Lamentations

Verse-by-Verse Commentaries:

Adele Berlin, Lamentations (Old Testament Library), Westminster, 2002.

Michael D. Guinan, "Lamentations" in The New Jerome Study Bible, Prentice Hall, 1990: 558-562.
intermediate level; moderate Catholic perspective; commentary is even briefer and more scant than Price, introduction a little longer;
terseness value.

Delbert R. Hillers, Lamentations: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Anchor), Doubleday, 1992.****
intermediate/advanced level; moderate Catholic perspective; covenantal, exegetical, philological, OT-theological, value;
a quality, if somewhat, dated commentary; the place to start.

Robert Martin-Achard and S. Paul Re’emi, God's People in Crisis (ITC). Eerdmans, 1984.
two brief commentaries in one volume: a commentary on Amos by Martin-Achard, and a commentary on Lamentations by Re’emi;
concise introduction, helpful Biblical cross-references, decent exegetical overview; less than technical notes, some deficient critical
presuppositions.

Ross Price, "Lamentations" in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, The Southwestern Company, 1970: 695-701.***
an overview-commentary in six over-sized pages from a conservative evangelical perspective; a decent fifteen-minute over-view.

Iain Provan, Lamentations (New Century Bible Commentary), Eerdmans, 1991.****
conservative perspective; incisive, unextravagant, mature commentary; textual, exegetical value, refreshingly to overly agnostic
on introductory issues.

Johan Renkema, Lamentations (Historical Commentary on the Old Testament), Peeters, 1998.
intermediate/advanced level; conservative/moderate protestant perspective; first-rate scholarship, exhaustive.

Monographs, Compilations, and Studies:

Barry G. Webb, Five Festal Garments: Christian Reflections on the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther
____ (New Studies in Biblical Theology), Inter Varsity Press, 2001. ****
beginning/intermediate level; Reformed/evangelical perspective; biblical-theological emphasis; succinct yet deep, theological yet practical,
provocative howbeit general/broad insights.

Articles and Essays:

Frank M. Cross, "Studies in the Structure of Hebrew Verse: The Prosody of Lamentations 1:1-22" in The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth:
____ A Festschrift for David Noel Freedman (American Schools or Oriental Research Spec., vol. 1.1) ed. C. L. Meyers and M. O'Connor,
____ Eisenbrauns, 1980: 129-155.

James T. Dennison, "The Lament and the Lamenter: Lamentations 3:1-23," Kerux 12.3 (Dec 1997): 30-34.

David A. Dorsey, "Lamentations: Communicating Meaning through Structure," Evangelical Journal 6 (1988): 83-90.

David N. Freedman, "Acrostics and Metrics in Hebrew Poetry" in Pottery, Poetry, and Prophecy: Studies in Early Hebrew Poetry, Eisenbrauns,
____ 1980: 51-76.

David N. Freedman and Erich A. Von Fange, "Metrics in Hebrew Poetry: The Book of Lamentations Revisited," Concordia Theological Quarterly 60
____ (1996): 279-305.

W. C. Gwaltney Jr., "The Biblical Book of Lamentations in the Context of Near Eastern Lament Literature" in Scripture in Context II:
____ More Essays on the Comparative Method (Pittsburg Theological Monograph Series, 34) ed. W. W. Hallo, J. C. Moyer, and L. G. Perdue,
____ Eisenbrauns, 1983: 191-211.

Delbert R. Hillers, "History and Poetry in Lamentations," Currents in Theology and Mission 10 (1983): 155-161.

________ " Observations on Syntax and Meter in Lamentations" in A Light unto My Path: Old Testament Studies in Honor of Jacob M. Myers
____ (ed. H. N. Bream, R. D. Heim, and C. A. Moore), Temple University Press, 1974: 265-270.

Meredith G. Kline, "Bible Book of the Month—Lamentations," Christianity Today 5 (1961): 567-568.

