Journey Through Jeremiah & Lamentationsਨਮੂਨਾ

Lamentations: Behind the Text

Laments for destroyed cities were actually common in the ancient world and still are in some places today. Look at some parallels from outside the Bible and consider what they share in common and how they are different.

Lamentations for City Destruction

The Lament of Ur

A commonly referenced ancient parallel to the book of Lamentations is “The Lament of Ur,” a Sumerian poem that predates the biblical book by roughly a thousand years. This Sumerian lament and Lamentations have obvious similarities. Here’s a sample from the Sumerian lament:

O city, your name exists but you have been destroyed. O city, your wall rises high but your Land has perished. O my city, like an innocent ewe your lamb has been torn from you. O Urim, like an innocent goat your kid has perished. O city, your rites have been alienated from you, your powers have been changed into alien powers. How long will your bitter lament grieve your lord who weeps? How long will your bitter lament grieve Nanna who weeps?

There are also key differences that distinguish Lamentations from this ancient Sumerian lament. Compare the two excerpts below:

When they (the great gods) had commanded the utter destruction of my city, When they had commanded the utter destruction of Ur, When they had ordered that its people be killed—On that day, I (the patron goddess) did not forsake my city, I did not neglect my land. I shed my tears before An, I myself made supplication before Enlil: “Let not my city be destroyed!” I said to them. “Let not Ur be destroyed!” I said to them. “Let not its people perish!” I said to them. But An would not change that word, Enlil would not soothe my heart with that: “It is good; so be it.”

Ur Lament 140-151

How the LORD in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. He has bent his bow like an enemy, with his right hand set like a foe; and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes in the tent of the daughter of Zion; he has poured out his fury like fire. The LORD has become like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all its palaces; he has laid in ruins its strongholds, and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

Lamentations 2:1, 4-5 (ESV)

How many gods are involved in each city’s destruction?

What is the role of the divine agent associated with each city that is destroyed?

In the Lament of Ur, the patron goddess tries to stop the destruction of her city at the hands of more powerful deities. The city is destroyed against her will and she is a victim of the devastation, along with her people.

YHWH, on the other hand, acts alone. He is the one who brings destruction and there is no pantheon of other gods to contend with him. In this sense, the destruction of Jerusalem in Lamentations is monotheistic, while the Sumarian lament is polytheistic.

Sources: "The Sumerian City Laments and the Book of Lamentations," TheTorah.com. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.