38 They shall roar together like lions: they shall ^ yell as lions' whelps.
39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and y 1 will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with lie-goats.
4 1 How is '■ Sheshach taken! and how is ^ the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
Verse 33. The daughter of Babylon is li/ce a threshing floor] The threshing wheel is gone over her; she is trodden under foot.
Verse 34. Nebuchadrezzar — hath devoured me] These are the words of Judea; he has taken away all my riches.
Verse 35. The violence done to me — be upon Babylon,— and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea] Zion begins to speak, ver. 34, and ends with this verse. The answer of Jehovah begins with the next verse. Though the Chaldeans have been the instrument of God to punish the Jews, yet in return they, being themselves exceedingly wicked, shall suffer for all the carnage they have made, and for all the blood they have shed.
Verse 39. In their heat I will male their feasts'] It was on the night of a feast day, while their heaits were heated with wine and revelry, that Babylon was taken; see Dan. v. 1-3. This feast was held in honour of the goddess Sheshach, (or perhaps of Bel,) who is mentioned, ver. 41, as being taken with her worshippers. As it was in the night the city was taken, many had retired to rest, and never awoke; slain in their beds, they slept a perpetual sleep.
Verse 4 1. How is Sheshach taken!] Perhaps the city is here called by the name of its idol.
The praise of the whole earth] One of the seven wonders of the world; superexcellent for the height, breadth, and compass of its tvalls, its hanging gardens, the temple of Belus, &c., &c.
43 ° Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.
44 ■* And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of liis mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto liim; yea, ^ the wall of Babylon shall fall.
45 ^ My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord.
46 And?lest yoiu: heart faint, and ye fear ^ for the nimour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore, behold, the days come, that ' I will ^ do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48 Then ' the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babjdon: "^ for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north,
49 " As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all " the earth.
sword, go away, stand not still: 01. XLVi. a remember tlie Lord afar off, and Tarquinii Prisci, let Jerusalem come into your mind. R- Roman., 22. 511 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lord's house.
52 Wiierefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, ■■ that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and tlu-ougli all her land the wounded shall groan.
53 ^ Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord.
54 ' A soiuid of a cry co?neth from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:
55 Because the Lord hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of /their voice is uttered:
56 Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: "^ for the Lord God of recompenses shall surely requite.
57 ' And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith '"the King,
Verse 42. The sea is come up] A multitude of foes hare inundated the city.
Verse 44. I will punish Bel in Babylon] Bel or Belus was their supreme deity.
That which he hath swallowed up] The sacred vessels of the temple of Jerusalem, which were taken thence by Nebuchadnezzar, and dedicated to him in his temple at Babylon.
The wall of Bahjlon shall fall.] It shall cease to be a defence; and shall moulder away until, in process of time, it shall not be discernible.
Verse 45. My people, go ye out] A warning to all the Jews in Babylon to leave the city, and escape for their lives.
Verse 46. A rumour shall — come one year] A year before the capture of the city there shall be a rumour of war, — and in that year Belshazzar was defeated by Cyrus. In the following year the city was taken.
Let Jerusalem come into your mind.] Pray for its restoration; and embrace the first opportunity offered of returning thither.
Averse 5 1. Strangers are come into the sanctuaries^ The lamentation of the pious Jews for the profanation of the temple by the Chaldeans.
Verse 53. Though Babylon shmild mount up to heaven] Though it were fortified even to the skies, it shall fall by the enemies that I will send against it.
Verse 56. The Lord God of recompenses] The fall of Babylon is an act of Divine justice; whatever it suffers, it is in consequence of its crimes.
R. feoma,.., 23. j^^^g^g. ^ The >' broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly ^ broken, and her high gates shall be burned witli fire; and " the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in tlie fire, and they shall be weary.
59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went '' with Zedekiah the king of Judali into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a " quiet prince.
60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.
Verse 58. The broad tvalls of Babylon] Herodotus, who saw these walls, says, " The cit)' was a regular square, each side of which was o)ie hundred and twenty stadia, the circumference ybwr hundred and eighty stadia. It was surrounded by a wall fifty cubits broad, and two hundred cubits high; and each side had twentyfive brazen gates." — Herod., lib. i. c. 178. Had riOt Cyrus resorted to stratagem, humanly speaking, he could not have taken this city. For the destruction of this wall and its very vestiges, see on Isa.