William F. Lanahan, "Speaking Voice in the Book of Lamentations," JBL 93 (1974): 41-49.

Iain W. Provan, "Past, Present, and Future in Lamentations 3:52-66: The Case for a Precative Perfect Re-examined," Vetus Testamentum 41
____ (1991): 164-175.

Johan Renkema, "The Meaning of the Parallel Acrostics in Lamentations," Vetus Testamentum 45 (1995): 379-383.

Johan Renkema, "The Literary Structure of Lamentations (i-v)" in The Structural Analysis of Biblical and Canaanite Poetry (JSOT Sup, 74)
____ ed. Willem van der Meer and Johannes C. de Moor, JSOT Press, 1988: 294-396.
this is the article to begin with.

William D. Reyburn, "Anatomy of a Poem: Lamentations 1" in Discourse Perspectives on Hebrew Poetry in the Scriptures
____ (UBS Monograph Series, 7) ed. E. R. Wendland, United Bible Societies, 1994: 147-169.

More Commentaries:

Erhard Gerstenberger, Psalms, Part 2, and Lamentations (FOTL), Eerdmans, 2001.

Robert Gordis, The Song of Songs and Lamentations, KTAV, 1974.

Norman C. Habel, Jeremiah and Lamentations (Concordia Commentary), Concordia, 1968.

Roland K. Harrison, Jeremiah and Lamentations (Tyndale), Inter Varsity, 1973.

David A. Hubbard, Song of Songs and Lamenations, Word Books, 2000.

F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations (New American Commentary, 16), Broadman & Holman, 1993.

Kathleen M. O'Connor, "Lamentations" in The New Interpreter's Bible, vol. VI, Abingdon, 2001.

More Monographs:

F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Weep, O Daughter of Zion: A Study of the City-Lament Genre in the Hebrew Bible (Biblica et Orientalia, 44),
____ Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1993.

Paul Ferris, The Genre of Communal Lament in the Bible and the Ancient Near East (SBL Dissertation, 127), Scholars Press, 1992. ****
intermediate/advanced level; evangelical perspective; historical, literary, hermeneutical value.

Jannie Hunter, Faces of a Lamenting City: The Development and Coherence of the Book of Lamentations (Beiträge zur Erforschung
____ des Alten Testaments und des Antiken Judentums, 39), Peter Lang, 1996.

Norman K. Gottwald, Studies in the Book of Lamentations (Studies in Biblical Theology), SCM Press, 1954.

Jacob Neusner, Israel After Calamity: The Book of Lamentations, Trinity Press International, 1995.

William D. Reyburn, A Handbook on Lamentations (UBS Helps for Translators), United Bible Societies, 1992.

Robert B. Salters, Jonah and Lamentations (Old Testament Guides), Sheffield Academic Press, 1994.

More Articles:

Hendrik Jan Bosman, "Two Proposals for a Structural Analysis of Lamentations 3 and 5" in Bible et Informatique:
____ Interprétation, Herméneutic, Compétence: Actes du Troisième Colloque International, Tübingen, 26-30 août 1991
____ (Travaux de linguistique quantitative, 49) ed. W. Bader, H. J. Bosman, J. H. Sailhamer, et al, Champion, 1992: 77-98.

Mitchell Dahood, "New Readings in Lamentations," Biblica 59.2 (1978): 174-197.

F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, "Tragedy, Tradition, and Theology in the Book of Lamentations," JSOT 74 (1997): 29-60.

A. Joseph Everson, "Days of Yahweh," JBL 93 (1974): 329-337.

Robert Gordis, "The Conclusion of the Book of Lamentations (5:22)," JBL 93 (1974): 289-293.

Kim Hawtrey, "The Exile as a Crisis for Cultic Religion: Lamentations and Ezekiel," Reformed Theological Review 52 (1993): 74-83.

John H. Hayes, "The Songs of Israel: Psalms and Lamentations" in The Hebrew Bible Today: An Introduction to Critical Issues
____ (ed. S. McKenzie, et al), Westminster John Knox, 1998: 153-171,229-230.

