Commentaries on Lamentations

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Jeremiah  ⇐ ⇒  Ezekiel

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For more great commentaries on Lamentations check:
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Subsection

Poetry

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Order of Contents

Best  2
Commentaries  8
Paraphrases & Applied to Current Scenes  5
Early & Medieval  6
Chapters  2
In Poetry  6
Authenticity  1


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The Best Commentaries on Lamentations

1600’s

Hull, John – An Exposition upon part of the Lamentations of Jeremy  Ref  (Alsop, 1618)

Hull (c.1570-1627) was reformed.

***  “Full of quaintnesses.  Marrowy throughout.” – Spurgeon

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Intermediate

Lange’s Commentary – Lamentations  by Dr. C.W. Nagelsbach

*** – “Whoever becomes possessed of this great work will have, in a comprehensive form, the results of all ancient and modern exegesis, with an apparatus criticus of surprising copiousness.” – British Quarterly Review, as quoted by Spurgeon


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More Commentaries on Lamentations

1500’s

Tossanus, Daniel – The Lamentations & Holy Mournings of the Prophet Jeremiah with a Lamentable Paraphrase & Exhortation, Meet Every way to be Applied unto these our Days…  (London, [1587?])

Udall, John – A Commentary upon the Lamentations of Jeremy  (1593)

Udall (c.1560-1592) was a reformed puritan.

** – “In this extremely rare work the author has labored after brevity, and has given the abridgment of many discourses; hence, to those who can procure it, it is all the more useful.” – Spurgeon

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1600’s

Broughton, Hugh – ch. 12, The Lamentations of Jeremy Translated… with Explications from other Scriptures…  (1608)  in The Works… Collected into One Volume (London: Nathan Ekins, 1662), pp. 314-23

Broughton (1549-1612) was a reformed Anglican.

* – “Incomprehensible.  One of Broughton’s wilder pieces.  It may as well die.” – Spurgeon

Du Vair, Guillaume – Meditations upon the Lamentations of Jeremiah  in A Most Heavenly & Plentiful Treasure, or a Rich Mineral Full of Sweetest Comforts…  (London, 1609)

Du Vair (1556-1621) was a French Romanist and lawyer.

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Brief & Practical

Erdman, Charles – The Book of Jeremiah & Lamentations  Buy  Ref  (F.H. Revell, 1955)  126 pp.

‘A clear analysis of both books.’ – Cyril J. Barber

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Intermediate

Blayney, Benjamin – Jeremiah & Lamentations, New Translation, with Notes  (1836)

**  “Blayney belonged to a past school of clever men, too apt to suggest new readings, and more able to appreciate literary beauties than spiritual teachings.  He was a zealous follower of Lowth, but he lacked the fine taste and poetic genius of his master.” – Spurgeon

Lowth, William – Commentary on Lamentations  (1718)

** – “This forms a part of what is known as Bishop Patrick’s Commentary.  Orme says that Lowth is ‘one of the most judicious commentators on the prophets, and he never prophesies of himself.’  We wish we could say this of all writers on prophetic subjects.” – Spurgeon

Smith, Payne – Lamentations in Speaker’s Commentary, ed. F.C. Cook  (1875)

“We would call special attention to the volume of the Speaker’s Commentary upon this book.  It is by Dr. Payne Smith, Dean of Canterbury, and deserves much praise.” – Spurgeon

Smith, Thornley – ‘The Prophet’s Lamentations’  18 pp., being ch. 16 of his The Prophet of Sorrow; or, Life and Times of Jeremiah, pp. 214-232  1875

** – “Not a commentary; but as it casts light on the character and times of the prophet it deserves a place here.” – Spurgeon

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Advanced
Keil, C.F. – Commentary on Lamentations  (1866-1891)

** – “We have already indicated the direction in which Keil is serviceable.  For exact interpretation he is esteemed, but he is too cold and formal ever to be a favorite.” – Spurgeon


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Paraphrases of Lamentations, & as it has been Applied to Current Scenes

1600’s

Pradel, Nicolas – Jeremiah Revived, though in his Prison, or his Lamentations Paralleled  (1648)

Rich, Jeremiah – Jeremiah’s Contemplations on Jeremiah’s Lamentations, or, England’s Miseries Matched with Sion’s Elegies, being described and unfolded in Five Ensuing Scenes  (London, 1648)

Anon. – The Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah Paraphrased, Suitable to the Exigencies of These Times  (London, 1667)

Anon. – A Paraphrase on the First and Second Chapters of the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah  (London, 1683)


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The Early Church on Lamentations

Compilations

Wenthe, Dean – Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Jeremiah, Lamentations  Pre  Buy  (IVP Academic, 2009)  380 pp.  ToC

Joyce, Paul M. & Diana Lipton – Lamentations through the Centuries  (Blackwell, 2013)  230 pp.  ToC

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Individuals

Origen – ‘Commentary on Lamentations, Selected Fragments’  in Origen  trans. Joseph W. Trigg  in The Early Church Fathers  Pre  (Taylor & Francis, 1998), pp. 73-85

Origen (c. 185 – c. 253)

Theodoret of Cyrus – Commentaries on the Prophets, vol. 1: Jeremiah, Baruch, Lamentations  trans. Robert C. Hill  Buy  (Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2007)  252 pp.

Theodoret (c. 393 – c. 458/466)

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The Medieval Church

The Ordinary Gloss – On Lamentations: Preface & ch. 1  at Patristic Bible Commentary

Aquinas, Thomas – Commentary on Lamentations  at Isidore

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On Chapters in Lamentations

Ch. 3

Dod, John – Two Sermons on the Third of the Lamentations of Jeremy…  1602  (London, 1608)

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Ch. 5

Swift, Daniel – Zion’s Sufferings: being an Exposition of the Fifth Chapter of the Lamentations of Jeremiah: With Practical Observations Thereupon  Ref  (M. Simmons, 1654)  192 pp.

Swift appears to have been an English, covenanting minister, as appears from his work, A Pious President to Both Kingdomes for a Sacred Covenant… (London, 1643).

** – “Strong, rough, coarse.  Excessively rare.” – Spurgeon


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The Authenticity of Lamentations

Keil, C.F. – ‘The Author, Time of Composition & Position in the Canon’  15 pp.  in Commentary on the Old Testament: the Prophecies of Jeremiah

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Related Pages

Whole Bible Commentaries

Old Testament Commentaries

New Testament Commentaries