " Their See also:body " (rd. own) " was a See also:sapphire: " see Ct. v. 14; Dn. x. 6.

Verse 9: "Happier were the slain of the sword Than the slain of famine! For they " (Septuagint om.), " they passed away " (u5n Septuagint; Psalm xxxix. 14) " with a stab " (Ju. ix. 54; Is. xiii. 15; Jer. li. 4), " Suddenly, in the See also:

field " ('ce See also:mew; Jer. xiv. 18). Verse 13, add rem after n'lsn1; cf. Ju. xiv. 4; Jer. xxii. 16. Verse 17c.: " While we watched " (Septuagint) " continually: " ies umese.

Verse 18: " Our steps were curbed " (es MSS.; see Pro. iv. 12; Job xviii. 7) " from walking In our open places " (before the city gates: Neh. viii. I, 3) ; " The completion of our days See also:

drew nigh " OOrs' ms5n or enp; cf. Lev. viii. 33; Job xx. 22), " For our end was come " (Ezek. vii. 2, 6, &c.). Verse 21, Septuagint om. Uz (dittogr. ?) ; " Settler in the Land! " (i.e. of See also:Judah; cf.

Ezek. xxxv. 10, See also:

xxxvi. 5. Perhaps 'sn See also:weir " Seizer of the Land "). Chapter v.—A sorrowful supplication, in which the speakers deplore, not the fall of Jerusalem, but their own See also:state of galling dependence and hopeless poverty. They are still suffering for the sins of their fathers, who perished in the See also:catastrophe (verse 7). They are at the See also:mercy of " servants " (verse 8; cf. 2 See also:Kings XXV. 24; Neh. v. 15: " Yea, even their ` boys ' lorded it over the people "), under a tyranny of pashas of the worst type (verses 11 f.). The See also:soil is owned by aliens; and the See also:Jews have to buy their See also:water and firewood (verses 2, 4; cf. Neh. ix.

36 f.). While busy harvesting, they are exposed to the raids of the See also:

Bedouins (verse 9). Jackals prowl among the ruins of Zion (verse 18; cf. Neh. iv. 3). And this See also:condition of things has already lasted a very See also:long time (verse 2o). Verses 5 f. transpose and read : " To adversaries " (See also:Des's) " we submitted, Saying " (roils$), " ' We shall be satisfied with See also:bread ' " (cf. Jer. xlii. 14) ; " The yoke of our See also:neck they made heavy " . (Neh. v. 15: vim Sy n'een) ; " We toil, and no rest is allowed us." Verse 13: " Nobles endured to grind, And princes staggered under logs " (o' nn for a'ene, which belongs to verse 14; D'IW for o',y]. Eccl. x.

7; Is. xxxiv. 12; Neh. iv. i 4; V. 7 ; vi. 17). Verse 19, " But Thou . " Psalm cii. 13 (1 See also:

fell out after preceding 1, verse 18). Verse 22, omit ms; dittogr. of following so. Authorship and date.—The tradition of Jeremiah's authorship cannot be traced higher than the Septuagint version. The prefatory See also:note there may come from a Hebrew MS., but perhaps refers to chapter i. only (" Jeremiah sang this dirge "). The See also:idea that Lamentations was originally appended to Jeremiah in the Hebrew Canon, as it is in the old versions, and was after-wards separated from it and added to the other Megilloth for the liturgical convenience of the Synagogue, rests on the fact that See also:Josephus (Ap. 8) and, following him, Jerome and See also:Origen reckon 22 books, taking Ruth with Judges and Lamentations with Jeremiah; whereas the See also:ordinary Jewish reckoning gives 24 books, as in our Hebrew Bibles.

There is no See also:

evidence that this artificial reckoning according to the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet was ever much more than a fanciful See also:suggestion. Even in the Septuagint the existing order may not be See also:original. It appears likely that Lamentations was not translated by the same See also:hand as Jeremiah (See also:Noldeke) Unlike the latter, the Septuagint Lamentations sticks closely to the Massoretictext. The two books can hardly have been See also:united from the first. On the strength of 2 Chron. xxxv. 25, some See also:ancient writers (e.g. Jerome ad Zech. xii. II) held that Jeremiah composed Lamentations. When, however, Josephus (See also:Ant. x. 5, r) states that Jeremiah wrote an elegy on See also:Josiah still extant in his day, he may be merely quoting a little too much of Chron. loc. cit.; and it is obvious that he need not mean our book (see See also:Whiston's note). It is urged, indeed, that the author of See also:Chronicles could not have imagined a See also:prophet to have sympathized with such a king as Zedekiah so warmly as is implied by Lamentations iv. 20; and, therefore, he must have connected the passage with Josiah, the last of the good kings.

