Lamentations
The prophet Jeremiah wrote the Book of Lamentations as a series of five laments, or funeral dirges. Each chapter is a separate lament.
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize
SUMMARY
Title
The title is taken from the book’s first word: eika.
This word may be translated “Alas!” or “How.” It was a characteristic cry of lament or exclamation.
Sometimes it was referred to with the name qeenot, which means “dirges” or “laments.”
The translators of the Septuagint converted the title qeenot into thrēnoi, which was the Greek word for “dirges.”
That title was also adopted by the Latin Vulgate which named the book threni, or “Lamentations.”
Author
The book does not name its author. But Jewish tradition attributes it to Jeremiah.
The Septuagint added the following words as an introduction to the book:
And it came to pass, after Israel was taken captive, and Jerusalem made desolate, that Jeremiah sat weeping, and lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and said …
Date
Assuming Jeremiah was the author, the book itself must have been composed within a narrow period of time.
Jeremiah would have penned the book after Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 586 BC, but before he was taken to Egypt after Gedaliah’s assassination, circa 583-582 BC.
The most likely timeframe is late 586 BC or early 585 BC.
Purpose
Jerusalem’s ally Egypt had been destroyed in battle.
One by one the other cities in Judah were crushed.
Finally, only Jerusalem remained.
Within the city of Jerusalem, the siege by the Babylonian Empire was unraveling the fabric of society.
Starving mothers ate their own children. Idolatry flourished as the people cried out to all gods for deliverance. The people willing to kill the prophet as a traitor and spy, just because he spoke the truth.
On July 18, 586 BC, the walls of Jerusalem were breached. The Babylonian army invaded the city.
King Zedekiah and the remaining men in his army tried to flee in the night, but were captured.
It took several weeks for Nebuchadnezzar to secure the city and strip it of its valuables, but b
By August 14, 586 BC, the city was stripped of valuables. Then the destruction of the city began.
The armies of Babylon burned the temple, the king’s palace, and all the other major buildings in the city. They tore down the walls of the city which provided her protection.
When the Babylonians finally departed the area with their prisoners, they left a jumbled heap of smoldering rubble.
Jeremiah witnessed these things. Then he sat down to compose his laments.
A lament was a funeral poem or song. It was written and recited for someone who had just died.
In Jeremiah’s case, his whole world had died. The temple died. The city of Jerusalem died. Many people died.
And the survivors were taken away to Babylon as captives, where they will be detained for 70 years.
Jeremiah laments all these things.
OUTLINE
FIRST DIRGE
Lamentations 1:1-11. Jerusalem was destroyed for her own sins
Lamentations 1:12-22. Jerusalem finally pleads for mercy
SECOND DIRGE
Lamentations 2:1-10. The LORD’s anger against Zion
Lamentations 2:11-19. Jeremiah weeps over the destruction of Jerusalem
Lamentations 2:20-22. Jerusalem finally prays to the LORD God
THIRD DIRGE
Lamentations 3:1-18. Jeremiah laments his afflictions
Lamentations 3:19-40. The sparkling brilliance of God’s love
Lamentations 3:41-66. With great hope, Jeremiah prays
FOURTH DIRGE
Lamentations 4:1-11. Comparing before and after
Lamentations 4:12-20. Why was Jerusalem conquered?
Lamentations 4:21-22. The bad days are over
FIFTH DIRGE
Lamentations. 5:1-18. Remember us
Lamentations 5:19-22. Restore us
MEMORIZE
Here are some great verses to memorize:
Lamentations 3:22. It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (KJV translation)
Lamentations 3:23. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. (KJV translation)
SEE ALSO:
Great verses to memorize from the entire Bible
LAMENTATIONS
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.