Text: Lamentations 1:21
OT Text Referred to: Isaiah 40:1
Subject: Enemies rejoice, no comforter vs. divine comfort
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Echo
Connection Method(s): Contrast
Significance: Lamentations 1:21 repeats the refrain "there is no one to comfort me" (אֵין מְנַחֵם לִי, ein menahem li), now with the added sting that enemies rejoice in Zion's suffering. Isaiah 40:1 answers with the doubled imperative נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ (nachamu nachamu), deploying the same root נחם to signal the end of the exile crisis. The five occurrences of "no comforter" across Lamentations 1 (vv. 2, 9, 16, 17, 21) build a cumulative weight that makes Isaiah's twofold "comfort, comfort" read as a comprehensive divine response to each instance of unrequited grief.
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Text: Isaiah 40:1
OT Text Referred to: Lamentations 1:21
Subject: comfort Jerusalem
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Echo
Connection Method(s): Contrast
Significance: Lamentations 1:21 cries "all my enemies have heard of my calamity and rejoice... there is no one to comfort me" (אֵין מְנַחֵם לִי, ein menahem li). This verse adds an important dimension to the comfort motif: Jerusalem's enemies gloat while she has no comforter. Isaiah 40:1's "Comfort, comfort" (נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ, nachamu nachamu) addresses not only the internal grief but the external shame — the divine comfort comes as vindication before mocking enemies. Lamentations 1:21 also petitions God to "bring the day You have announced," and Isaiah 40:2 declares that day has arrived: her warfare is ended and her iniquity pardoned.