LAMENTATIONS
A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
second, revised edition
DELBERT R. HILLERS
VOLUME 7A
the anchor yale bible
Doubleday
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library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Bible. O.T. Lamentations. English. Hillers. 1992.
Lamentations: a new translation with introduction and commentary / Delbert R. Hillers.
p. cm.—(The Anchor Bible; v. 7A)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
1. Bible. O.T. Lamentations—Commentaries. I. Hillers, Delbert R. II. Title. III. Series: Bible. English. Anchor Bible. 1964; v. 7A.
BS1533 1992
220.7′7 s—dc20 | 91-17533 |
[224′.3077] | CIP |
ISBN 0-385-26407-0
Copyright © 1972, 1992 by Doubleday,
a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
October 1992
of
my parents
Liturgical Use of Lamentations
The Authorship of Lamentations
Poetic Meter and Related Rhythmic Features
The Meter Used in Lamentations
Parallelism and Syntax in Lamentations
The Metrical Norm: Illusion and Reality
Note on a Feature of Poetic Diction
Lamentations and the City-Lament Tradition
The Hebrew Text and Versions of Lamentations
Excursus: Study of the Text of Lamentations and 4QLama
I. “Is there any pain like my pain?” (1:1–22)
II. “The Lord became like an enemy” (2:1–22)
IV. The Limit of Suffering (4:1–22)
I have written the following commentary primarily for the general reader, and have included only a limited amount of technical detail. As a result I do not always give explicit credit to the scholar who first proposed a given idea, and, although I cite some differing points of view on controverted issues, I do not always quote the full range of varying opinions. Let it be stated here, then, that I am conscious of my great debt to the many scholars, living and dead, who have occupied themselves with Lamentations, and that I hope my own commentary will attract at least some readers to look further into the extensive and excellent literature on this small book.
To the late William F. Albright, who in his lifetime performed so many acts of kindness ...
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About Lamentations: A New Translation with Introduction and CommentaryThe poetry found in the Book of Lamentations is an eloquent expression of one man’s, and one nation’s, despair. The poet is deep in mourning as a result of the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in the sixth century B.C.E. He looks to Israel’s own sins to explain the catastrophe, and yet he recites poignant examples of Israel’s suffering in wondering aloud if God has abandoned his people altogether. Thus his lament is both a confession and a prayer for hope in spite of the horrible defeat. Lamentations is traditionally thought to have been written by the prophet Jeremiah; today the question is whether one man wrote it or many. In his introduction, Delbert Hillers gives the evidence against Jeremiah’s authorship and suggests that the poems should be treated as an intelligible unity, most likely written by an eyewitness to the events described. The book of Lamentations has been taken up through history both as poetry and as an expression of boundless grief. It has become part of the Jewish and Christian liturgies, as well as a source of comfort far beyond the time in which it was written. This commentary fills in the book’s literary and historical background, and we emerge with a fresh respect for the artistry with which it was composed. The poetry itself demands this respect, with a translation here that carries the emotion and heartbreak of the original Hebrew. This new edition by Delbert R. Hillers is a thorough revision of his earlier Anchor Yale Bible commentary, incorporating new literary theories and textual discoveries connected with the very latest Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship. |
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