However that may have been, the Chronicler neither says that Jeremiah wrote all the elegies comprised in The Qinoth, nor does he imply that the entire collection consisted of only five pieces. Rather, the contrary; for he implies that The Qinoth contained not only Jeremiah's single dirge on Josiah, but also the elegies of " all the singing men and singing See also:

women," from the time of Josiah's See also:death (6o8) down to his own day (3rd See also:century). The untimely See also:fate of Josiah became a stock allusion in dirges. It is not meant that for three centuries the dirge-writers had nothing else to sing of; much less, that they sang of the fall of Jerusalem (pre-supposed by our book) before its occurrence. Upon the whole, it does not seem probable, either that the Chronicler mistook Lamentations iv. for Jeremiah's dirge on Josiah, or that the book he calls The Qinoth was identical with our Qinoth. Later writers misunderstood him, because—on the ground of certain obtrusive similarities between Jeremiah and Lamentations (see Driver, L.O.T. p. 433 f.), and the supposed reference in Lamentations iii. 53 if. to Jeremiah xxxviii. 6 if., as well as the fact that Jeremiah was the one well-known inspired writer who had lived through the siege of Jerusalem—they naturally enough ascribed this little book to the prophet. It is certainly true that the same emotional temperament, dissolving in tears at the spectacle of the See also:country's woes, and expressing itself to a great extent in the same or similar language, is noticeable in the author(s) of Lamentations i.-iv. and in Jeremiah, And both refer these woes to the same cause, viz, the sins of the nation, and particularly of its prophets and priests. This, however, is not enough to prove identity of authorship; and the following considerations militate strongly against the tradition. (i.) The language and See also:style of Lamentations are in general very unlike those of Jeremiah (see the details in See also:Nagelsbach and Lohr); whatever See also:allowance may be made for conventional See also:differences in the phraseology of elegiac See also:poetry and prophetic See also:prose, even of a more or less lyrical cast.

(ii.) Lamentations i.-iv. show a knowledge of See also:

Ezekiel (cf. Lamentations H. 4c; Ez. xx. 8, 21; Lam. ii. 14; Ez. xii. 24; xiii. 1o, 14; Lam. ii. 15; Ez. xxvii. 3; See also:xxviii. 12; Lam. iv. 2o; Ez. xix. 4, 8) and of Is. xl.-Ixvi.

(Lam. i. ro, Dann; Is. lxiv. ro; Lam. i. 15; Is. Ixiii. 2; Lam. ii. r ; Is. lxvi. 1; Lam. ii. 2c; Is. xliii. 28; Lam. ii. 13 the 3 verbs; Is. xl. 18, 25; Lam. ii. r5c; Is. Ix." t5b; Lam. iii. 26 See also:

marl; Is. xlvii. 5; Lam. iii.

3o; Is. i. 6; Lam. iv. 14; Is. lix. 3, ro; Lam. iv. r5; Is. it; Lam. iv. 17c; Is. xlv. 2o; Lam. iv. 22; Is. xl. 2). Jeremiah does not quote Ezekiel; and he could hardly have quoted writings of the See also:

age of See also:Cyrus. (iii.) The coincidences of language between Lamentations and certain See also:late Psalms, such as Psalms 1xix., lxxiv., 1xxx., lxxxviii., lxxxix., cxix., are numerous and significant, at least as a general indication of date. (iv.) The point of view of Lamentations sometimes differs from that of the prophet. This need not be the case in i.