Verse 59. The word lohich Jeremiah] On account of the message sent by Jeremiah to the Jewish captives in Babylon.
Verse 60. Wrote in a bonk] WTiether this book contained any more than is recorded in this place we do not know; probably it contained no more than what is found in verses 62-64. A book, 13D sepher, signifies, in Hebrew, any writing, great or small.
Verse 64. Thus shall Babylon sink, d^c.] This is the emblem of its overtlirow and irretrievable ruin. See Rev. xviii. 21, where we find that this is an emblem of the total ruin of mystical Bal/ylon.
Herodotus relates a similar action of the Phocaans, who, having resolved to leave their country, and never return to it again, (X.u5pov tfiivipEov xaTirrovruiav, xai ufAoffav fxr} crpiv sg ij>uxai'/iv 7;|siv, irfiiv 'i) Tov fAu5^ov TouTov ava())rivai- " threw a mass of iron into the sea, and swore that they would never return to Phocaea till that iron mass should rise and swim on the top." The story is this: The Phoc«ans, being besieged by Harpagus, general of the Persians, demanded one day's truce to deliberate on the propositions he had made to them relative to their surrendering their city; and begged that in the mean while he would take off his army
61 And Jeremiah said to ^g^-'j^^j'- Seraiah, When thou comest to oi. XLVi. '2. Babylon, and shall see, and shall Tarquinii Prisci, read all these words; R. Roman, 22.
62 Tlien shall thou say, 0 Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that ■^ none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be " desolate for ever.
63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, Hhat thou shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates:
64 And thou shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: ^and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
from the walls. Harpagus having consented, they carried their wives, children, and their most valuable effects, aboard their ships; then, throwing a mass of iron into the sea, bound themselves by an oath never to return till that iron should rise to the top and swim. See Herodotus, lib. i. c. 165.
Horace refers to this in his epode Ad Populum Rcmanum, Epode xvi. ver. 25: —
Sed juremus in heec: simul imis saxa renarint Vadis levata, ne redire sit nefas.
" As the Phocaeans oft for freedom bled, At length with imprecated curses fled." Francis.
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.] It appears that the following chapter is not the work of this prophet: it is not his style. The author of it writes Jehoiachin; Jeremiah WTites him always Jeconiah, or Coniah. It is merely historical, and is very similar to 2 Kings xxiv. 18-xxv. 30. The author, whoever he was, relates the capture of Jerusalem, the fate of Zedekiah, the pillage and burning of the city and the temple. He mentions also certain persons of distinction who were slain by the Chaldeans. He mentions the number of the captives that were carried to Babylon at three different times; and concludes with the deliverance of King Jehoiachin from prison in Babylon, in which he had been for thirty-seven years. It is very likely that the whole chapter has been compiled from some chronicle of that time; or it was designed as a preface to the Book of the Lamentations; and would stand with great propriety before it, as it contains the facts on which that inimitable poem is built. Were it allowable, I would remove it to that
This chapter was added after JeremialCs time, probat>ly by Ezra, after the return from the captivity, of which it gives a short account, nearly the same as in 2 Kings xxiv. 18-20, and xxv. It is very properly suhjoined to the preceding prophecies, in order to shotv how exactly they were fulfilled. It lUewise forms a proper introduction to the fotlmoing Lamentations, as it gives an account of the moumftd events which gave rise to them. Zedekiah's evil reign and rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, 1-3. Jerusalem is taken by the Chaldeans after a siege of eighteen months, 4-7. Zcdekiah pursued and taken in the plains of Jericho, and his tvhole army dispersed, 8, 9. The king''s sons and all the princes of Judah slain in Riblah, 10. Zedekiah has his eyes put out by order of the Chaldean monarch; and is afterward bound in chains, carried to Babylon, and imprisoned for life, H. Nebuzar-adan, the captain of the guard, burns and spoils the city and temple, 12—19. The two pillars of the temple, with their dimensions and ornaments, 20—23. The officers of the temple, and several others, carried away captives into Babylon, and then slain by order of Nebuchadnezzar, 24-27. The number of Jews that Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive in the seventh year of his reign, 28; m his eighteenth year, 29; and in his twenty-third year, 30. Evil-merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, in the year of his accession to the throne of Babylon, {lohich was in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity, and the one hundred and ninety-first _/rora the building of Rome, according to the computation of Varro,) orders Jehoiachin to be taken out of prison, and treats him kindly for the remainder of his life, 31-34.
