Lamentations 1 Explained

Lamentations 1 is the first chapter of the Book of Lamentations in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, part of the Ketuvim ("Writings").^{[1] [2]}

Text

The original text was written in Hebrew language. The chapter is acrostic, divided into 22 stanzas or verses. The stanzas consist of triplets of lines (except Lamentations 1:7a, which contains four lines) each beginning with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet in regular order.

Textual versions

Some early witnesses for the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, i.e., 4Q111 (4QLam; 30‑1 BCE) with extant verses 1–15, 17, 16, 18^[3] and 3Q3 (3QLam; 30 BCE–50 CE) with extant verses 10‑12.^[3]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. The Septuagint translation added an introductory line before the first stanza:

And it came to pass, after Israel was taken captive, and Jerusalem made desolate, that Jeremias sat weeping, and lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and said,^[4]

Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B;

ak{G} ^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ak{G} ^S; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; ak{G} ^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; ak{G} ^Q; 6th century).

Verse 1

How doth the city sit solitary,

that was full of people!

how is she become as a widow!

she that was great among the nations,

and princess among the provinces,

how is she become tributary!^[5]

• "How" (Hebrew: איכה Eichah): the Hebrew word (the first word of the book, starting with "Aleph", the first letter of Hebrew alphabet) is the title more frequently given by the Jews to these Elegies.^[6] In the Septuagint the initial word is πως, pós.^[7] This is the characteristic introductory word of an elegy (cf. 1:21 KJV; 2 Isaiah), and adopted as the title of the Book of Lamentations. It is repeated at the opening of chapter 2 and chapter 4.
• "Sit solitary": The city of Jerusalem here is "poetically personified and distinguished from the persons who accidentally compose her population". The word "solitary" does not mean "into solitude", but "deserted by her inhabitants" (the same word as in the first clause of 2 Isaiah: the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken in the Revised Standard Version).^[8]
• "Great among the nations": one that "ruled over many nations" and, in the times of David and Solomon, received tribute from the Philistines, Edomites, Moabites, and Syrians, but later was forced to pay tribute herself, e.g. to Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, then, in the times of Jehoiakim until Zedekiah, to the king of Babylon.^{[9] [10]}
• "Tributary" has the sense of "personal labor" 16:10 KJV.^[11]

Verse 7

Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction

and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old,

when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her:

the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.^[12] Mockery at her "sabbaths" reflects the wording in the Vulgate: deriserunt sabbata ejus.^[13] "Mocking over her downfall" is the standard translation in modern English versions.^[14] There is an alternative reading in 4QLam (4Q111),^{[15] [16]} which reads:

Remember O YHWH [al]l our pains that existed from days of old.

When her [people] fell in/by the hand of a foe and there was no helper,

her foes laughed about [] her ruins.^[15]

Verse 9

Her uncleanness is in her skirts;

She did not consider her destiny;

Therefore her collapse was awesome;

She had no comforter.

“O Lord, behold my affliction,

For the enemy is exalted!” ^[17] This verses introduces a transition to the first person, similarly in verse 11b. "Such movement from one grammatical person to another, found throughout the book, is not at all unusual in Hebrew poetry".^[18]

Uses

Music

• The King James Version of verse 12 from this chapter are cited as texts in the English-language oratorio "Messiah" by George Frideric Handel (HWV 56).^[19]
• Edward Gibbons adapted some of the text in his verse anthem How hath ye City sate solitary.^[20]

See also

• Jacob
• Judah
• Jerusalem
• Zion
• Related Bible parts: 2 Kings 25, 2 Chronicles 36, Jeremiah 39, Jeremiah 52, Ezekiel 24

Further reading

• Kotzé, Gideon. "The Qumran Manuscripts of Lamentations: A Text-Critical Study". Studia Semitica Neerlandica BRILL, 2013.

Sources

• Book: Collins , John J. . Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Fortress Press. 2014. 9781451469233.
• Book: Fitzmyer, Joseph A.. Joseph Fitzmyer

. A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature. Joseph Fitzmyer . William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 2008 . 9780802862419 . Grand Rapids, MI . February 15, 2019.

• Book: Hayes , Christine . Introduction to the Bible. Yale University Press. 2015. 978-0300188271.
• Book: Ulrich . Eugene . Eugene Ulrich . The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants . 2010 . Brill . May 15, 2017 . 9789004181830.
• Book: Würthwein, Ernst . Ernst Würthwein

. Ernst Würthwein . The Text of the Old Testament . Wm. B. Eerdmans . Grand Rapids, MI . 1995 . Erroll F.. Rhodes . 0-8028-0788-7 . January 26, 2019.

External links

Jewish

• Lamentations 1 Hebrew with Parallel English
• Lamentations 1 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary

Christian

• Lamentations 1 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate

Notes and References

1. [Bruce M. Metzger|Metzger, Bruce M.]
2. Keck, Leander E. 2001. The New Interpreter's Bible: Volume: VI. Nashville: Abingdon.
3. Web site: General Info. 5 January 2018 .
4. Brenton, C., Brenton Septuagint Translation of Lamentations 1, accessed 19 June 2019
5. 1:1 KJV KJV
6. Jamieson, Robert; Fausset, Andrew Robert; Brown, David. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary On the Whole Bible. "Lamentations 1". 1871.
7. Lamentations 1:1: Swete's Septuagint
8. Exell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors). "Lamentations 1". 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. Accessed 24 April 2018.
9. [Targum]
10. [John Gill (theologian)|Gill, John]
11. [Albert Barnes (theologian)|Barnes, Albert]
12. 1:7 KJV KJV
13. 2 Lamentations Vulgate
14. E.g. 2 Lamentations: New Revised Standard Version
15. Kotzé, Gideon. "Text-Critical Analysis of Lamentations 1:7 in 4QLam and the Masoretic Text," Old Testament Essays 24/3 (2011): 590-611. Quote: "4QLam preserves a large number of variant readings and is, therefore, a unique representative of the wording and content of this chapter. The wording of Lam 1:7 in 4QLam is a good example of this manuscript’s unique character...
    

    English: Remember O YHWH [al]l our pains that existed from days of old. When her [people] fell in/by the hand of a foe and there was no helper, her foes laughed about [] her ruins."

16. https://books.google.com/books?id=SBMXnB4CRpUC&dq=4QLam&pg=PA136 James VanderKam, Peter Flint. "The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance For Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity"
17. 2 Lamentations
18. Joyce, P. M., Lamentations in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 530
19. Block. Daniel I.. Daniel I. Block. 2001. Handel's Messiah: Biblical and Theological Perspectives. Didaskalia. 12. 2. 19 July 2011.
20. Book: Harley, John . 1999 . Orlando Gibbons and the Gibbons Family of Musicians . . London . 978-1-840-14209-9 . 20–21 .