The Song of Solomon : and the Lamentations of Jeremiah

IT
CHAPTER X
THE CALL TO PRAYER
is not easy to analyse the complicated construc-
tion of the concluding portion of the second elegy.
If the text is not corrupt its transitions are very abrupt.
The difficulty is to adjust the relations of three sections.
First we have the sentence, "Their heart cried unto
the Lord." Next comes the address to the wall, '* O
wall of the daughter of Zion," etc. Lastly, there is the
prayer which extends from verse 20 to the end of the
poem.
The most simple grammatical arrangement is to take
the first clause in connection with the preceding verse.
The last substantive was the word " adversaries."
Therefore in the rigour of grammar the pronoun should
represent that word. Read thus, the sentence relates
an action of the enemies of Israel when their horn has
been exalted. The word rendered " cried " is one
that would designate a loud shout, and that translated
" Lord " here is not the sacred name Jehovah but
Adonai, a general term that might very well be used
in narrating the behaviour of the heathen towards
God. Thus the phrase would seem to describe the
insolent shout of triumph which the adversaries of the
Jews fling at the God of their victims.