A-^i-^f«6 VEDEKIAH ivas "one and the ninth rfff?/ of the month, the '^^"cms^' B. c. 593 twenty years old when he famine was sore in the city, so 01. XLViii. i.
01. XLV. 3— *" began to reign, and he reigned j that there was no bread for the Tarquinii Prisci,
his mother's name loas Hamutal the daughter 1 7 Then the city was broken up, and all the of Jeremiah of Libnah. men of, war fled, and went forth out of the
2 And he did that which teas evil in the city by night by the way of the gate between
3 For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that
the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain.
8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scat-
4 And it came to pass in the [ tered from him.
ninth year of his reign, in the i 9 "^ Then they took the king, and carried
Tarquinii Prisci, tenth month, in the tenth day of i him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah R. Roman., 2i. ^j^^ fi^Q^t}^^ (Jiqi Ncbuchadrczzar j in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgking of Babylon came, he and all his army, ■ ment upon him.
against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about. * -^34h/'^ 5 So the city was besieged unto B. c. 590-588. the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. Ol. XLVIt. 3— ^., • •', r, XLVIII. 1
6 And in the fourth month, in
Verse 2. And he did — evil] This and the following verse are the same as 2 Kings xxiv. 19.
Verse 3. Through the anger of the Lord] Here is a king given to a people in God's anger, and taken away in his displeasure.
10 ^ And the lung of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
1 1 Tlien he '' put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in ^ chains,
Verse 5. So the city was besieged] It held out one year and six months.
Verse 6. And in the fourth month] See the notes on chap, xxxix. 1, &c. The fourth month answers nearly to our July.
Verso 8. The army of the Chaldeans pursued] See on 2 Kings xxv. 5.
R. Roman., 29. jg * Now in the fifth month, in [he tenth day of the month, ^ which ivas the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, 'came Nebuzar-adan, ™ captain" of the guard, tvliich ° served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
13 And burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the gi-eat meii, bm-ned he with fire:
14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.
ISP Then Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard earned away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell awa}', that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.
1 6 But Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.
1 7 *■ Also the ' pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
15 "^ The caldrons also, and the ' shovels, and the snuffers, and the " bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.
19 And the basins, and the "'firepans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver
chief of the executioners^ or slaughtermen; and so ver. 14, &c.
Verse 13. And burned the house of the Lord] Thus perished this magnificent structure, after it had stood four hundred and twenty-four years three months and eight days. It was built A. M. 2992, and destroyed
20 The two pillars, one sea, and Tarquinii Prisci, twelve brazen bulls that were R- Roman., 29. under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the Lord: " the ^ brass of all these vessels was without weight.
21 And concerning the ^ pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a ^ fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof ivas foiu- fingers: it was hollow.
22 And a chapiter of brass was upon it; and the height of one chapiter ivas five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these.
23 And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; and ^ all the pomegranates upon the network tyere a hundred round about.
24 And ^ the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, ■= and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the ^ door:
25 He took also out of the city an eunuch, which had the charge of the men of war; and seven men of them that ' were near the king's person, which were found in the city; and the ^ principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.
26 So Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
27 And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus ^ Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.
Verses 18-23. In reference to these verses see the parallel texts in the margin, the various readings there, and the notes.
The three keepers] The priests who stood at the door to receive the offerings of the people, see 2 Kings XX. 9, and xxiii. 4.
Averse 25. Seven men — that were near the fe'ng's person] These were priry counsellors.
