Lamentations over the Destruction of Ur 269
266 Ur no longer multiplies for me like a faithful ewe, its shepherd boy is gone. 267 My oxen no longer stand in their cattle pen, their ox herd is gone. 268 My sheep no longer crouch in their sheepfold, their herdsman is gone. 269 In the rivers of my city, dust has gathered, foxholes are made therein. 270 In its midst, no flowing water is carried, its tax-collector is gone. 271 In the fields of my city, there is no grain, their farmer is gone.
Lamentations 5:18
16 The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! 17 Because of this, our hearts are sick; because of these things, we can hardly see through our tears. 18 For jackals34 are prowling over Mount Zion, which lies desolate. 19 But you, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.
Notes and References
"... the Book of Lamentations was written in the 6th century BCE and the latest manuscript of the Sumerian Laments is from the 16th century BCE, a gap of about a millennium separates them. Subsequently, direct influence seems to be out of the question. An important element in the comparison between the Book of Lamentations and the Sumerian Lament tradition is therefore finding a way to bridge this gap in time. It is possible that Judeans were familiar with the Sumerian Laments even if they were written long before the destruction of Jerusalem ... Samet points out three textual metaphoric similarities between the Book of Lamentations and the Lamentation over the Destruction of Ur. The first concerns a reference to music when describing the effects of the devastation. In Lamentations 5:14, the old men are gone from the gate, the young men from their music. In the Ur Lament (356) ‘they are no longer playing for you the šem and ala drums that gladden the heart, nor the tigi.’ Secondly, ceramic pots are used metaphorically for dying people. In Lamentations 4:2, the precious children of Zion; once valued as gold – Alas, they are accounted as earthen pots, work of a potter’s hands! In the Ur Lament (211) ‘its people littered its sides like potsherds.’ The third example given is a more famous one, concerning the fox wandering through the ruins of the city. In Lamentations 5:17, because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate; foxes walk over it. In the Ur Lament (269) ‘in the rivers of my city, dust has gathered, foxholes are made therein’ ..."
Filarski, Wered Lamentations: A Comparison Between Mesopotamia and Judea (pp. 87-98) Jewish Bible Quarterly 45, No. 2, 2017