Jeremiah
April 2010
Jeremiah is one of the three major prophets in Hebrew tradition and one of the Five Major Prophets in Christian tradition (Christians add Daniel and Lamentations to Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel). He lived in the age from Josiah, famous for his reforming of Jewish worship, to King Zedekiah and the Exile. Because of his laments, his name has been turned into a noun, "jeremiad" (a tearful complaint). One of Rembrandt's most famous paintings is of Jeremiah. The book is disorganized, moving from different kings, back and forth, in no order; a lot is repetitious (repeats ideas and events); but what remains is gold, among the finest poetry in the world's literature (along with Job, Isaiah, the Psalms). Also unique in Jeremiah is the great deal of autobiography in it.April 2010
1:1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah: 1:2 to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 1:3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. 1:4 Now the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 1:5 "Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." 1:6 Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I don't know how to speak; for I am a child."
God's power over life starts from the womb (this could be used as an anti-abortion argument). Reluctance to speak for God continues a tradition started by Moses. Note the important responsibility of a prophet, who is in control of nations, a spokesperson for God himself:
1:7 But Yahweh said to me, "Don't say, 'I am a child;' for to whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak. 1:8 Don't be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you," says Yahweh. 1:9 Then Yahweh put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Yahweh said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. 1:10 Behold, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." 1:11 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?"
I said, "I see a branch of an almond tree."
1:12 Then Yahweh said to me, "You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it."
V. 12 is a pun (homophone) on "watch" and "almond," which sound alike in Hebrew. It's like showing a prophet the sea: "What is this that I show you?" "The sea." "Yes, and I see all that happens in the world."
1:13 The word of Yahweh came to me the second time, saying, "What do you see?" I said, "I see a boiling caldron; and it is tipping away from the north."
1:14 Then Yahweh said to me, "Out of the north evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land.
The north was commonly where dangers came. Israel had already fallen to the Assyrians (722 BCE). Judah was safer because Israel (the northern part of the Jewish nation) served as a buffer. But with the fall of Israel this was no longer true. The reference is to the Babylonians, from the north. V. 17 is oddly phrased: don't be afraid or I'll make you afraid. But this is good pyschology; like saying, "Don't be afraid of taking the exam, or you'll be afraid and fail." This kind of thinking is repeated in the verse, "walked after vanity, and are become vain." In sum: We are what we love. When we love something worthless we become worthless.
1:17 "You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Don't be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them. 1:18 For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. 1:19 They will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you," says Yahweh, "to deliver you."
2:4 Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel! 2:5 Thus says Yahweh, "What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? 2:6 Neither did they say, 'Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt?
Note the stronger sense of monotheism now: there is no belief in any God but God; the Hebrew God is not simply greater than other gods, but the only God:
2:11 Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
2:13 "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. 2:14 Is Israel a servant? Is he a native-born slave? Why has he become a prey?
Note above the emphasis on social freedom, a founding principle of the Jewish religion, of which there are several: 1. All creation is good, 2. God is a God of history and social justice, and 3. the Sabbath (rest) is a part of history, until the end of history. This is probably how the idea of Heaven developed. 2:19 is good psychology, similar to Dante's idea of the counterpassion: we are punished by our sins, not for our sins. Like saying, "Your own smoking will punish you" (with ill health, cancer, etc.).
2:19 "Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you.
2:28 "But where are your gods you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah.
Note the common metaphor of marriage: God divorced (abandoned) Israel (as distinct from the southern part of the nation, Judah); which means Israel was defeated by the Assyrians (722 BCE). But her sister, Judah, still doesn't fear.
3:8 I saw, when backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, didn't fear; but she also went and played the prostitute.
3:15 I will give you shepherds [leaders] according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
The writing must be Exilic (during the Babylonian exile) because Jeremiah dismisses the value of the Ark of the Covenant, like "sour grapes": since it's gone, forget about it. Note the motif of universalism, by necessity, since other nations (peoples) are occupying the land:
3:16 It shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days," says Yahweh, "they shall say no more, 'The ark of the covenant of Yahweh!' neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it. 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem 'The throne of Yahweh;' and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem.
A new kind of circumcision is announced, that of the heart:
4:4 Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.
The "lion" is Babylon:
4:7 A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.
The following is a parody of the first verses of GENESIS, as Jeremiah predicts the results of war as an undoing of creation:
4:23 I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 4:24 I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. 4:25 I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled. 4:26 I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, before his fierce anger.
Jeremiah uses personification: the vain woman is Israel, who doesn't know her lovers (those she depends on politically) will kill her:
4:30 Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; your lovers despise you, they seek your life.
Dante borrowed these animals for his Divine Comedy, where they represented pride, greed, and lust. But in Hebrew parallelism, the three animals are really one, repeating the same idea with greater force:
5:6 Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities.