30 In the three and twentieth
seven hundred forty and five persons: all the
Verses 28—30. On these verses Dr. Blayney has some sensible remarks; I will extract the substance. These verses are not inserted in 2 Kings xsv. Are we to conclude from these verses that the whole number of the Jews which Nebuchadnezzar, in all his expeditions, carried away, was.no more than /o«r thousand six hundred? This cannot be true: for he carried away more than twice that number at one time; and this is expressly said to have been in the eighth year of his reign, 2 Kings xxiv. 12-16. Before that time he had carried off a number of captives from Jerusalem, in the first year of his reisn, among whom were Daniel and his companions, Dan. i. 3-6. These are confessedly not noticed here. And as the taking and burning of Jerusalem is in this very chapter said to have been in the fourth and fifth months ot' the nineteenth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, those who were carried into captivity at the date of those events cannot possibly be the same with those that are said to be carried away either in the eighteenth or twenty-third year of that prince. Nor, indeed, is it credible that the number carried away at the time that the city was taken, and the whole country reduced, could be so few as eight hundred and thirty-two, (see ver. 29;) supposing a mistake in the date of the year, which some are willing to do without sufficient grounds.
Here then we have three deportations, and those the most considerable ones, in the first, in the eighth, and nineteenth years of Nebuchadnezzar, sufficiently distinguished from those in the seventh, eighteenth, and twenty-third years. So that it seems most reasonable to conchide with Abp. Usher, in Chronologia Sacra, that by the latter three the historian meant to point out deportations of a minor kind, not elsewhere noticed in direct terms in Scripture.
The ^«; of these, said to have been in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, Was one of those that had been picked up in several parts of Judah by the band of Chaldeans, Syrians, and others, whom the king of Babj'lon sent against the land previously to his own cominj, 2 Kings xxiv. 2.
That in the eighteenth year corresponds with the time when the Chaldean arniy broke off the siege before Jerusalem, and marched to meet the Egyptian army,
31" Arid it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth j'ear of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in tiie twelfth month, in the five and twentieth da7j of the month, that Evil-merodacli king of Babylon in the first year of his reign ° lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison,
32 And spake p kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon,
33 And ciianged his prison garments: i and
at which time they might think it proper to send off the prisoners that were in camp, under a guard to
And the last, in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, was when that monarch, being engaged in the siege of Tyre, sent off Nebuzar-adan against the Moabites, Ammonites, and other neighbouring nations, who at the same time carried away the gleanings of Jews that remained in their own land, amounting in aU to no more than seven hundred s.ni forty-five.
Josephus speaks of this expedition against the Moabites and Ammonites, which he places in the twentythird year of Nebuchadnezzar; but mentions nothing done in the land of Israel at that time. Only he says, that after the conquest of those nations, Nebuchadnezzar carried his victorious arms against Egypt, which he in some measure reduced, and carried the Jews whom he found there captives to Babylon. But the Egyptian expedition was not tiU the twenty-seventh year of Jehoiachin's captivity, i. e., the thirty-fifth of Nebuchadnezzar, as may be collected from Ezek. xxix. 17; so that those who were carried away in the twenty-third year were not from Egypt, but were, as before observed, the few Jews that remained in the land of
Verse 31. /n the twelfth month^ Answering nearly to our twenty-fifth of April, A. M. 3442.
Lifted up the head of Jehoiachin^ This phrase is taken from Gen. xl. 13. It is founded on the observation that those who are in sorrow hold down their heads, and when they are comforted, or the cause of their sorrow removed, they lift tip their heads. The Hebrew phrase, lift up the head, signifies to comfort, cheer, make happy.
Set his throne'] Gave him a more respectable seat than any of the captive princes, or better than even his own princes had, probably near his person.
Verse 33. And changed his prison garments] That is, Jehoiachin changed his own garments, that he might be suited in that respect to the slate of his elevation. Kings also, in token of favour, gave caftans or robes to those whom they wish to honour.
he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life. 34 And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him
And he did continually eat hread before Mni\ Was a constant guest at the king's table.
Verse 34. And — there was a continual diet given him] This was probably a ration allowed by the king for the support of Jehoiachin's household. For other particulars, see the note on 2 Kings xxv. 30.
All the days of his life.] I believe these words have been by mistake added from the preceding verse. There, they are proper; here, they are tautological. They are wanting in the Septuagint and in the Arabic.
The preceding words, inn DT 1^ ad yom motho, " to the day of his death," are wanting in two of De Rossi's and one of Kennicolt's MSS.
