Texts in Conversation
Psalms of Solomon describes emotion as pain in the stomach, language similar to Lamentations where grief is shown as a stomach in knots and a pounding heart. Both reflect an ancient view where the heart, kidney, liver, or stomach produce emotions.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Lamentations 1:20
Hebrew Bible
18 צ (Tsade) The Lord is right to judge me! Yes, I rebelled against his commands. Please listen, all you nations, and look at my suffering! My young women and men have gone into exile. 19 ק (Qof) I called for my lovers, but they had deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city. Truly they had searched for food to keep themselves alive. 20 ר (Resh) Look, O Lord! I am distressed; my stomach is in knots! My heart is pounding inside me. Yes, I was terribly rebellious! Out in the street the sword bereaves a mother of her children; inside the house famine* is present. 21 ש (Sin/Shin) They have heard that I groan, yet there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have brought it about. Bring about the day of judgment that you promised so that they may end up like me! 22 ת (Tav) Let all their wickedness come before you; afflict them just as you have afflicted me because of all my acts of rebellion. For my groans are many, and my heart is sick with sorrow.
Date: 500–401 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Psalms of Solomon 2:14
Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry
12 They mocked with their sins, as they themselves used to do; In the full light of day they revealed their wrongdoing. 13 And the daughters of Jerusalem were defiled in accordance with Your judgment, because they had defiled themselves with unnatural intercourse. 14 These things cause pain deep in my stomach and throughout my body. 15 (And yet) I will declare You just, God, with an upright heart, for in Your judgments Your righteousness is (displayed), God. 16 For You have repaid the sinners according to their deeds, yes according to their sins, which were very wicked.
Date: 65–30 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Greek: 'I strain my belly and my inward parts are pained...' 'my stomach churns...' Compare Lamentations 1:20 ..."
Robert B. Wright, The Psalms of Solomon: A Critical Edition of the Greek Text (London: T&T Clark, 2007), 65.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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