Note the counterpassion: we are punished by our sins not for our sins:
5:19 It will happen, when you say, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?' Then you shall say to them, 'Just like you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'
This is argument by design (the world is beautiful so someone must have made it):
5:22 Don't you fear me?' says Yahweh 'Won't you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can't prevail; though they roar, yet they can't pass over it.'
"Fat" below doesn't mean 300 pounds, but spiritually lazy or self-satisified:
5:28 They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don't plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don't judge the right of the needy.
5:29 "Shall I not punish for these things?" says Yahweh. "Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
6:13 "For from their least to their greatest, everyone deals falsely.
6:14 They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially,
saying, 'Peace, peace!' when there is no peace."
The famous Temple Sermon, which Jesus used for his Cleansing of the Temple, which occurs in all 4 Gospels:
7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 7:2 "Stand in the gate of Yahweh's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh. 7:5 For if you amend your ways and your doings; if you execute justice between a man and his neighbor; 7:6 if you don't oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don't shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt: 7:7 then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forevermore. 7:11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Yahweh. 7:12 But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
Idols lessen our self-value, because we are what we love. If we worship a piece of wood, we are no better than that wood; if we worship a movie star, we're no better than the star. But if we worship that which is high, we reach higher than ourselves:
7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. 7:19 Don't they provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?
Jeremiah is against the priestly class, denying God requires sacrifices:
7:22 For I didn't speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: 7:23 but this thing I commanded them, saying, Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.
The reference to wisdom here and elsewhere may be to the Egyptian wisdom tradition of Proverbs. 8:22a famous, quoted by Edgar Allan Poe in "The Raven":
8:8 How do you say, We are wise, and the law of Yahweh is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely. 8:9 The wise men are disappointed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of Yahweh; and what kind of wisdom is in them? 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then isn't the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
One of the high points of Jeremiah's rhetoric, like the final chapter of Ecclesiastes:
9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! 9:2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 9:3 They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don't know me, says Yahweh. 9:4 Take heed everyone of his neighbor, and don't trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders. 9:5 They will deceive everyone his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity. 9:6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says Yahweh. 9:8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays wait for him. 9:9 Shall I not visit them for these things? says Yahweh; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 9:10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the livestock; both the birds of the sky and the animals are fled, they are gone. 9:11 I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant. 9:13 Yahweh says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein. . . .
More attacks on the Wisdom tradition. We have the same thing today: Sociologists, psychologists and political pundits teach us how to bring up children, etc. Note the warning against astrology ("signs of the sky"):
9:23 Thus says Yahweh, Don't let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don't let the rich man glory in his riches; 9:24 but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth. 10:2 Thus says Yahweh, "Don't learn the way of the nations, and don't be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them.
The poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a verse paraphrase of the following verses:
12:1 You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would reason the cause with you: why does the way of the wicked prosper? why are all they at ease who deal very treacherously? 12:2 You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit: you are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.
The basis of the Gospel song, "Speckled Bird" (today it refers to the Church):
12:9 "Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the animals of the field, bring them to devour.
This is a symbolic action (acting out God's prophecy):
13:1 Thus says Yahweh to me, Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and don't put it in water. 13:3 The word of Yahweh came to me the second time, saying, 13:4 Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. 13:6 It happened after many days, that Yahweh said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there. 13:7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was marred, it was profitable for nothing. 13:8 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 13:9 Thus says Yahweh, In this way I will mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. 13:10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing. 13:11 For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so have I caused to cling to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says Yahweh; that they may be to me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.
One of the most famous quotes from Jeremiah:
13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil. 13:24 Therefore will I scatter them, as the stubble that passes away, by the wind of the wilderness.
16:1 The word of Yahweh came also to me, saying, 16:2 You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters, in this place. 16:3 For thus says Yahweh concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who became their father in this land: 16:4 They shall die grievous deaths: they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.
The reference is more to political alliances (Egyptian kings, etc.) than to one's fellow man, but the advice applies in both cases:
17:5 Thus says Yahweh: Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from Yahweh. 17:7 Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose trust Yahweh is. 17:8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green. 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?
Two more symbolic actions:
18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 18:2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house. 18:3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was making a work on the wheels. 18:4 When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 18:5 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 18:6 House of Israel, can't I do with you as this potter? says Yahweh. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel. 19:1 Thus said Yahweh, Go, and buy a potter's earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests; 19:10 Then you shall break the bottle in the sight of the men who go with you, 19:11 and shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that can't be made whole again.
22:1 Thus said Yahweh: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, 22:13 Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbor's service without wages, and doesn't give him his hire; 22:14 who says, I will build me a wide house and spacious rooms, and cuts him out windows; and it is ceiling with cedar, and painted with vermilion. 22:15 Shall you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Didn't your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? then it was well with him.
