A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Lamentations 9781472556233, 9780567576514

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For Audrey Sine qua non

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GENERAL EDITORS’ PREFACE

Much scholarly work has been done on the Bible since the publication of the rst volumes of the International Critical Commentary in the 1890s. New linguistic, textual, historical and archaeological evidence has become available, and there have been changes and developments in methods of study. In the twenty-first century there will be as great a need as ever, and perhaps a greater need, for the kind of commentary that the International Critical Commentary seeks to supply. The series has long had a special place among works in English on the Bible, because it has sought to bring together all the relevant aids to exegesis, linguistic and textual no less than archaeological, historical, literary and theological, to help the reader to understand the meaning of the books of the Old and New Testaments. In the confidence that such a series meets a need, the publishers and the editors are commissioning new commentaries on all the books of the Bible. The work of preparing a commentary on such a scale cannot but be slow, and developments in the past half-century have made the commentator’s task yet more difficult than before, but it is hoped that the remaining volumes will appear without too great intervals between them. No attempt has been made to secure a uniform theological or critical approach to the problems of the various books, and scholars have been selected for their scholarship and not for their adherence to any school of thought. It is hoped that the new volumes will attain the high standards set in the past, and that they will make a significant contribution to the understanding of the books of the Bible. G. I. D. C. M. T.

PREFACE

There was no commentary on Lamentations in the first series of ICC, although it had been assigned at an early stage to C. A. Briggs, one of the first editors. He died in 1913 before it saw the light of day; and the death of S. R. Driver, another early editor, in 1914, followed by the First World War, may have led to a hiatus during which no re-assignment was made. The absence of such a commentary may have contributed to the comparative neglect of Lamentations in the first half of the 20th century. There has, however, been considerable increase of interest in the book in recent years, and a number of commentaries, monographs and articles have appeared. The ICC editors do not attempt to secure ‘a uniform theological or critical approach’. Previous writers in the series have, however, usually tended to wrestle with the complexities of the Masoretic text; and this has been my aim in this volume. In addition, I have tried to sketch the history of exegesis where it seemed appropriate to do so. Working on the volume has been a most rewarding experience, and I would like to thank Professor John Emerton (a former editor of the ICC series) for his invitation to write the commentary. Professor Graham Davies, ICC’s present Old Testament editor, read my entire typescript and made many very pertinent suggestions on exegesis and presentation. Duncan Burns, my copy-editor, applied his invaluable technical skills and attention to detail to my text and thereby greatly enhanced the final product; and the genial and helpful communications with Anna Turton and Dominic Mattos of T&T Clark International have meant a lot. I am indebted to them all. During the several years of preparation I have had considerable help and direction from library staff in various institutions: the Universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, Cambridge and Amsterdam, and the National Library of Scotland, the British Library and Princeton Theological Seminary. I am most grateful to all concerned for their expertise and gracious accessibility. I am glad to acknowledge financial support from the British Academy, The Carnegie Trust, the Honeyman Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. Finally, for her constant support and encouragement, I wish to thank my wife, Audrey, to whom this volume is dedicated. R. B. S. St Andrews, September 2010

