Lamentations

Most interpreters, ancient and modern alike, believe the prophet Jeremiah wrote Lamentations after warning the people of their coming conquest and pleading with them to surrender to the Babylonians. He probably wrote these poems immediately after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Even though Jeremiah knew that the people would not repent, suffered frequently at their hands, and stopped praying for their well-being, he still was overwhelmed at the devastation that he witnessed. He was also moved to pray for their salvation and for justice against their enemies.

The Book of Lamentations consists of a series of five poems lamenting the destruction of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, especially the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The so-called Qinah or Lament meter (3:2 pattern) occurs throughout the book and is thought to communicate the idea of falling off toward the end of each line due to the emotional turmoil. The author doesn’t have enough emotional energy to adequately finish each line (I personally am not entirely convinced that there is meaning in any pattern of meter, especially since this meter occurs in Psalms of praise like Psalm 65). Each of the first four laments is arranged as an acrostic, with each of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet sequentially starting each verse of every poem. Though some commentators argue that acrostics may have aided in the memorization of Scripture (they may or may not help an individual depending on his or her learning style), they probably were used to communicate totality (the acrostic par excellence of the Bible is Psalm 119). Lamentations describes the totality of the devastation of Jerusalem; everything from A to Z was utterly destroyed. Chapters one and two each have twenty-two verses with three parts per verse. Chapter three contains sixty-six verses with only one line per verse, but each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is repeated three times. This triple repetition highlights the message of this poem visually and points God’s people to hope in the midst of suffering. Chapter four continues in the acrostic style, but there are only two parts per verse. Chapter five contains twenty-two verses, but it does not use the acrostic form. This may suggest that the book moves from a thorough and ordered description of the destruction to a more chaotic and emotional conclusion. The author moves from a three-part acrostic in chapters one through three, to a two-part acrostic in chapter four, to a one-line, twenty-two verse description with no acrostic in chapter five. In today’s lingo we say, “There are no words/I have no words.” It’s as if the author is saying, “There are no letters/I have no more letters.”

Chart of Structure:

The Book of Lamentations was written to express deep grief over the destruction of Jerusalem and to ask God to bring justice to his enemies and restoration to his people.

At first glance it might seem like overkill to devote an entire book of the Bible to lamentation over the deserved punishment of an unfaithful nation. We might be tempted to quote Paul and argue that believers sorrow, but not as “others do who have no hope” (1Thes 4:13). One of the main reasons for Lamentations is to emphasize that there is a place, even necessity, for lamentation and imprecation in the life of every believer. Solomon teaches that there is a time to weep and to mourn (Eccl 3:4), David and the psalm writers often lamented (Pss 3, 10, 13, 17, 22, 31, 42, 43, 44, 88, etc.), and even Jesus himself wept when Lazarus died (John 11:35). When we pour out our pain, complaints, desire for justice, and confusion to God in prayer, we are declaring that God is the only one who can comfort, calm, judge, and give clarity to our difficult circumstances. We are acknowledging that things are broken and only he can fix them. We are trusting that “the Judge of all the earth [will] do what is just” (Gen 18:25).

Additionally, the detailed description of human suffering serves to preserve the dignity of every human who is experiencing suffering. Even though God sent the pain and suffering to punish the nation for their breaking of the covenant, he does not delight in tormenting people (Lam 3:33). The cry for Yahweh to look at the affliction of his people (Lam 1:9, 11, 20; 2:20) is a recognition that every life matters. The lives of infants and children (Lam 1:5, 16; 2:11, 20; 4:2, 4, 10), young men and women (Lam 1:4, 18; 2:10, 21; 5:11, 12), the elderly (Lam 1:19; 2:10, 21; 4:16; 5:12), civil and religious leaders (Lam 1:4, 6, 19; 2:9, 20; 4:7, 16; 5:12), the abused (Lam 5:11), and orphans and widows (Lam 5:3) all have value to God. He notices when babies are cannibalized by their mothers, when children hunger, when elders are disrespected, when former leaders are powerless, when women are violated, and when children have lost their fathers and wives their husbands.

Lamentations also shows that God’s punishment of sin is a demonstration of his faithfulness. It may be tempting to think that God is absent or failing his people when he doesn’t stop his enemies from destroying his temple or killing and capturing his people. The reality is that all of these curses that came upon Judah were precisely what God said would happen to them if they broke the covenant they made with him (Deut 28:15–68). This faithfulness of God to bring the threatened curses upon his people is what gave Jeremiah hope in the midst of the darkness and became the basis of his plea to Judah to turn from its unfaithfulness (Lam 3:25–42).

But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.

. . .

