Lamentations 1 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 1:14, 1:22
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 1
Hebrew source [BHS1] • Greek source [LXX1]
The bereaved city and her appeal (1:1–22)
Verse 1:1 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:1] How she sits alone, the city once full of people!
She has become like a widow, she who was great among the nations.
A princess among the provinces has become subject to forced labor.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:1] After Israel was taken captive and Jerusalem laid waste, Jeremiah sat weeping and lamented this lament over Jerusalem, saying:
How the city once full of peoples sits alone!
She has become like a widow, she who was populous among the nations.
A ruler among the regions has become subject to tribute.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek includes a narrative introduction naming Jeremiah, absent from the Hebrew. The publisher includes it within source 1:1; it is not omitted or assigned an invented source number. Hebrew forced labor differs from Greek tribute.
Verse 1:2 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:2] She weeps bitterly in the night, her tears upon her cheek.
Among all her lovers she has no comforter.
All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:2] Weeping, she wept in the night, her tears upon her cheeks.
Among all those who love her there is no one to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt faithlessly with her; they have become her enemies.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both preserve the personified city's grief and abandoned relationships.
Verse 1:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:3] Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and great servitude.
She dwells among the nations; she has found no rest.
All her pursuers overtook her in the narrow places.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:3] Judea was deported because of her humiliation and her great slavery.
She dwelt among the nations; she found no rest.
All her pursuers overtook her among those who afflicted her.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek gives afflicting people where Hebrew has narrow places or straits. Judah/Judea reflects the source forms, referring here to the devastated community.
Verse 1:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:4] Zion's roads mourn, for no one comes to the appointed festival.
All her gates are desolate; her priests groan.
Her virgins grieve, and she is bitter within.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:4] Zion's roads mourn because no one comes at the festival.
All her gates are destroyed; her priests groan.
Her virgins are led away, and she is embittered within herself.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek virgins being led away differs from Hebrew grieving virgins. Virgin is retained as the social-poetic designation.
Verse 1:5 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:5] Her adversaries have become the head; her enemies are at ease,
for YHWH has afflicted her because of her many transgressions.
Her little ones have gone captive before the adversary.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:5] Those afflicting her have become the head, and her enemies prospered,
because the Lord humbled her for her many acts of ungodliness.
Her infants went into captivity before the oppressor.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The poem's attribution of disaster to divine judgment is retained without generalizing it to every sufferer's circumstances.
Verse 1:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:6] All her splendor has departed from Daughter Zion.
Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture;
they went without strength before the pursuer.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:6] All her beauty has departed from Daughter Zion.
Her rulers have become like rams finding no pasture;
they went without strength before the pursuer.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek rams differs from Hebrew deer. Daughter Zion personifies the city and its people.
Verse 1:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:7] Jerusalem remembers, in the days of her affliction and wandering,
all her precious things from days of old.
When her people fell into the adversary's hand and no one helped her,
her adversaries saw her and laughed at her downfall.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:7] Jerusalem remembered the days of her humiliation and rejection,
all her desired things from ancient days.
When her people fell into the oppressor's hands and no one helped her,
her enemies saw her and laughed at her deportation.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew mishbatteha is provisionally downfall or cessation; Greek explicitly has deportation. Hebrew in the days is a supplied temporal link, while Greek makes the days an object of remembering.
Verse 1:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:8] Jerusalem has sinned grievously; therefore she has become an unclean thing.
All who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness.
She too groans and turns backward.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:8] Jerusalem has sinned grievously; therefore she has come into upheaval.
All who glorified her humbled her, for they saw her shame.
She too groans and turns backward.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek upheaval differs from the Hebrew impurity or exclusion image. The shame imagery belongs to the city's personification.
Verse 1:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:9] Her uncleanness is in her skirts; she did not remember her end.
She fell astonishingly; she has no comforter.
See, YHWH, my affliction, for the enemy has made himself great!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:9] Her uncleanness is at her feet; she did not remember her last things.
He brought her down exceedingly; there is no one to comfort her.
See, Lord, my humiliation, for the enemy has grown great!
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek has an unexpressed agent bringing her down, where Hebrew says she went down. Her is supplied as the Greek object's contextual referent; the agent remains unspecified.
Verse 1:10 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:10] The adversary stretched out his hand over all her precious things.
She saw nations enter her sanctuary,
those whom You commanded not to enter Your assembly.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:10] The oppressor spread out his hand over all her desired things.
She saw nations enter her sanctuary,
those whom You commanded not to enter Your assembly.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The sudden divine address is retained. Assembly renders Greek ekklesia here without inserting a later ecclesial institution.
Verse 1:11 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:11] All her people groan, seeking bread.
They give their precious things for food to restore life.
See, YHWH, and look, for I have become despised!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:11] All her people groan, seeking bread.
They gave her desired things for food to restore life.
See, Lord, and look, for I have become dishonored!
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek her treasures differs from Hebrew their treasures. Life renders nephesh/psyche in the starvation context.
