Lamentations 2:15

Hebrew Bible

13 מ (Mem) With what can I equate you? To what can I compare you, O Daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you so that I might comfort you, O Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you? 14 נ (Nun) Your prophets saw visions for you that were worthless whitewash. They failed to expose your sin so as to restore your fortunes. They saw oracles for you that were worthless lies. 15 ס (Samek) All who passed by on the road clapped their hands to mock you. They sneered and shook their heads at Daughter Jerusalem. “Ha! Is this the city they called ‘the perfection of beauty, the source of joy of the whole earth!’?”

Matthew 27:39

New Testament

35 When they had crucified him, they divided his clothes by throwing dice. 36 Then they sat down and kept guard over him there. 37 Above his head they put the charge against him, which read: “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.” 38 Then two outlaws were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are God’s Son, come down from the cross!” 41 In the same way even the chief priests—together with the experts in the law and elders—were mocking him:

 Notes and References

"... Matthew 27:39 has more verbal overlap with Lamentations 2:15 than with Psalm 22:7 ... one can see clearly that Matt 27:39 has far more in common with Lam 2:15 lexically and formally than with Psalm 21:8 LXX. Specifically, both use the plural participle oi παραπορευόμενοι ('those who pass by'), as well as a form of the idiom κινεΐν κεφαλήν ("to wag the head"), where κεφαλή ('head') is modified by both the article and the plural pronoun αυτών ("their"). Second, beyond mere verbal agreement, the contexts of Matthew 27:39 and Lamentations 2:15 share a theme that is not found in Psalm 22 — the destruction of the temple ..."

Moffitt, David M. Righteous Bloodshed, Matthew's Passion Narrative, and the Temple's Destruction: Lamentations as a Matthean Intertext (pp. 299-320) Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 125, No. 2, 2006

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