21 f. where the context shows that the " enemies " are not the Chaldeans, but Judah's See also:

ill neighbours, Edom, See also:Ammon, See also:Moab and the rest (cf. iv. 21 f.; 59-66 may refer to the same foes). Ch. ii. 9c may refer to popular prophecy (" her prophets "; cf. verse 14), which would naturally be silenced by the overwhelming falsification of its comfortable predictions (iv. 14 ff.; cf. Jer. xiv. 13; Ezek. vii. 26 f.; Psalm lxxiv. 9). But though Jeremiah was by no means disloyal (Jer. xxxiv. 4 f.), he would hardly have spoken of Zedekiah in the terms of Lam. iv. 2o; and the prophet never looked to Egypt for help, as the poet of iv.

17 appears to have done. It must be admitted that Lamentations exhibits, upon the whole, " a poet (more) in sympathy with the old life of the nation, whose attitude towards the temple and the king is far more popular than Jeremiah's" (W. See also:

Robertson See also:Smith); cf. i. 4, 10 19, ii. 6, 7, 20c. (v.) While we find in Lamentations some things that we should not have expected from Jeremiah, we See also:miss other things characteristic of the prophet. There is no trace of his confident faith in the restoration of both Israel and Judah (Jer. 14-18, xxiii. 3-8, xxx.-xxxiii.), nor of his unique See also:doctrine of the New See also:Covenant (Jer. xxxi. 31-34), as a ground of hope and See also:consolation for Zion. The only hope ex-pressed in Lamentations i. is the hope of Divine vengeance on Judah's malicious rivals (i. 21 f.); and even this is wanting from ch. ii.

Chapter iii. finds comfort in the thought of Yahweh's unfailing mercy; but ends with a louder cry for vengeance. Chapter iv. suggests neither hope nor consolation, until the end, where we have an assurance that Zion's See also:

punishment is See also:complete, and she will not again he exiled (iv. 21 f.). The last word is woe for Edom. In chapter v. we have a prayer for restoration: " Make us return, 0 Yahweh, and we shall return!" (i.e. to our pristine state). Had Jeremiah been the author, we should have expected something more See also:positive and definitely prophetic in See also:tone and spirit. (The author of chapter iii. seems to have See also:felt this. It was apparently written in view of chapter ii. as a kind of religious counterpoise to its See also:burden of despair, which it first takes up, verses .1-20. and then dissipates, verses 21 ff.). (vi.) It seems almost superfluous to add that, in the brief and troubled See also:story of the prophet's life after the fall of the city Jer. xxxix.-x1iv.), it is difficult to specify an occasion when he may be supposed to have enjoyed the necessary leisure land quiet for the See also:composition of these elaborate and carefully constructed pieces, in a style so remote from his ordinary freedom and spontaneity of utterance. And if at the very end of his stormy career he really found time and inclination to write any-thing of this nature, we may wonder why it was not included in the considerable and somewhat See also:miscellaneous See also:volume of his See also:works, or at least mentioned in the chapters which relate to his public activity after the catastrophe. Budde's date, 550 B.C., might not be too See also:early for chapter v., if it stood alone. But it was evidently written as the close of the book, and perhaps to complete the number of five divisions, after the See also:model of the Pentateuch; which would bring it below the date of See also:Ezra (457 B.C.).

And this date is supported by internal indications. The Divine forgetfulness has already lasted a very long time since the catastrophe (" for ever," verse 20); which seems to imply the See also:

lapse of much more than See also:thirty-six years (cf. •Zech. i. 12). The See also:hill of Zion is still a deserted site haunted by jackals, as it was when See also:Nehemiah arrived, 445 B.C. (Neh. i. 3, ii. 3, 13, 17, iv. 3). And the conditions, See also:political and economic, seem to agree with what is told us by Nehemiah of the state of things which he found, and which prevailed before his coming: cf. esp. Neh. v. 2-5 with Lamentations V.

2, 10, and Neh. v. 15 with Lamentations v. 5, 8. There is nothing in chapter i. which Nehemiah himself might not have written, had he been a poet (cf. Neh. i. 4). The narrative of Neh. xiii. throws See also:

light on verse 10; and there are many coincidences of language, e.g. " The See also:Province " (of Judea), Neh. i. 3, cf. verse 1; " adversaries " (o'-is), of Judah's hostile neighbours, verse 7, Neh. iv. 11; " made my strength stumble," verse 14, cf.•Neh. iv. 4 (Heb.); the prayers, verses 21 f., Neh. iv. 4 f.

