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Literary structure (chiasm, chiasmus) of Book of Lamentations

Chiastic Structure and Concentric Structure and Parallel of each pericope

[1]The first song (Lam 1:1-22)

A(1:1)

1:1 How lonely she is now, the once crowded city! (1:1)

B(1:2)

1:2 With not one to console her of all her dear ones; (1:2)

(מנחם)

C(1:3)

1:3 Yet where she lives among the nations she finds no place to rest: (1:3)

D(1:4)

"1:4 All her gateways are deserted, her priests groan, (1:4)"

(כהניה)

E(1:5)

1:5 The LORD has punished her for her many sins. (1:5)

F(1:6)

1:6 Her princes, like rams that find no pasture (1:6)

G(1:7)

1:7 she had no one to help her (1:7)

H(1:8)

1:8 She herself groans and turns away. (1:8)

I(1:9)

1:9 Her filth is on her skirt (1:9)

J(1:10)

1:10 She has seen those nations enter her sanctuary (1:10)

K(1:11)

1:11 Look O LORD, and see how worthless I have become! (1:11)

K'(1:12)

1:12 look and see Whether there is any suffering like my suffering (1:12)

J'(1:13)

1:13 He left me desolate, in pain all the day. (1:13)

I'(1:14)

1:14 They have settled about my neck, he has brought my strength to its knees (1:14)

H'(1:15)

1:15 The LORD has trodden in the wine press virgin daughter Judah. (1:15)

G'(1:16)

1:16 Far from me are all who could console me, any who might revive me (1:16)

F'(1:17)

1:17 Zion stretched out her hands, but there was no one to console her (1:17)

E'(1:18)

1:18 I had defied his command (1:18)

D'(1:19)

1:19 My priests and my elders perished in the city (1:19)

(כהני)

C'(1:20)

1:20 Look, O LORD, upon my distress (1:20)

B'(1:21)

1:21 there is no one to console me (1:21)

(מנחם)

A'(1:22)

1:22 My groans are many, and I am sick at heart. (1:22)

A: Lamentation. B: No one to console. C: Sufferings. D: Priests. E: Rebellion. F: No one to console. G: No one to console. H: Her sufferings. I: Dirty. J: Devastation. K: To see.

[2]The second song (Lam 2:1-22)

A(2:1)

2:1 Unmindful of his footstool on the day of his wrath.(2:1)

(אפו)

B(2:2)

2:2 He has brought to the ground in dishonor her king and her princes. (2:2)

C(2:3)

2:3 He broke off, in fiery wrath, the horn that was Israel's whole strength (2:3)

D(2:4)

2:4 He took his stand as a foe, and slew all on whom the eye doted (2:4)

E(2:5)

2:5 For daughter Judah he has multiplied moaning and groaning. (2:5)

(בבת)

F(2:6)

2:6 He has scorned in fierce wrath both king and priest. (2:6)

G(2:7)

2:7 Who shout in the house of the LORD as on a feast day. (2:7)

(אויב)

H(2:8)

2:8 The LORD marked for destruction the wall of daughter Zion (2:8)

(בת)

I(2:9)

2:9 And her prophets have not received any vision from the LORD. (2:9)

(נביאיה)

J(2:10)

2:10 On the ground in silence sit the old men of daughter Zion (2:10)

(בת)

K(2:11)

2:11 As child and infant faint away in the open spaces of the town.(2:11)

K'(2:12)

2:12 They ask their mothers, "Where is the cereal?" (2:12)

J'(2:13)

"2:13 To what can I liken or compare you, O daughter Jerusalem? (2:13)"

(בת)

I'(2:14)

2:14 Your prophets had for you false and specious visions (2:14)

(נביאיך)

H'(2:15)

2:15 They hiss and wag their heads over daughter Jerusalem (2:15)

(בת)

G'(2:16)

2:16 All your enemies open their mouths against you (2:16)

(אויביך)

F'(2:17)

2:17 Letting the enemy gloat over you and exalting the horn of your foes. (2:17)

E'(2:18)

"2:18 moan, O daughter Zion! (2:18)"

(בת)

D'(2:19)

2:19 Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your little ones (2:19)

C'(2:20)

2:20 Are priest and prophet to be slain in the sanctuary of the LORD?(2:20)

B'(2:21)

2:21 Dead in the dust of the streets lie young and old (2:21)

A'(2:22)

"2:22 There was not, on the day of your wrath (2:22)"

(אף)

A: Anger. B: Falling. C: Death of leaders. D: Beloved. E: Girls. F: Leaders. G: Enemies. H: Girls. I: Prophets. J: Girls. K: Infants.