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

COMMENTARIES Berlin, A., Lamentations: A Commentary (Louisville, 2002). Blayney, B., Jeremiah and Lamentations: A New Translation with Notes Critical, Philological and Explanatory (Oxford, 1784). Broughton, H., The Lamentations of Ieremy (Amsterdam, 1608). Budde, C., Die Klagelieder (KHCAT 17; Freiburg, 1898a). Calvin, J., Commentaries on the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah and the Lamentations (Edinburgh, 1855). Dobbs-Allsopp, F. W., Lamentations (Louisville, 2001). Dyserinck, J., ‘De Klaagliederen’, ThT 26 (1892), 359-80. Ewald, H., Die Psalmen und die Klaglieder (Göttingen, 1866). Fuerst, W. J., The Books of Ruth, Esther, Ecclesiastes, The Song of Songs, Lamentations (CBC; Cambridge, 1975). Gerstenberger, E. S., Psalms, Part 2, and Lamentations (FOTL 1; Grand Rapids, 2001). Goldman, S., ‘Lamentations: Introduction and Commentary’, in A. Cohen (ed.), The Five Megilloth (Hindhead, 1946), 66-102. Gordis, R., ‘A Commentary on the Text of Lamentations’, in The SeventyFifth Anniversary Volume of the Jewish Quarterly Review(Philadelphia, 1967), 267-86. ———‘Commentary on the Text of Lamentations’, Part 2, JQR NS 58 (1967–68), 14-33. ———The Song of Songs and Lamentations (New York, 1974a). Gottlieb, H., A Study on the Text of Lamentations (Acta Jutlandica XLVIII; Theology Series 12; Århus, 1978). Gottwald, N. K., Studies in the Book of Lamentations (SBT 14; London, 1954). Haller, M., ‘Die Klagelieder’, in M. Haller and K. Galling,Die fünf Megilloth (HAT I:18; Tübingen, 1940), 91-113. Henderson, E., The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah and that of the Lamentations (London, 1851). Hillers, D. R., Lamentations (AB 7a; Garden City, 1972). ———Lamentations (AB 7a; 2nd edn; Garden City, 1992). Houbigant, C. F., Notae criticae in universos Veteris Testamenti libros (Frankfurt/Main, 1777). House, P. R., Lamentations (WBC 23B; Nashville, 2004).

