Lamentation Over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur 400
398 How long until we are finished off by this catastrophe? 399 Ur-inside it there is death, outside it there is death, 400 Inside it we are being finished off by famine, 401 Outside it we are being finished off by Elamite weapons. 402 In Ur the enemy has oppressed us, oh, we are finished!” 403 They take refuge behind it the city walls, they were united in their fear.
Lamentations 1:20
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!
Jeremiah 14:18
17 “Tell these people this, Jeremiah: ‘My eyes overflow with tears day and night without ceasing. For my virgin daughter, my people, have suffered a crushing blow.45 They have suffered a serious wound. 18 If I go out into the countryside, I see those who have been killed in battle. If I go into the city, I see those who are sick because of starvation. For both prophet and priest—they go peddling in the land but they are not humbled.’” 19 Then I said,“Lord, have you completely rejected the nation of Judah? Do you despise the city of Zion? Why have you struck us with such force that we are beyond recovery? We hope for peace, but nothing good has come of it. We hope for a time of relief from our troubles, but experience terror.
Notes and References
"... There are additional textual resemblances between the other Sumerian Laments and the Book of Lamentations. An example pointed out by Hillers is the similarity between the Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur (399-401) ‘Ur – inside it there is death, outside it there is death, inside it we are being finished off by famine, outside it we are being finished off by Elamite weapons,’ and Lamentations 1:20, Outside the sword killed my children; inside, it was famine. He adds that this phrasing is found in other books of the Bible as well. For example, Ezekiel 7:15, The sword outside, and pestilence and famine inside; he who is in the field shall die by the sword, and he who is in the city – famine and pestilence shall devour him; Jeremiah 14:18, If I go out to the field, there are those slain by the sword, and if I go into the city, there are the diseases of famine; and Deuteronomy 32:25, In the street the sword will make them childless; in their homes terror will reign. According to Hillers, these examples “are meant to illustrate the persistence of ancient literary motifs into late biblical literature, and not to prove a specific connection of Lamentations to Sumerian Laments” ..."
Filarski, Wered Lamentations: A Comparison Between Mesopotamia and Judea (pp. 87-98) Jewish Bible Quarterly 45, No. 2, 2017