Book of Lamentations - Structure

Structure

The first four poems (chapters) are acrostics, like some of the Psalms (25, 34, 37, 119), i.e., each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet taken in order. The first, second, and fourth have each twenty-two verses, the number of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The third has sixty-six verses, in which each three successive verses begin with the same letter. The fifth is not acrostic, but also has twenty-two verses. In the second, third and fourth chapters, the order of the 16th letter (ע) and the 17th (פ) is reversed.

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Famous quotes containing the word structure:

    A structure becomes architectural, and not sculptural, when its elements no longer have their justification in nature.
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    Vashtar: So it’s finished. A structure to house one man and the greatest treasure of all time.
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    Vashtar: Only history will tell that.
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    A committee is organic rather than mechanical in its nature: it is not a structure but a plant. It takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts, and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom in their turn.
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