[3]The third song (Lam 3:1-66)

A(3:1-3)

3:1 I am a man who knows affliction from the rod of his anger,(3:1)

B(3:4-6)

3:4 He has worn away my flesh and my skin, he has broken my bones; (3:4)

C(3:7-9)

3:8 Even when I cry out for help, he stops my prayer; (3:8)

D(3:10-12)

3:10 A lurking bear he has been to me, a lion in ambush! (3:10)

E(3:13-15)

3:13 He pierces my sides with shafts from his quiver. (3:13)

F(3:16-18)

3:18 I tell myself my future is lost, all that I hoped for from the LORD. (3:18)

G(3:19-21)

3:19 The thought of my homeless poverty is wormwood and gall; (3:19)

H(3:22-24)

3:22 The favors of the LORD are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent; (3:22)

I(3:25-27)

3:25 Good is the LORD to one who waits for him, to the soul that seeks him; (3:25)

J(3:28-30)

3:28 Let him sit alone and in silence, when it is laid upon him. (3:28)

K(3:31-33)

3:31 For the Lord's rejection does not last forever; (3:31)

K'(3:34-36)

3:36 When he presses a crooked claim, the Lord does not look on unconcerned. (3:36)

J'(3:37-39)

3:38 Except it proceeds from the mouth of the Most High, whether the thing be good or bad! (3:38)

I'(3:40-42)

3:40 Let us search and examine our ways that we may return to the LORD! (3:40)

H'(3:43-45)

3:43 You veiled yourself in wrath and pursued us, you slew us and took no pity; (3:43)

G'(3:46-48)

3:48 My eyes run with streams of water over the downfall of the daughter of my people. (3:48)

F'(3:49-51)

3:50 Till the LORD from heaven looks down and sees. (3:50)

E'(3:52-54)

3:53 They struck me down alive in the pit, and sealed me in with a stone. (3:53)

D'(3:55-57)

3:55 I called upon your name, O LORD, from the bottom of the pit; (3:55)

C'(3:58-60)

3:59 You see, O LORD, how I am wronged; do me justice! (3:59)

B'(3:61-63)

3:61 You hear their insults, O LORD, (all their plots against me), (3:61)

A'(3:64-66)

3:66 Pursue them in wrath and destroy them from under your heavens!(3:66)

A: Anger. B: Sufferings. C: Wishing for salvation. D: Predicament. E: Attacks. F: Waiting for salvation. G: Sufferings. H: Judgement. I: Calling to the LORD. J: To endure hardships. K: The LORD doesn't forsake.

[4]The fourth song (Lam 4:1-22)

A(4:1)

4:1 How the sacred stones lie strewn at every street corner (4:1)

B(4:2)

4:2 Now worth no more than earthen jars made by the hands of a potter! (4:2)

C(4:3)

4:3 Even the jackals bare their breasts and suckle their young (4:3)

D(4:4)

4:4 The babes cry for food, but there is no one to give it to them. (4:4)

E(4:5)

4:5 Those accustomed to dainty food perish in the streets (4:5)

F(4:6)

4:6 The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the penalty of Sodom (4:6)

G(4:7)

4:7 Brighter than snow were her princes (4:7)

H(4:8)

4:8 Now their appearance is blacker than soot (4:8)

I(4:9)

4:9 Better for those who perish by the sword than for those who die of hunger (4:9)

J(4:10)

4:10 The hands of compassionate women boiled their own children (4:10)

K(4:11)

4:11 He has kindled a fire in Zion that has consumed her foundations. (4:11)

K'(4:12)

4:12 That enemy or foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem. (4:12)

J'(4:13)

4:13 Who shed in her midst the blood of the just! (4:13)

I'(4:14)

4:14 They staggered blindly in the streets, soiled with blood (4:14)

H'(4:15)

4:15 Away you unclean! (4:15)

G'(4:16)

4:16 He does not receive the priests with favor, nor show kindness to the elders. (4:16)

F'(4:17)

4:17 From our watchtower we watched for a nation that could not save us.(4:17)

E'(4:18)

4:18 Men dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets (4:18)

D'(4:19)

4:19 They harassed us on the mountains and waylaid us in the desert. (4:19)

C'(4:20)

4:20 He in whose shadow we thought we could live on among the nations (4:20)

B'(4:21)

4:21 To you also shall the cup be passed (4:21)

A'(4:22)

4:22 he will not prolong your exile (4:22)

A: Captivity. B: Vessel. C: To rely on. D: Sufferings. E: Town. F: Foreign country. G: Priests. H: Dirty. I: Bloody. J: Sacrifice. K: Destruction of Jerusalem.

[5]The fifth song (Lam 5:1-22)

A(5:1-5)

5:3 We have become orphans, fatherless; widowed are our mothers. (5:3)

B(5:6-9)

"5:7 Our fathers, who sinned, are no more; but we bear their guilt.(5:7)"

(חטאו)

C(5:10-15)

5:15 The joy of our hearts has ceased, our dance has turned into mourning; (5:15)

B'(5:16-18)

"5:16 woe to us, for we have sinned! (5:16)"

(חטאנו)

A'(5:19-22)

5:20 Why, then, should you forget us, abandon us so long a time? (5:20)

A: To be forsaken. B: Sins. C: Lamentation.

Citations of the Bible are from New American Bible, New Revised Standard Version and New Jerusalem Bible.

Literary Structure of the Bible by Hajime Murai is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Literary structure (chiasm, chiasmus) of Book of Lamentations

Chiastic Structure and Concentric Structure and Parallel of each pericope

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