Where it fits

Lamentations is the 25th book of the Bible, with five chapters. It was written after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and its temple in 586 BC. The author isn't named, but ancient Jewish and Christian tradition credits Jeremiah, which is why it follows his book in English Bibles. The Hebrew Bible places it among the Writings, and Jews read it each year on the ninth of Av, the day of mourning for the destruction of the temple. Read straight through, it takes about 15 minutes.

What it is and how to read it

The first four poems are acrostics, each verse or group of verses beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, as if grief needed an A-to-Z. Chapter 3 triples the pattern. The effect is that sorrow is covered completely, with nothing left out. In chapter 1, Jerusalem is a widow, weeping at night, with no one to comfort her (1:2). Chapter 2 is the hardest: the poet says God has acted like an enemy, swallowing up the city in anger. Yet the people are urged to pour out their hearts like water before the Lord (2:19).

Chapter 3 is the center. A man who has seen affliction describes his pain in strong images: walled in, weighed down, a tooth broken on gravel (3:1–20). Then comes a turn. He says he remembers something that gives him hope: God's loving kindness never ceases, his compassions never end, they are new every morning, and great is his faithfulness (3:21–24). Chapter 4 returns to the horrors of the siege, including starvation, and blames prophets and priests (4:10, 13). The final poem is a prayer, asking God to remember, to look at their disgrace, and to restore them (5:21). The last verse ends in tension, asking whether God has utterly rejected them (5:22).

Three ideas to hold on to

1. Grief deserves words. The poems let sorrow speak honestly, in the sight of God, without rushing to resolve it.
2. You can lament and still trust. At the lowest point, the poet remembers that God's mercies are new every morning (3:22–23).
3. Keep addressing God, even when he seems like the enemy. The poems keep talking to God, and they end by asking him to restore (5:19–22).

Passages people ask about

• Lamentations 1:1–12. Jerusalem as a widow. Verse 12, “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?”, is read by many Christians in Holy Week.
• Lamentations 2:11–19. The poet's tears, and a call to cry out to God, especially for the children.
• Lamentations 3:1–33. The man of affliction, and the turn to hope in verses 21–33.
• Lamentations 4:1–12. The siege, including terrible hunger, described without flinching. Read with care.
• Lamentations 5. A prayer of remembrance and a plea for restoration.

How it points to Jesus

Jesus wept over Jerusalem and foretold its fall (Luke 19:41–44; Matthew 23:37–39). Christians hear the poet's question on Good Friday: “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?” (1:12). The man in chapter 3 who is struck, filled with disgrace, and handed over to those who beat him (3:30) echoes the suffering servant (Isaiah 50:6) and Jesus. And the hope in 3:22–23 is not rooted in what people deserve but in God's mercy, which the New Testament says is shown fully in Christ.

A common misunderstanding

“Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” the hymn based on 3:22–23, is often sung as a cheerful song, and those verses are often quoted for encouragement. They are encouraging, but they sit in the middle of a book of grief, where the writer has just described being crushed. The verses aren't an easy answer. They are a decision to remember God's mercy while still in pain. Read in context, they are stronger.