(Heb. iii. 36 f.), are similar. The memory of what is told in Neh. iv. 5 (11), Ezra iv. 23 f., v. 5, may perhaps have suggested the peculiar See also:

term mien, stoppage, See also:arrest, verse 7. With verse 3 " Judah migrated from oppression; From greatness of See also:servitude; She settled among the nations, Without finding a resting-place," cf. Neh. v. 18 end, Jer. xl. 11 f. The "remnant of the captivity" (Neh. i. 2 f.) became much attenuated (cf. verse 4), because all who could See also:escape from the galling tyranny of the foreigner left the country (cf. verse 6).

Verses II, 19 (dearth of food), 20 (danger in the field, See also:

starvation in the See also:house) agree curiously with Neh. v. 6, 9 f. Chapters ii. and iv. can hardly be dated earlier than the beginning of the See also:Persian See also:period. They might then have been written by one who, as a See also:young man of sixteen or twenty, had witnessed the terrible scenes of fifty years before. If, however, as is generally recognized, these poems are not the spontaneous and unstudied outpourings of passionate grief, but compositions of calculated See also:art and studied effects, written for a purpose, it is obvious that they need not be contemporary. A poet of a later See also:generation might have sung of the great See also:drama in this fashion. The See also:chief incidents and episodes would be deeply graven in the popular memory; and it is the poet's See also:function to make the past live again. There is much See also:metaphor (i. 13-15, ii. 1-4, iii. 1-18, iv. 1 ff.), and little detail beyond the horrors usual in long sieges (see Dent. xxviii.

52 ff.; 2 Kings vi. 28 f.) Acquaintance with the existing literature and the popular reminiscences of the last days of Jerusalem would See also:

supply an ample See also:foundation for all that we find in these poems. For textual and See also:literary See also:criticism see also Houbigant, Notae Criticae, ii. 477-483 (1777) ; E. H. Rodhe, Num Jeremias Threnos scripserit quaestiones (Lundae, 1871); F. Montet, Etude sur le livre des Lamentations (See also:Geneva, 1875) ; G. Bickell, Carmina V. T. metrice, 112-120 (1882), and Wiener Zeitschrift See also:fur Kunde des Morgenlandes, viii. See also:lot if. (1894) (cf. also his Dichtungen der Hebrder, i. 87-108, 1882); Merkel, Uber das A.T. See also:Buck der Klagelieder (See also:Halle, 1889); J.

Dyserinck, Theologisch Tijdschrift, xxvi. 359 if. (1892) ; S. A. See also:

Fries, ' Parallele zwischen Thr. iv., v. and der Makkabaerzeit,".Z.A.T.W., xiii. See also:Ito if. (1893) (chaps. iv. v. Maccabean; i.-iii. Jercmiah's); and on the other side Lohr, Z.A.T.W. xiv. 51 if. (1894) ; id. ib., p. 31 if., Der Sprachgebrauch des Buches der Klagelieder; and Lohr, " Threni iii. and See also:die jeremianische Autorschaft des Buches der Klagelieder," Z.A.T.W., xxiv.

1 if. (1904). On the See also:

prosody, see (besides the works of Bickell and Dyserinck) K. Budde, " Das hebraische Klagelied," Z.A.T.W., if. (1882), iii. 299 if. (1883), xi. 234 if. (1891), xii. 31 if. 261 if. (1892); Preussische Jahrbiicher, lxxiii.

461 if. (1893); and C. J. See also:

Ball, ' The Metrical Structure of Qinoth," P.S.B.A. (See also:March 1887). (The writer was then unacquainted with Budde's previous labours.) The following may also be consulted, Noldeke, Die A.T. Literature pp. 142-148 (1868); Seinecke, Gesch. des Volkes Israel, ii. 29 ff. (1884); See also:Stade, Gesch. p. 701, n. 1 (1887) ; Smend in Z.A.T.W.

(1888), p. 62 f. ; See also:

Steinthal, "Die Klagelieder Jer." in Bibel and Rel.-philosophie, 16-33 (1890) ; Driver, L.O.T. (1891), p. 428, "The Lamentations" ; and See also:Cheyne's See also:article " Lamentations_(Book)," in Enc. Bibl. iii. (C. J.

End of Article: LAMENTATIONS (Lamentations of Jeremiah)

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