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Hugo de S. Victore, In threnos Ieremiae (MPL 175), 255-22. Joyce, P. M., ‘Lamentations’, in J. Barton and J. Muddiman (eds.), The Oxford Bible Commentary (Oxford, 2001), 528-33. Kaiser, O., Klagelieder, in H. Ringgren et al., Sprüche, Prediger, Das Hohe Lied, Klagelieder, Das Buch Esther (ATD 16; 3rd edn; Göttingen, 1981), 291-386. Kalkar, C. A. H., Lamentationes Critice et Exegetice Illustratae (Hafniae, 1836). Keil, C. F., The Lamentations of Jeremiah, in vol. II of The Prophecies of Jeremiah (being the translation of Der Prophet Jeremia und die Klagelieder, Leipzig, 1872) (Edinburgh, 1874). Kraus, H.-J., Klagelieder (BKAT 20; Neukirchen–Vluyn, 1960). Löhr, M., Die Klagelieder des Jeremia (Göttingen, 1894). ———Die Klagelieder des Jeremia (Göttingen, 1906). Meek, T. J., ‘The Book of Lamentations’, in The Interpreter’s Bible, vol. VI (New York, 1956), 1-38. Michaelis, J. D., Observationes Philologicae et Criticae in Ieremiae Vaticinium et Threnos (Göttingen, 1793). Moskowitz, Y. Z., ‘Lamentations’, (in Hebrew), in Five Megillot (Jerusalem, 1990). Nägelsbach, C. W. E., The Lamentations of Jeremiah (Edinburgh, 1871). O’Connor, K. M., ‘Lamentations’, in C. A. Newsom and S. H. Ringe (eds.), The Women’s Bible Commentary (London/Louisville, 1992), 178-82. ———‘Lamentations’, in NIB vol. VI (2001), 1011-72. Oettli, S., Die poetischen Hagiographen: Buch Hiob, Prediger Salomo, Hohelied und Klagelieder (Nördlingen, 1889). Peake, A. S., Jeremiah and Lamentations, vol. II (Edinburgh, 1912). Perles, F., ‘hkya’, in A. Kahana (ed.), twlgm vmj (Tel Aviv, 1930), 97-123. Plöger, O., Die Klagelieder (HAT 1/18; Tübingen, 1969), 127-64. Provan, I. W., Lamentations (New Century Bible Commentary; London, 1991a). Radbertus, P., Pascasii Radberti: Expositio in Lamentationes Hieremiae Libri Quinque (cura et studio Bedae Paulus; CCCM 85; Turnholt, 1988). Re’emi, S. P., ‘The Theology of Hope: A Commentary on the Book of Lamentations’, in God’s People in Crisis (ITC; Edinburgh, 1984), 73134. Renkema, J., Lamentations (Historical Commentary on the Old Testament; Leuven, 1998). Ricciotti, G., Le Lamentazioni de Geremia (Rome, 1924). Rozenberg, A. J., The Five Megilloth, vol. II (New York, 1992). Rudolph, W., Die Klagelieder (KAT 16/3; Leipzig, 1939). ———Die Klagelieder (KAT 17; Stuttgart, 1962). Salters, R. B., Jonah and Lamentations (OTG; Sheffield, 1994). Schäfer, R., ‘hkya’, in Megilloth, BHQ (Stuttgart, 2004). Schönfelder, J. M., Die Klagelieder des Jeremias nach rabbinischer Auslegung (Munich, 1887).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Schneedorfer, L. A., Die Klagelieder des Propheten Jeremia (Prag, 1876). Streane, A. W., Jeremiah and Lamentations (CBSC; Cambridge, 1913). Thenius, O., Die Klagelieder (Leipzig, 1855). Theodoret, In threnos (MPG 81), 779-806. Vermigli, Peter Martyr, Commentary on the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah (trans. and ed with Introduction and Notes by D. Shute; Sixteenth-Century Essays and Studies 55; Kirksville, 2002). Westermann, C., Die Klagelieder: Forschungsgeschichte und Auslegung (Neukirchen–Vluyn, 1990). ———Lamentations: Issues and Interpretation (Edinburgh, 1994). Wiesmann, H., Die Klagelieder: Übersetzt und erklärt (Frankfurt, 1954). ARTICLES AND OTHER STUDIES Abelesz, A., Die syrische Übersetzung der Klagelieder und ihr Verhältnis zu Targum und LXX (Privigye, 1895). Albertz, R., Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E. (Atlanta, 2003). Albrecht, K., ‘Die sogenannten Sonderbarkeiten des masoretischen Textes’, ZAW 39 (1921), 160-69. Albrektson, B., Studies in the Text and Theology of the Book of Lamentations (STL 21; Lund, 1963). Alexander, P. S., ‘The Textual Tradition of Targum Lamentations’, AbrN 24 (1986), 1-26. Allegro, J. M., ‘The Meaning of the Phrase ¡e®¥m hå>ayin in Num. xxiv 3, 15’, VT 3 (1953), 78-79. Allegro, J. M., and A. Anderson, Qumran Cave 4, I (4Q158–4Q186) (DJD 5; Oxford, 1968), 75-77. Anderson, D., ‘Medieval Jewish Exegesis of the Book of Lamentations’ (unpublished thesis, University of St Andrews, 2004). Anderson, G. W., ‘jxn’, TDOT vol. IX (1998), 529-33. Avineri, I. Heikal Rashi (Hebrew) (Jerusalem, 1985). Baars, W., ‘A Palestinian Syriac Text of the Book of Lamentations’, VT 10 (1960), 224-27. Banitt, M. (ed.), Le Glossaire de Leipzig, vol. III (Jerusalem, 2001). Barnes, W. E., ‘Ancient Corrections in the Text of the Old Testament (Tikkun Sopherim)’, JTS 1 (1899–1900), 387-414. Barr, J., Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament (Oxford, 1968). ———The Variable Spellings of the Hebrew Bible (The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy, 1986; Oxford, 1989). Barth, J., Etymologische Studien zum semitischen insbesondere zum hebräischen Lexicon (Leipzig, 1893). Barthélemy, J. D., Les devanciers d’Aquila (VTSup 10; Leiden, 1963). ———Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament (OBO 50/2; Göttingen, 1986).

