Lamentations
Five poems weeping over the fall of Jerusalem — grief held together with a thread of hope.
Overview
Lamentations is exactly what its name says: five poems of grief over the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon. It does not look away from the horror of the siege and the exile. Yet at its very centre, in the third poem, comes one of the Bible's brightest lines of hope: "his compassions fail not. They are new every morning."
Book facts
- Author
- Jeremiah (traditionally)Traditionally the prophet Jeremiah, who witnessed Jerusalem's fall.
- Date written
- c. 586 BCSoon after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem.
- Original language
- HebrewFour of its five poems are acrostics — tightly ordered grief.
- Setting
- Over the ruins of JerusalemWritten in the aftermath of the city's destruction.
How it came to be
Lamentations is traditionally credited to the prophet Jeremiah. He had warned of Jerusalem's fall for decades, and here he mourns it.
Four of its five poems are acrostics, following the Hebrew alphabet — order imposed on grief.
The whole book, chapter by chapter
| Chapter | What this chapter covers |
|---|---|
Weeping over Jerusalem — five poems of grief and a thread of hope, chapters 1–5 | |
| Chapter 1The solitary city | Jerusalem sits deserted and weeping, like a widow. |
| Chapter 2The Lord's anger | The Lord himself has brought the city down in his anger. |
| Chapter 3The man of affliction | The poet's own suffering, and the hope: "his compassions fail not... new every morning." |
| Chapter 4The dimmed gold | The horrors of the siege, when even the precious are brought low. |
| Chapter 5The remembered reproach | A closing prayer: "turn thou us unto thee, O Lord." |
All 5 chapters. Start reading →
Worth knowing
Tap a place to see where it is.
Some of the book's best-known lines — tap the verse to read it.
- "How doth the city sit solitary"Lamentations 1:1
- "His compassions fail not"Lamentations 3:22
- "They are new every morning"Lamentations 3:23
- "Turn thou us unto thee"Lamentations 5:21