Lamentations

Gina Hens-Piazza is Joseph S. Alemany Professor of Biblical Studies at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, a school within the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She is the author of Of Methods, Monarchs, and Meanings: An Approach to Socio-Rhetorical Exegesis (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1996), New Historicism and Biblical Interpretation in the Guides to Biblical Scholarship series (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002), Nameless, Blameless and without Shame: The Tale of Two Cannibal Mothers before a King in the Interfaces series (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2006), and Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries: 1 and 2 Kings (Nashville: Abingdon, 2008). Hens-Piazza is a frequent lecturer nationally and internationally. She received her PhD and MPhil from Union Theological Seminary, New York, and her MA from Vanderbilt University.   Barbara E. Reid, general editor of the Wisdom Commentary series, is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is the Carroll Stuhlmueller, CP Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies, and president emerita of Catholic Theological Union (the first woman who held the position). She has been a member of the CTU faculty since 1988 and also served as vice president and academic dean from 2009 to 2018. She holds a PhD in biblical studies from The Catholic University of America and was president of the Catholic Biblical Association in 2014–2015. Her most recent publications are Luke 1–9 and Luke 10–24, co-authored with Shelly Matthews (WCS 43A, 43B; Liturgical Press, 2021); and At the Table of Holy Wisdom: Global Hungers and Feminist Biblical Interpretation (Paulist, 2023).Carol J. Dempsey, OP is professor of biblical studies at the University of Portland, Oregon, with special expertise in Old Testament and prophets. She holds a PhD in biblical studies from The Catholic University of America, and has authored several books including Jeremiah: Preacher of Grace, Poet of Truth (Liturgical Press, 2007) and Reading the Bible, Transforming Conflict. Alison M. Benders, Emerita, Jesuit School of Theology, Santa Clara University, is the author of the award-winning Just Prayer: A Book of Hours for Peacemakers and Justice Seekers, and Recollecting America's Original Sin, published by Liturgical Press. Nancy Haught is an award-winning journalist who covered religion and spirituality for fifteen years for The Oregonian, the largest daily newspaper in the Pacific Northwest.Sarah Kohles, OSF, is a Sister of St. Francis of Dubuque, Iowa. She professed final vows in 2011, and currently she is working on her PhD in biblical studies at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. She has formerly served on the Giving Voice core team.

• ContentsList of Abbreviations   ixAcknowledgments   xiList of Contributors   xiiiForeword “Tell It on the Mountain”—or, “And You Shall Tell Your Daughter [as Well]”   xvAthalya Brenner-IdanEditor’s Introduction to Wisdom Commentary: “She Is a Breath of the Power of God” (Wis 7:25)   xixBarbara E. Reid, OPAuthor’s Introduction: “For These Things I Weep” (Lam 1:16a)   xxxixLamentations 1 “Is There Any Sorrow Like My Sorrow . . .”   1Lamentations 2 “O Daughter Zion, Who Can Heal You?” (Lam 2:13)   19Lamentations 3 “Does the Lord Not See?” (Lam 3:36)   39Lamentations 4 “Life Drains Away” (Lam 4:9c)   59Lamentations 5 “Why, O Lord, Have You Forgotten Us?” (Lam 5:20)   75Conclusion: Lamenting Lamentations   93Works Cited   101Index of Scripture References   105Index of Subjects   107

"Alert to the complexity of Lamentations' portrayal of suffering, Hens-Piazza invites dialogue between this book and urgent contemporary voices that resonate with it. This contribution to the Wisdom Commentary series opens for reflection various dimensions of suffering while stressing the gendered experience Lamentations presents. Hens-Piazza boldly takes on the challenges of multiple voices reflecting on issues of gross injustice, alerting us to the ethical complexity of such situations as are presented here and elsewhere in our experience. The various contributions brought to bear here from biblical scholarship, gender theory, and contemporary culture help us hear the diverse and often competing claims of many experiences of suffering. Hens-Piazza's work challenges us to see and possibly slow our tendency to project harm and blame onto others, whether co-creatures or creator."Barbara Green, OP, Professor of Biblical Studies, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkley, CA