Concentric Structures in Lamentations 4

Looking at this chapter was the first time I was prompted to think that concentric structures may be a important to the style of composition in Lamentations. The chapter breaks down in a fairly self-explanatory manner and several features present themselves through the structure.

A     4:1-10

a 1-2 the destruction of my people

b 2 the cruelty of my people

c 4 hunger

d 5 elites upended

e` 6 great iniquity

d` 7-8 elites upended

c` 9 hunger

b` 10a-c the cruelty of my people

a` 10d the destruction of daughter my people

B     4:11-16

a 11 Yhwh has done it

b 12 the nations against Zion

c 13-15b the sins and iniquities of prophets and priests

b` 15c the nations against Zion

a` 16 Yhwh has done it

C     4:17-20

a 17 our eyes

b 18a our steps

c our end was nigh

d our days are complete

c` our end is come

b` 19 their steps

a` 20 our life-breath

D     4:21-22

a 21 Daughter Edom

b 22a Daughter Zion

a` 22b Daughter Edom

Although the majority of chapter 4 is in the third-person, in the A section the first-person suffix is a hint that there is a person reporting this. The section works in from the destruction of my people, through the way the people have become cruel, the hunger evident in the populace, highlighted through the way the elites are now unrecognisable through their suffering. The centre of A coming in v6, as their iniquity is described as greater than that of Sodom, which earned Sodom a mercifully quick death, while Zion's death is ongoing.

The B section is bookended with the divine name, Yhwh, who is singled out for having wrought the punishment upon his people. The nations are mentioned, first directly, then indirectly as the voice of those rejecting refugees from Jerusalem. The centre is the iniquity of the prophets and priests, the seers who are now blind, and the purifiers who are now defiled.

I am less certain about the structure of the C section, but I am certain that it is a section, as in 4:17-20 the first-person plural appears for the first time, as the people together lament their state.this culminates in 4:18b-d, where the end is nigh, their days are complete, and the end is come.

Finally the D section describes the current and future states of both Edom and Zion, with Edom currently rejoicing but soon to be punished, while Zion is currently suffering but her punishment is complete.

Chapter 4 is a tightly structured chapter, with sin highlighted in the first two sections, the completeness in the third, and the extent of the punishment explained in the final section.

Concentric structures in Lamentations 5

When we started Lamentations, I was looking around for concentric structures in Lamentations, but a lot of them felt quite artificial. So I wasn't really looking for any when a couple of them just appeared. This one is for chapter 5, and next time around I'll point out some similar features in chapter 4.

A    5:1

Dear Yhwh,

Remember, look and see

B    5:2-10

a how far we have fallen

   b punished for the sins of our fathers

a how far we have fallen

C    5:11-14

four pairs of persons,

showing how far away their hope is,

how completely they've been upended

B`   5:15-18

a good things upended

   b woe to us for we've sinned

a the result of this is our lament

A`   5:19-20

Dear Yhwh,

although you are enthroned forever.

you don't remember, you neither look nor see

A``   5:21-22

Dear Yhwh, 

we pray you bring us back

but instead you reject us

The main thing to note here is how the chapter begins and ends with mentions of Yhwh, with the divine name absent in the intervening verses. As such, they form something of a prayer.

The second thing is the two mentions of sin, in 5:7,16. These both occur in the centre of first-person plural sections (1-10, 15-19), while the intervening section (5:11-14) is third-person. That intervening section is set apart with the distinctiveness of the four pairs of persons.

I'm not convinced there is anything to make out of C in particular as the central section, as the main action is really happening in the A and B sections, with the recognition of inherited and continued sin in the B sections, and the addresses to Yhwh which bookend the chapter.