Why Was the Book of Lamentations Attributed to Jeremiah?

Καὶ ἐγένετο μετὰ τὸ αἰχμαλωτισθῆναι τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἐρημωθῆναι ἐκάθισεν Ἰερεμίας κλαίων, καὶ ἐθρήνησεν τὸν θρῆνον τοῦτον ἐπὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ εἶπεν

Several scholars argue that the wording of this prologue is closer to Semitic rather than Greek phrasing, and thus it was more likely composed originally in Hebrew and then translated into Greek; see, e.g., Robert Salters, Jonah and Lamentations (JSOT, 1994), 94. Editor’s note: Other “changes” previously thought to have been made by the LXX’s translators have been found in Hebrew manuscripts among the Dead Sea Scrolls. On Hebrew manuscript traditions upon which the LXX was based, see Tov, “Other Biblical Text Traditions,” TheTorah (2017).

Bible translations adapted from the NRSV unless otherwise indicated.

See Mayer. I. Gruber, “Introduction to Rashi’s Commentary on Lamentations,” in Great Is Thy Faithfulness? Reading Lamentations as Sacred Scripture, ed. Robin A. Parry and Heath A. Thomas (Pickwick, 2011) 83–87; 85. Editor’s note: for a precursor to this idea, see Eicha Rabbah petichta 28.

Several following examples drawn from Samuel R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (T & T Clark, 1913), 461–464.

Scholars describe these as the “Laments of Jeremiah:” Jeremiah 11:18–12:6; 15:10–21; 17:14–18; 18:18–23; 20:7–13; 20:14–18.

Editor’s note: see Adelman, “Daughter Zion: Jerusalem Personified” TheTorah (2024).

Editor’s note: on the multiple voices in Lamentations, see also Greenstein, “Voices in Lamentations: Dialogues in Trauma,” TheTorah (2015).

Editor’s note: See First, “Pe before Ayin in Biblical Pre-Exilic Acrostics,” TheTorah (2017). The fifth chapter has no acrostic at all, although it has 22 verses—the same number as chapters 1, 2, and 4; corresponding with the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

In fact, traces of this “prophetic perspective” are found interspersed throughout Lamentations in verses which lay claim to sin as the cause of the destruction See Lam 1:5, 8, 14, 18; 3:42; 4:6, 22; 5:7, 16. Like the oracles included in the prophetic books themselves, though, these references to sin and culpability include a wide range of moods and registers, including chastisement, confession, and protest.

^{איכה ב:יד} נְבִיאַיִךְ חָזוּ לָךְ שָׁוְא וְתָפֵל וְלֹא גִלּוּ עַל עֲוֹנֵךְ לְהָשִׁיב שְׁביּתֵךְ ‏וַיֶּחֱזוּ לָךְ מַשְׂאוֹת‏ שָׁוְא וּמַדּוּחִים.

^{Lam 2:14} Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen oracles for you that are false and misleading.

^{ירמיה ב:לו} מַה־תֵּזְלִי מְאֹד לְשַׁנּוֹת אֶת דַּרְכֵּךְ גַּם מִמִּצְרַיִם תֵּבוֹשִׁי כַּאֲשֶׁר בֹּשְׁתְּ מֵאַשּֽׁוּר.

^{Jer 2:36} How lightly you gad about, changing your ways! You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria.

For discussions of this phenomenon see e.g. Eva Mroczek, The Literary Imagination in Jewish Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Editor’s note: On the identity of “the man who has seen affliction,” see Klein, “The ‘Man’ in Lamentations,” TheTorah (2017).

Jason Kalman, “If Jeremiah Wrote It, It Must Be OK: On the Attribution of Lamentations to Jeremiah in Early Rabbinic Texts,” Acta Theologica 29 (2009): 31–53.

Eva Mroczek, The Literary Imagination in Jewish Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Mroczek, Literary Imagination, 56.

Nancy C. Lee, The Singers of Lamentations: Cities under Siege, From Ur to Jerusalem to Sarajevo (Brill, 2002).

Editor’s note: For an overview of the type of literature scholars describe as “Wisdom Literature,” see eg Schwartz, “Torah: Deuteronomy’s Version of Wisdom for Israel,” TheTorah (2015).

This article is based on my fuller discussion. See, Elizabeth Boase, “Jeremiah in Lamentations,” in The Oxford Handbook of Jeremiah, ed. Louis Stulman and Edward Silver (Oxford University Press, 2021), 483-503.