Lamentations
Old Testament · translated from the Hebrew
Five poems of mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem. They weep without hiding the pain, admit the sin of the people and, at the center, hold on to God’s faithfulness: his mercies are new every morning (3:22-23).
How it is laid out
Key verses
- Lamentations 3:22 — His mercies have not come to an end
- Lamentations 3:23 — New every morning; great is your faithfulness
- Lamentations 1:1 — How she sits alone, the city great with people!
Who wrote it
The book does not say who wrote it. Jewish and Christian tradition attributes it to Jeremiah (Babylonian Talmud, Baba Batra 15a), who according to 2 Chronicles 35:25 chanted a dirge for Josiah.
When it was written
Shortly after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, around 586 BC.
For whom, and in what situation
For those who survived the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple: hunger, death and shame. It gives them words to weep, to admit their sin and to ask, “Bring us back, YHWH, to you” (5:21).
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