Lamentations: Bibliography

Much of the detail here has been greatly aided by some excellent literature. The major sources are listed below.

Alter, Robert (2019), The Hebrew Bible (three volumes), W.W.Norton & Co., ISBN 978-0-393-29249-7
Berlin, Adele (2004), Lamentations: A Commentary, Westminster John Knox Press, ISBN 978-0-664-22974-0
Berman, Joshua A. (2023), The Book of Lamentations, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-108-44014-1
Dobbs-Allsopp, F.W. (1997), Tragedy, Tradition and Theology in the Book of Lamentations, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 22,74, pp.29–60, DOI: 10.1177/030908929702207402
Dobbs-Allsopp, F.W. (2012), Lamentations, Westminster John Knox Press, ISBN 978-0-664-23879-7
Goldingay, John (2022), The Book of Lamentations, Eerdmans, ISBN 978-0-8028-2542-1
Hens-Piazza, Gina (2017), Lamentations, Liturgical Press, ISBN 978-0814681541
Middlemas, Jill (2021), Lamentations: An Introduction and Study Guide, T&T Clark, ISBN 978-0-567-69691-5
O'Connor, Kathleen (2002), Lamentations and the Tears of the World, Orbis Books, ISBN 978-1570753992
Provan, Iain (2016), Lamentations: A Commentary, Regent College Publishing, ISBN 978-1-57383-531-2^[1]

Other commentary and academic sources include:

Adelman, Rachel (2021), Daughter Zion (Bat Tzion), Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women
Assis, Elie (2007), The Alphabetic Acrostic in the Book of Lamentations, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 69,4, pp.710–724
Assis, Elie (2009), The Unity of the Book of Lamentations, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 71, pp.306–329
Guillaume, Philippe (2009) Lamentations 5: The Seventh Acrostic, Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, 9 DOI: 10.5508/jhs.2009.v9.a16
Kotzé, Gideon R. (2011), A Text-critical Analysis of the Lamentations Manuscripts from Qumran (3QLam, 4QLam, 5QLam^a and 5QLam^b), University of Stellenbosch
Mandolfo, Carleen R. (2007), Daughter Zion Talks Back to the Prophets: A Dialogic Theology of the Book of Lamentations, Society of Biblical Literature, ISBN 978-1-58983-247-3
Middlemas, Jill (2004), The Violent Storm in Lamentations, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 29, pp.81–97, DOI: 10.1177/030908920402900104
van der Spuy, Roelie (2008), Hebrew Alphabetic Acrostics—Significance and Translation, Old Testament Essays, 21/2
Van Hecke, Pierre J.P. (2002), Lamentations 3,1–6: An anti-psalm 23, Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament, 16:2, 264–282, DOI: 10.1080/09018320210000415
Wielenga, Bob (2007), The Suffering Witness: A Missiological Reading of Lamentations, In die Skriflig, 41(1), 69–86

The following online resources have proved immensely valuable:

The Sefaria dual-language version (English: JPS 1985) not only shows the Hebrew text alongside an English version, but allows each Hebrew word to be selected for dictionary look-up.^[2] It also shows original word order, crucial for verifying, for example, the leading verbs that so dominate the second chapter.
Young's Literal Translation (1862–1898). This largely follows the word-ordering of the Hebrew (see comment above about Sefaria/JPS) and is careful to use words consistently, allowing repetition to be clearly visible.
Biblehub provides a verse-by-verse parallel display of nearly forty different versions, providing a good range of both the consistency and diversity of translation.

Background and introductory reading

The background to Lamentations was one of devasation, destruction and catastrophe for the Jewish people around 587/586 BCE, with brutal siege and exile. Useful online sources include:

Guide to the Book of Lamentations from the "BibleProject"
An Introduction to Lamentations from the "TheTorah"

^[1] Originally published 1991 by Marshall Pickering (UK) and William B. Eerdmans (USA).

^[2] But such dictionary look-up is not primarily for meaning. For that purpose I have used commentaries and other translations. It is, rather, for verifying word repetition and threads. For example at 4:16, the majority of English translations fail to use the word "face" and even fewer respect its double use. See the footnotes there.