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Bartlett, J. R., Edom and the Edomites (JSOTSup 77; Sheffield, 1989). Barton, J., Oracles of God: Perceptions of Ancient Prophecy in Israel after the Exile (London, 1986). Bauer, H., and P. Leander, Historische Grammatik der Hebräische Sprache des Alten Testaments (Hildesheim, 1965). Baumann, A., ‘μmd’, TDOT vol. III (1978), 262-65. Bayno, R. (ed.), Compendium Michlol (Paris, 1554). Beer, G., ‘Klagelieder 5.9’, ZAW 15 (1895), 285. Bergler, S., ‘Threni V - Nur ein Alphabetisierendes Lied? Versuch einer Deutung’, VT 27 (1977), 304-20. Berlin, A., ‘Introduction to Hebrew Poetry’, in NIB, vol. IV (1996), 301-15. ———The Dynamics of Parallelism (Grand Rapids, 2008). Beyse, K.-M., ‘μx[’, TDOT vol. XI (2001), 304-309. Bickell, G., Carmina Veteris Testamenti metrice: Notas criticas et dissertationem de re metrica Hebraeorum adjecit (Oeniponte, 1882). ———‘Kritische Bearbeitung der Klagelieder’, WZKM 8 (1894), 101-21. Bleek, J., An Introduction to the Old Testament, vol. II (London, 1869). Bloch, J., ‘The Printed Texts of the Peshitta Old Testament’,AJSL 37 (1921), 136-44. Boase, E., The Fulfilment of Doom? The Dialogic Interaction between the Book of Lamentations and the Pre-Exilic/Early Exilic Prophetic Literature (JSOTSup 437; London, 2006). Bodenheimer, F. S., Animal Life in Palestine (Jerusalem, 1935). Bogaert, P.-M., ‘Septante’, in DBSup vol. XII (1928–), 536-692. Böhmer, J., ‘Ein alphabetisch-akrostisches Rätsel’, ZAW 28 (1908), 53-57. Böttcher, F., Neue exegetisch-kritische Aehrenlese zum Alten Testamente (Abtheilung 3; Leipzig, 1863). Bouzard, W. C., We Have Heard with Our Ears, O God: Sources of the Communal Laments in the Psalms (SBLDS 159; Atlanta, 1997). Brady, C. M. M., The Rabbinic Targum of Lamentations: Vindicating God (Leiden, 2003). Brandscheit, R., Gotteszorn und Menschenlied: Die Gerichtsklage des leidenden Gerechten in Klgl 3 (Trierer Theol. Studien 41; Trier, 1983). Brenner, A., Colour Terms in the Old Testament (JSOTSup 21; Sheffield, 1982). Brockelmann, C., Lexicon Syriacum (2nd edn; Berlin, 1928). Brown, F., S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament with an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic (Oxford, 1968). Brug, J., ‘Biblical Acrostics and Their Relationship to Other Ancient Near Eastern Acrostics’, in W. W. Hallo et al. (eds.), Scripture in Context, vol. III (Lewiston, 1990), 283-304. Brunet, G., Les Lamentations contre Jérémie (Paris, 1968). Budde, C., ‘Das hebräische Klagelied’, ZAW 2 (1882), 1-52. ———‘Zum hebräischen Klagelied’, ZAW 11 (1891), 234-47. ———‘Zum hebräischen Klagelied’, ZAW 12 (1892), 261-75.

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———‘Poetry (Hebrew)’, in HDB vol. IV (1898b), 2-13. ———‘Zum Kina-Verse’, ZAW NS 11 (1934), 306-308. Buhl, F., Canon and Text of the Old Testament (Edinburgh, 1892). ———Geschichte der Edomiter (Leipzig, 1893). Cannon, W. W., ‘The Authorship of Lamentations’, BS 81 (1924), 42-58. Cappel, L., Critica Sacra, auxit G. J. L. Vogel and J. G. Scharfenburg. 3 vols. (Halle, 1775–86). Cheyne, T. K., ‘Lamentations’, in T. K. Cheyne and J. S. Black (eds.), Encyclopaedia Biblica, vol. III (London, 1902), cols. 2696-2706. Clines, D. J. A., ‘Was there an Izbet Sartah’, IEJ 28 (1978), 31-35. Neusner, J., Israel after Calamity: The Book of Lamentations (Valley Forge, 1995).

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Nicholson, E. W., God and his People: Covenant and Theology in the Old Testament (Oxford, 1986). Nöldeke, T., Compendious Syriac Grammar (trans. J. A. Crichton; London, 1904). Nötscher, F., ‘Heisst kåbôd auch “Seele”?’, VT 2 (1952), 358-62. O’Connor, K. M., Lamentations and the Tears of the World (Maryknoll, 2002). Olyan, S. M., Biblical Mourning: Ritual and Social Dimensions (Oxford, 2002). Pabst, H., ‘Eine Sammlung von Klagen in den Qumranfunden (4Q179)’, in Qumran: Sa Piété, sa théologie et son milieu (BETL 46; Louvain, 1978), 137-49. Pagnini, S., vd