Verse 1:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:12] Is it nothing to you, all who pass along the road?
Look and see whether there is pain like my pain, which was dealt to me,
with which YHWH afflicted me on the day of His burning anger.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:12] Not to you, all who pass along the road!
Turn and see whether there is pain like my pain, which came to be.
Speaking against me, the Lord humbled me on the day of His furious anger.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew's opening is read as a question with nothing supplied; its relation remains disputed. Greek retains an incomplete negative address and a distinct speaking clause; it is not silently harmonized to a familiar devotional rendering.
Verse 1:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:13] From on high He sent fire into my bones, and it mastered them.
He spread a net for my feet; He turned me backward.
He made me desolate, faint all day long.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:13] From His height He sent fire; He brought it down into my bones.
He spread a net for my feet; He turned me backward.
He made me destroyed, suffering pain all day long.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The difficult Hebrew fire-action is provisionally mastered them; Greek explicitly describes bringing the fire down.
Verse 1:14 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:14] The yoke of my transgressions was bound by His hand;
they were intertwined and rose upon my neck.
He caused my strength to fail; the Lord gave me into hands I cannot withstand.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:14] A watch was kept over my acts of ungodliness;
they were intertwined in my hands and rose upon my neck.
My strength weakened, because the Lord put pains into my hands; I will not be able to stand.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew's rare yoke-binding expression differs sharply from Greek watching, my hands, and pains put into them. The unexpressed Greek watcher is not supplied. Hebrew those I cannot withstand is a contextual completion of the hands clause.
Verse 1:15 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:15] The Lord rejected all my mighty men within me.
He called an assembly against me to crush my young men.
The Lord trod a winepress for the virgin Daughter Judah.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:15] The Lord removed all my strong men from my midst.
He called a time against me to crush my chosen men.
The Lord trod a winepress for the virgin Daughter Judah; for these things I weep.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek ends with the weeping clause that begins Hebrew 1:16. Assembly/time and young/chosen preserve further lexical differences. The winepress image is not expanded graphically.
Verse 1:16 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:16] For these things I weep; my eye, my eye runs with water,
for a comforter who could restore my life is far from me.
My children have become desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:16] My eye brought down water,
for the one who comforts me, who restores my life, is far from me.
My sons have been destroyed, for the enemy has grown strong.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek has the introductory weeping clause in 1:15 and does not repeat my eye. Both source boundaries are preserved.
Verse 1:17 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:17] Zion spreads out her hands; she has no comforter.
YHWH commanded concerning Jacob that those around him be his adversaries.
Jerusalem has become like a menstruating woman among them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:17] Zion spread out her hands; there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord commanded concerning Jacob; around him are those who afflict him.
Jerusalem has become like a woman sitting apart among them.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The Hebrew menstrual-separation image is explicit; Greek describes sitting apart, with menstrual seclusion possible in the expression. This ritual-social metaphor is not made a general judgment on women.
Verse 1:18 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:18] YHWH is righteous, for I rebelled against His command.
Hear, please, all you peoples, and see my pain.
My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:18] The Lord is righteous, for I embittered His mouth.
Hear now, all you peoples, and see my pain.
My virgins and my young men went into captivity.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew mouth is rendered command; Greek's embittering of His mouth remains literal and unusual.
Verse 1:19 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:19] I called to my lovers, but they deceived me.
My priests and my elders expired in the city
as they sought food for themselves to restore their lives.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:19] I called my lovers, but they deceived me.
My priests and my elders failed in the city,
for they sought food for themselves to restore their lives, and found none.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek explicitly adds that no food was found.
Verse 1:20 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:20] See, YHWH, how distressed I am! My inward parts churn;
my heart is overturned within me, for I have rebelled grievously.
Outside the sword bereaves; inside it is like death.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:20] See, Lord, how I am afflicted! My belly is troubled,
and my heart has turned within me, for I have bitterly provoked.
Outside the sword bereaved me, like death in the house.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek connects the last image by like death in the house; Hebrew contrasts outside and inside more directly. The somatic grief is retained.
Verse 1:21 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:21] They heard that I groan; I have no comforter.
All my enemies heard of my trouble; they rejoiced because You did it.
You have brought the day You proclaimed; let them become like me!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:21] Hear now that I groan; there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies heard of my calamities and rejoiced because You did it.
You brought a day, You called a time, and they became like me.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek opens with a command to hear, rather than Hebrew they heard, and ends with a past outcome instead of the Hebrew future or wish. Its additional time expression is retained.
Verse 1:22 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:22] Let all their wickedness come before You,
and deal with them as You dealt with me for all my transgressions;
for my groans are many and my heart is faint.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:22] May all their wickedness come before You,
and glean them as they made a gleaning for all my sins;
for my groans are many and my heart is grieved.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek has they made a gleaning rather than You dealt with me. The agricultural verb and unusual causal relation remain provisional. The plea for judgment is translated as the speaker's prayer, not a present instruction to the reader.