A Messianic prophecy that Christians read to refer to Jesus:
23:1 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says Yahweh. 23:4 I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, says Yahweh. 23:5 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
Another symbolic action. The point is, Jeremiah preaches surrender to Babylon rather than fighting, which is useless:
24:3 Then Yahweh said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that can't be eaten, they are so bad. 24:4 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 24:5 Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good. 24:6 For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
The personal risks of prophets were real; Shiloh refers to the first sanctuary, destroyed by the Philistines (Eli and his sons were priests there before being replaced by Samuel):
26:8 It happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, You shall surely die. 26:9 Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant?
Another symbolic action warning the Jews that it is God's will they go into captivity in Babylon. Note that just like we have two political parties today, there were opposing prophets (Hananiah) who preached that all would be well:
27:1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 27:2 Thus says Yahweh to me: Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck";
27:12 I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to these words, saying, 27:14 Don't listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you. 28:10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and broke it. 28:11 Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus says Yahweh: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from off the neck of all the nations. 28:12 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 28:13 Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says Yahweh: You have broken the bars of wood; but you have made in their place bars of iron. 28:14 For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him.
Jeremiah preaches that the captive Jews serve their new rulers and make the best of it:
29:1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, 29:7 Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.
29:10 For thus says Yahweh, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
[Scholars are unclear about the nature of the prediction here; but the nearest guess is the restored (Second) Temple, dated around 515 BCE. It's possible Jeremiah is dating from the fall of Judah in 589 to the date of the restored temple, around 70 years later.]
Rachel personifies all of Israel, weeping for "her" children (referred to in the Gospels):
31:15 Thus says Yahweh: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.
31:21 Set up road signs, make guideposts; set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went. 31:29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. 31:30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
One of the key texts in the Old Testament, from which we get the phrase, the "New Testament" (New Covenant):
31:31 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 31:33 I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
The following is a priceless bit of humor which I'd love to see acted out in a Hollywood film: as Jeremiah's words are read, the king cuts them up in scorn:
36:1 It happened in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 36:2 Take a scroll of a book, and write all the words I have spoken against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, to this day. 36:22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month: and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him. 36:23 It happened, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire in the brazier, until the scroll was burned.
36:27 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, 36:28 Take another scroll, and write in it the words in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 36:29 Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, Thus says Yahweh: 36:31 I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they didn't listen.
Jeremiah is accused of being a traitor for the Babylonians (also called the Chaldeans):
37:11 It happened that, when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army, 37:12 then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem. 37:13 When he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah; and he laid hold on Jeremiah, saying, You are falling away to the Chaldeans. 37:14 Jeremiah said, It is false. But he didn't listen to him; so Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes. 37:15 The princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
38:6 Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon. In the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire. 38:7 Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon, 38:8 Ebedmelech went forth out of the king's house, and spoke to the king, saying, 38:9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is likely to die in the place where he is. 38:10 Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies. 38:13 So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
Jeremiah is forced to go with his enemies to Egypt, but he insists Egypt will suffer the same fate as Judah. As usual, he uses strong sexual imagery: Egypt is merely a beautiful female cow and her men are like tame calves:
LAMENTATIONS
LAMENTATIONS is traditionally attributed to Jeremiah, the "Weeping Prophet," from whom we get the English noun, jeremiad, meaning "lament." Lamentations, though about the destruction of Jerusalem, is typologically read by Christians in terms of Jesus, lanenting the sins of the world and (like Jeremiah or Jerusalem) despised (the "Suffering Servant" motif in Isaiah). The book is ranked among the "Five Major Prophets" in Christian Bibles (with Daniel and the 3 Major Prophets in Jewish Bibles: Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel). For Christians, the book of Lamentations is important during Passion Week (before Easter), where it is read typologically, as a type of Jesus' suffering before Easter Sunday. For this reason, there are many settings of verses from this text in Christian music.
1
1: How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she that was great among the nations! A princess among the cities has become a vassal. This is following the fall of Judah/Jerusalem, conquered by the Babylonians (587/6). The pathos (feeling) of this verse is clear in view of the well-known image of Israel as God's bride, who is now a "widow" (without God or the aid of other nations ["lovers"], on whom she relied for her defense)!
2: She weeps bitterly in the night, tears 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.
Again, the pathos comes from the image (metaphor) of Israel as a bride: now, "among all her lovers" (in other words, political alliances), she has none to comfort her; since she left her husband (God).
12: "Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was brought upon me, which the LORD inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.
19: "I called to my lovers but they deceived me.
Some more bride/husband imagery, familiar in the Song of Songs. Here the lovers are the political allies that couldn't help in the end.
3
The following verses are the source of the famous hymn, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness"; there are also references to the "Suffering Servant" motif, apparently "Israel"; chapter 4 is a terrifying image of calamity:22: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
23: they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
24: "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."
27: It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
30: let him give his cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.
37: Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
38: Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come?
39: Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?
4
5: Those who feasted on dainties perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple lie on ash heaps.
7: Her princes were purer than snow,
8: Now their visage is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled upon their bones, it has become as dry as wood.
10: The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children.
13: This was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous.
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15: The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.
16: The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
19: But thou, O LORD, dost reign for ever; thy throne endures to all generations.
21: Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old!
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