Coverdale ends thus: -3111 tl)C tl.ip^ of Iji.S life untill t)e iJtE&. This is better than the common Version.
of the king of Babylon, ^ every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
the following words:?lillb botlt i;6i aftit t!)at into caitiftc ifi btougt J^racl, anb fieiufialem \^ be^troibc, ^Atit 3ictemjie tijc;proul)ct tocc?ninS, anb tocilcb \o\t\.) tljiiS lamentacion fi0ru;Salcm; anb toitlj bitter intoit isfigljanb anb trianb tocUatoai, ifieibc. Then follows in red letters: Sjetc licginnetlj tljE 'Eamcntatian of flcreinpc, tijat i^ intitlc <jrtnot!); toitlj the fiortpngc out of €btue leitetff. Aleph: tjoto ^sittitl) aloon tlje fttp, &c. See something of a similar kind from othei authorities, at the beginning of Lamentations
•T^HIS book, like the several books of the Pentateuch, is denominated in Hebrew no'x eicah, how, from its fii'st word; and sometimes nu'p kinnoth, lamentations, from its subject. In the Septuagint it is termed GPHNOI TOT lEPEMIOX, for the same reason. The Syriac and Arabic copy or follow the Septuagint; and so does the Vulgate, from the Lamentationes of which, the book has that name which it bears in our language. In the Chaldee it has no name; and in it, and perhaps anciently in the Hebrew, it was written consecutively with the last chapter of Jeremiah.
It is one of the books of the niVjn Megilloth, or Roll, among the Jews; and because it relates to the ruin of their affairs, and contains promises of restoration, it is peculiarly prized, and frequently read. The five Megilloth are: Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Lamentations, Ruth, and Esther.
There has been little difference among learned men concerning the author of this book. The whole current of antiquity and modern times has pointed out Jeremiah as the WTiter: of this the style is a sufficient evidence. Mr. John Henry Pareait, in a Dissertation prefixed to his Translation and Notes on this book, (8vo. Lugd. Bat. 1790,) has proved this point amply from a general collation of the prophecy of Jeremiah with select passages in this book. I have heard of but one learned man who has entertained serious doubts on the subject, Mr. Herman Van der Hardt, who has supposed the five chapters were written by Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Jeconiah. To this opinion I suppose none has ever been converted.
There has been more difference of opinion relative to the subject and occasion. Some have thought the book was composed on the death of Josiah; others that it was composed on occasion of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the various desolations connected with it To this all its pajts and its general phraseology seem best to apply; and this is the sentiment most generally embraced at present. This will receive much proof from a minute consideration of the book itself.
The composition of this poem is what may be called very technical. Every chapter, except the last, is an acrostic. Of the two first, each verse begins with a several letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in the order of the letters, with this exception, that in the second, third, and fourth chapters, the S3 phe is put before the y ain; whereas in all the acrostic Psalms the latter precedes the former, as it does in all grammars of the Hebrew language. In the first and second chapters each verse is composed of three hemistichs or half verses, except the seventh verse of the first, and the nineteenth of the second chapter, which have each four hemistichs.
The third chapter contains sixty-four verses, each, as before, formed of tlwee hemistichs, but with this difference, that each hemistich begins with the same letter, so that the whole alphabet is ttii'ice repeated in this chapter.
The fourth chapter is made up of tiventy-two verses, according to the number of the Hebrew letters; but tlie composition is different from all the rest, for each verse consists of only ttvo hemistichs, and those much shorter than any in the preceding chapters.
I have called this an inimitable poem; better judges are of the same opinion. " Never," says Bishop Lowth, " was there a more rich and elegant variety of beautiful images and adjuncts arranged together within so small a compass, nor more happily chosen and applied."
" One would think," says Dr. South, " that every letter was written with a tear; every word, the sound of a breaking heart: that the author was compacted of sorrows; disciplined to gi-ief from his infancy; one who never breathed but in sighs, nor spoke but in a groan."
" Nor can we too much admire," says Dr. Blayney, " the full and graceful flow of that pathetic eloquence in which the author pours forth the effusions of a patriotic heart, and piously weeps over the ruins of his venerable country. But it was observed before that the prophet's peculiar talent lay in working up and expressing the passions of grief and pity, and, imhappily for him as a man and a citizen, he met with a subject but too well calculated to give his genius its full display."
