Lamentations 1 | |
---|---|
Book | Book of Lamentations |
Hebrew Bible part | Ketuvim |
Order in the Hebrew part | 6 |
Category | The five scrolls |
Christian Bible part | Old Testament |
Order in the Christian part | 25 |
Lamentations 1 is the first chapter of the Book of Lamentations in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible,[1][2] part of the Ketuvim ("Writings").[3][4]
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.[5]
Some early witnesses for the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis (1008).[6][a] 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[8][9][10] and 3Q3 (3QLam; 30 BCE–50 CE) with extant verses 10‑12.[9][11][12]
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:
Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: S; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; Q; 6th century).[14]
Mockery at her "sabbaths" reflects the wording in the Vulgate: deriserunt sabbata ejus.[22] "Mocking over her downfall" is the standard translation in modern English versions.[23] There is an alternative reading in 4QLam (4Q111),[24][25] which reads:
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".[27]