Homer Heater Jr., "Structure and Meaning in Lamentations," BSac 149 (1992): 304-315.

Jacob L. Helberg, "Land in the Book of Lamentations," Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 102.3 (1990): 372-385.

________ "The Incomparable Sorrow of Zion in the Book of Lamentations" in Studies in Wisdom Literature
____ (Ou-Testamentiese Werkgemeenskap in Suider-Afrika, 15 & 16) ed. W. C. van Wyk, N. H. W. Press, 1981: 27-36.

Delbert R. Hillers, "The Roads to Zion Mourn (Lam 1:4)," Perspective 12 (1971): 121-134.

Bo Johnson, "Form and Message in Lamentations," Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 97.1 (1985): 58-73.

Joze Krasovec, "The Source of Hope in the Book of Lamentations," Vetus Testamentum 42 (1992): 223-233.

Francis Landy, "Lamentations" in The Literary Guide to the Bible (ed. R. Alter and F. Kermode), Belknap Press, 1987: 329-334.

David Marcus, "Non-recurring Doublets in the Book of Lamentations," Hebrew Annual Review 10 (1987): 177-195.

Thomas F. McDaniel, "Philological Studies in Lamentations," Biblica 49 (1968): 27-53.

Michael S. Moore, "Human Suffering in Lamentations," Revue Biblique 90 (1983): 534-555.

Alan Mintz, "The Rhetoric of Lamentations and the Representation of Catastrophe," Prooftexts 2 (1982): 1-17.

Stephen Mitchell, "Lamentations" in Congregation: Contemporary Writers Read the Jewish Bible (ed. D. Rosenberg), Harcourt Brace
____ Jovanovich, 1987: 383-392.

Saul M. Olyan, "Honor, Shame, and Covenant Relations in Ancient Israel and its Environment," JBL 115 (1996): 201-218.
see also T. R. Hobbs' reply, JBL 116 (1997): 501-503.

Pamela Jean Owens, "Personification and Suffering in Lamentations 3," God's Steadfast Love: Essays in Honor of Prescott Harrison:
____ Austin Seminary Bulletin 105 (1990): 75-90.

Iain W. Provan, "Feasts, Booths and Gardens (Thr 2,6a)," Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 102.2 (1990): 254-255.

________ "Reading Texts Against an Historical Background: The Case of Lamentations 1," SJOT 1 (1990): 130-143.

Choon-Leong Seow, "A Textual Note on Lamentations 1:20," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 47 (1985): 416-419.

William H. Shea, "The Qinah Structure of the Book of Lamentations, Biblica 60.1 (1979): 103-107.

J. P. van der Westhuizen, "Literary Devices as an Aid to Exegesis (Lam 3:16-24)" in Aspects of the Exegetical Process
____ (Ou-Testamentiese Werkgemeenskap in Suider-Afrika, 20 & 21) ed. W. C. van Wyk, N. H. W. Press, 1981: 149-161.

Not Yet Reviewed

John M. Bracke, Jeremiah 30-52 and Lamentations (Westminster Bible Companion), Westminster John Knox, 1999.

Bertil Albrektson, Studies in the Text and Theology of the Book of Lamentations with a Critical Edition of the Peshitta Text
____ (Studia Theologica Lundensia, 21), C. W. K. Gleerup, 1963.

Ignatius G. P. Gous, "Mind Over Matter: Lamentations 4 in the Light of the Cognitive Sciences," SJOT 10.1 (1996): 69-87.

Magne Sæbo, "Who is 'the man' in Lamentations 3? A Fresh Approach to the Interpretation of the Book of Lamentations" in
____ Understanding Poets and Prophets: Essays in Honour of George Wishart Anderson (JSOT Sup, 152) ed. G. A. Auld,
____ Sheffield Academic Press, 1993: 294-306.