David in several places has forcibly depicted the sorrows of a heart oppressed with penitential sorrow; but where, in a composition of such length, have bodily misery and mental agony been more successfully painted? All the expressions and images of sorrow are here exhibited in various combinations, and in various points of view. Misery has no expression that the author of the Lamentations has not employed. Patriots! you who tell us you burn for your country's welfare, look at the prophecies and history of this extraordinary man; look at his Lamentations; take him tlu-ough his life to his death, and learn from him what true patriotism means! The man who watched, prayed, and lived for the welfare of his country; who chose to share her adversities, her sorrows, her wants, her afflictions, and disgrace, where he might have been a companion of princes, and have sat at the table of kings; who only ceased to live for his country when he ceased to breathe; — that was a patriot, in comparison with whom almost all others are obscured, minished, and brought low, or are totally annihilated!
Chronological notes relative to the Book of the Lamentations.
Year from the Creation, according to Ajchbishop Usher, 3416. — Year of the Jewish era of the world, 3173. — Year from the Deluge, 1760. — First year of the forli/-eighth Olympiad. — Year from the building of Rome, according to the Varronian account, 106. — Year before the birth of Christ, 584. — Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 588. — Year of the Julian Period, 4126. — Year of the era of Nabonassar, 160. — Cycle of the Sun, 10. — Cycle of the Moon, 3. — Second year after the fourth Sabbatic year after the seventeenth Jewish jubilee, according to Helvicus. — Twenty-ninth year of Tarquinius Prisons, the lifth king of the Romans: this was the seventj/-ninth year before the commencement of the consular government. — Thirty-eighth year of Cyaxares or Cyaraxes, the fourth king of Media. — Eighteenth year of Agasicles, king of Lacedffimon, of the fanuly of the Proclidae. — Twentieth year of Leon, king of Laceda?mon, of the family of the Eurysthenidae. Thirty-second year of Alyattes II., king of Lydia. This was the father of the celebrated Crcesus. — Fifteenth year of.^ropas, the seventh king of Macedon. — Nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. — Eleventh year of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah.
The prophet begins with lamenting the dismal reverse of fortune that befell his country, confessing at the same time that her calamities ivere the just consequence of her sins, 1—6. Jerusalem herself is then personified and brought forward to continue the sad complaint, and to solicit the mercy of God, 7—22.
that was fiill of people: " how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations,
In all copies of the Septuagint, whether of the Roman or Alexandrian editions, the following words are found as a part of the text: Kai sysvSTo (xsra to M-^fxaXuTigi^rivai Tov Itf^aviX, xai lepoufl'aXvjfji, spr]tj.u- 6t)vui, tx(di(Ssv l£p6|j.ias xXaiwv, xai s6^r)vr](fsv tov ^prjvov TouTov Siri lE^ourfaX-/](j., xai Si*sv — "And it came to pass after Israel had been carried away captive, and Jerusalem was become desolate, that Jcremiali sat weeping; and he lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem; and he said."
The Vulgate has the same, with some variations: — " Et factum est, postquam in captivitatem redactus est Israel, et Jerusalem deserta est, sedit Jeremias propheta flens, et plaiudt lamentatione hac in Jerusalem, et amaro anuno suspirans et ejulans, dbcit." The translation of this, as given in the first translation of the Bible into English, may be found at tlie end of Jeremiah, taken from an ancient MS. in my own possession.
I subjoin another taken from the first printed edir tion of the English Bible, that by Coverdale, 1535. " jViid it came to passe, (after Israel was brought into captyvitie, and Jerusalem destroyed;) that Jeremy the prophet sat weeping, mournynge, and raakinge his mone in Jerusalem; so that with an hevy herte he sighed and sobbed, sayenge."
Mattheio's Bible, printed in 1549, refines upon this: " It happened after Israeli was brought into captjTite, and Jerusalem destroyed, that Jeremy the propliet sate wepyng,and sorrowfully be wayled Jerusalem; andsyghynge and hewlynge with an hevy and wooful hert, sayde."
Becke's Bible of the same date, and Car</mardc?i's of 1566, have the same, with a trifling change in the orthography.
On this Bccie and others have the following note: — " These words are read in the LXX. interpreters: but not in the Hebnie."
A. M. cir. 3416. d njglit, and her tears are on her