The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Book 29: Lamentations of Jeremias

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.2

Word count: 22K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Book 29: Lamentations of JeremiasAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: BS: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity: The Bible, Old and New Testament, Release Date: Jun 1, 2005

Editor's review

This standalone electronic edition of the Douay-Rheims Lamentations of Jeremias is released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain text. Brief in length, it presents five laments that give voice to grief after Jerusalem's fall, to repentance, and to appeals to God's faithfulness, making it a significant poetic and theological text within the Hebrew Bible. Its value as a public-domain e-book lies in a clear, unaltered text that is easy to search and cite, suitable as a base text for studying Lamentations or for comparative reading. Readers are advised to read it alongside the historical background of the Book of Jeremiah in order to grasp the tension between mourning and hope, and to note the alphabetic acrostic form in its poetic structure. Being an English public-domain text without modern annotations or introduction, it requires readers to study it with a degree of independence.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying biblical poetry and prophetic literature
Researchers needing a public-domain English base text for citation or comparison
General readers interested in themes of mourning, suffering, and hope

Not a good fit for

Beginning readers expecting modern annotations and introductions
Readers unaccustomed to English public-domain electronic texts

Reading tips

Read the final chapters of Jeremiah first to understand the historical background, then read through the five laments to grasp the overall movement of feeling.
Note the alphabetic acrostic structure and repeated phrasing in each lament, and consider how poetic form relates to theological expression.
Read alongside different translations to observe differences in how key terms are rendered.
After reading, copy out passages of mourning and hope that move you, and make brief notes organizing the themes.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book the complete Bible?

No. It is a standalone electronic edition of the Book of Lamentations from the Douay-Rheims Bible, containing only that book's text, without other books or annotations.

What are the characteristics of the Douay-Rheims translation?

The Douay-Rheims is an important translation in the English Catholic tradition. Its language is somewhat archaic and its wording close to the Latin Vulgate, making it suitable for studying traditional renderings and for textual comparison, though modern readers may need time to adjust to its style.

Can I understand it without annotations?

You can read it through, but understanding its historical background and poetic structure will be difficult. Reading it together with relevant chapters of Jeremiah and reliable introductory books on the Bible is recommended for better results.

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About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.