Number DOI: http://doi.org/10.33209/2519-4348-2707-9627-2023-11-138

VB. – № 11, 2023. – P. 133-145

Summary

For the Old Testament the term עצם (“bone”) is an anthropological term referring to the internal organs of man to denote the base of the body, the body itself, and to denote man’s emotions, i.e. his inner world . In the book of Lamentations of Jeremiah this term appears three times expressing the inner world of the prophet, i.e. the feelings he felt when he saw Jerusalem destroyed in 587 BC. Jeremiah described these feelings by recording them in the book of Lamentations, which was written after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC. The book shows similarities with corresponding works of the Sumerians and is a poem according to the literary tradition of Mesopotamia. The book of Lamentations of Jeremiah is a mournful song and the poet intends to express the feelings that fill his inner world and seeks to show that what the Israelites suffered was a result of their sin and their apostasy from Yahweh and His Covenant. In the three verses in which the prophet Jeremiah refers to the term (Lam. 1,13•3,4•4,8) he shows the fire that burns his inner world proving the belief that everything a person does has an impact on his entire existence . For this reason the prophet pains and suffers, but the pain and the suffering are not limited to physical pains only, but also enter indirectly. These pains are so intense that they even reach the innermost and hardest part of the person, i.e. the bones. With various linguistic figures and the exposure of the emotions of the inner world through the bones the prophet manifests the tragedy of the situations as well as the mental fortitude of a man who was truly shaken.

Key words: bone, inner world, emotions.

References:

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