Fragments on Lamentations · §28 · Origen of Alexandria

They groaned in famine; traded what the enemy left for food

They were groaning because of famine, and for the sake of a small bit of food that turns back a failing soul they were giving over the most honorable things. And how were they giving the aforementioned desirable things—carried off by the enemies—unto purchase of food? But “the enemy stretched out the hand upon all,” (Lamentations 1:10) and having been filled by taking what he wanted, he left the rest; in exchange for which they bought the food.

Greek

Klagel. Jerem. 1, 11. Ἐστέναζον διὰ λιμὸν καὶ μικρᾶς ἕνεκα βρώσεως ψυχὴν ἐπιστρεφούσης ἐκλείπουσαν παρεῖχον τὰ τιμιώτατα. πῶς δὲ τὰ προρρηθέντα ἐπιθυμήματα παρὰ τῶν πολεμίων ἀπενεχθέντα παρεῖχον εἰς ὠνὴν τροφῆς; ἀλλ᾿ >ἐξέτεινε μὲν ὁ ἐχθρὸς ἐπὶ πάντα τὴν χεῖρα<, κορεσθεὶς δὲ τῷ λαβεῖν ἅπερ ἤθελε, τὰ λοιπὰ καταλέλοιπεν. ἀνθ’ ὧν ἐπρίαντο τὴν τροφήν.

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Origen on Lamentations: Jeremiah's grief for captive Jerusalem, read also as the soul taken captive by sin and set free by Christ.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) was a Christian teacher in Alexandria and head of the catechetical school. This English is his fragments on Lamentations.

The full commentary is lost. What survives are short passages kept in later chains of quotations. He sets out the literal sense, the Hebrew form of the book, and its historical setting, and he compares the Greek translations.

A reader meets Jeremiah lamenting the fall of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem read both as the city and as the soul. Origen quotes Symmachus, Aquila, and Theodotion. He also cites Paul, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Zechariah, and Daniel. He uses Septuagint book names and Psalm numbering.

EditionKlostermann, Origenes Werke III (GCS 6, 1901)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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