325 POSTMODERNISM DEUS AND THE ABSCONDITUS ideologically by an intrusion of “divine discourse into what is otherwise theologically troubling human speech” 21. Furthermore, the “I” voice vv. 48-66 may be the same as the voice at the beginning of the poem. This leaves the “we” voice in vv. 40-47, which is no doubt collective, and thus probably the voice of the community. If the “I” voice is to be understood as collective, however, then the “we” and the “I” voices in the poem are in a sense identical. This somewhat confusing array of anonymous voices no doubt represents the communal struggle on individual and communal levels with doubt, faith, and meaning in the aftermath of Jerusalem’s destruction. II. YHWH’s Voice in Lamentations 3? Even if one finds problematic these vocal identifications in Lam 3, Lam 3,19-33 is certainly an appeal to the traditional theology of Israel that divine love (mercy) will eventually triumph over divine wrath (justice) 22. Often overshadowed, Lam 3,55-57 represents the other accent of hope in this poem. It is in this q strophe, if anywhere in Lamentations, that the divine Voice may be found. t/IyTjT r/Bm hwhˆ Úmv ytarq Iˆ" i ; y ˆ i i ;; yt[ˆvl ytjˆrl Úˆˆa ˆ l[TAla T[mv yl/q i ; w" ˆ i : w "ˆ nz : μ e ˆ " " : ˆ : ; i aryTAla Trma arˆ a μ/yB Tbrq ; I " : ˆ " : ; , ;q , ˆ ; ˆ " ; I called upon your name, O YHWH, from the lowest pit; My call you heard, “Do not cover your ear to my outcry 23, to my cry”! You approached on a day when I called on you; you said, “Do not fear”! Here, rather than in anticipation as in 3,19-33, the poet refers to deliverance from a r/B, “pit”, “well” (3,53.55). Is this a previous deliverance, or deliverance from the metaphorical present “pit” of Jerusalem’s destruction and exile? Is this voice speaking of some MANDOLFO, Daughter Zion Talks Back to the Prophets. A Dialogic 21 Theology of the Book of Lamentations (Atlanta, GA 2007) 72. Cf. the cultic credo in Exod 34,6-7. “Mercy triumphs over judgment” 22 (Jas 2,13). hj:r “ respite ”, is awkward here. Something like “outcry” seems 23 :w ˆ demanded, which is followed here.