For the Lord will not
cast off forever,
but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
for he does not afflict from his heart
or grieve the children of men.

— Lamentations 3:21–26; 31–33 ESV

Due to the poetic nature of this book, it is impossible to categorize every verse into a neat outline. The following represents major sections of each of the five poems and is by no means the only way to divide the text. The book itself follows an acrostic pattern, but the subject matter is constantly changing.

I. Lament 1

A. Description of Destruction (1:1–9b)

B. Cries for Help (1:9c–22)

II. Lament 2

A. Yahweh’s Destructive Anger (2:1–10)

B. Jeremiah’s Sorrowful Reaction (2:11–17)

C. Jeremiah’s Pleas (2:18–22)

III. Lament 3

A. Jeremiah Personalizes the Suffering (3:1–20)

B. Jeremiah’s Hope in Yahweh’s Faithful Character (3:21–39)

C. Jeremiah’s Pleas and Prayers (3:40–66)

IV. Lament 4

A. Reversals Caused by Judgment (4:1–10)

B. Yahweh’s Anger (4:11–20)

C. Justice Coming to Edom (4:21–22)

V. Lament 5

A. Call for Yahweh to Look and Remember (5:1–18)

B. Confidence in Yahweh and Call for Restoration (5:19–22)

The first section of this lament is a nutshell of the whole book. Jeremiah proclaims, “How?” The word ’eka communicates astonishment and shock and is used four times in Lamentations to set the tone of mourning (Lam 1:1; 2:1; 4:1, 2). Even though the prophets from Moses to Jeremiah had warned about these punishments, the actual experience of them brings about shock and dismay both to God’s people and to the surrounding on-lookers.

Things are turned upside down and no one escapes. Jerusalem is personified as a weeping widow (v. 1) who has lost everything and everyone. No matter how hard and how long she weeps, there is no one to comfort her (repeated five times, vv. 2, 9, 16, 17, 21); she sits in complete isolation (vv. 8, 9). Several experiences are highlighted as especially agonizing. All her friends and allies have betrayed her (vv. 2, 7, 8). A once-bustling, prosperous city is now completely empty and desolate (vv. 1, 4, 6). Jerusalem has become a slave who lives in exile with no permanent home (vv. 1, 3, 5, 6, 7). Her enemies prosper (v. 5) and mock her (v. 7).

Jerusalem utters several cries for help with the imperative “Look.” Much like a child engaged in a conflict with a sibling who asks for parental intervention or a professional athlete asking the official to make a call in his favor, Jerusalem protests, “Did you see that? Did you see what just happened to me?” She cries out to Yahweh twice (vv. 9, 11), but suddenly cries out to anyone who passes by and asks him to notice how severely God has dealt with her because of her sins (v. 12–17). Eventually, she comes back to Yahweh and acknowledges that she is guilty and that he is righteous (vv. 18–22). The repeated cries highlight the astonishment of the people that these things are happening to them. It’s one thing to hear of and see the Lord punish enemy nations with these types of atrocities; it’s quite another when friends and family are the recipients.

The second half of this poem moves from descriptions of suffering at the hands of people to a detailing of suffering caused directly by God (esp. vv. 12–17). He is the agent (grammatically the subject of the verbs) who directly causes the pain and suffering (vv. 12–15). He “inflicted” sorrow (v. 12), “sent fire into . . . bones” (v. 13), “made . . . desolate” (v. 13, NIV), placed sins on the nation’s “neck” (v. 14), “caused . . . strength to fail” (v. 14), “gave . . . into the [enemies’] hands” (v. 14), “rejected . . . mighty men” (v. 15), “summoned an assembly against” (v. 15), and “has trodden as in a winepress” (v. 15). This final description alludes to the practice of stomping grapes in a vat in order to squeeze out the juice that would run into a lower vat, be collected, and ferment into wine. It is a vivid description of God’s just wrath against his enemies and is developed more fully in Isaiah 63:2–3 and Revelation 14:19–20. These two types of descriptions (suffering caused by people and suffering caused by God) illustrate how the sovereign God works among men. He is the ultimate, primary mover, but he uses human (and often spiritual) agents to do his work, even when that work involves suffering and death.

In this second section there is a recognition that God is just in his actions due to the rebellion of the nation (v. 18). This recognition of the nation’s sinfulness is repeated in every poem (1:5, 8, 14, 18, 20, 22; 2:14; 3:39, 42; 4:6, 13, 22; 5:7), but it is highlighted most in this opening lament. God’s justice applies equally to all people.

The punishment of the nation brings up an important interpretive matter: the issue of how God dealt with his people in the Old Testament and how that relates to New Testament believers. God had promised Abraham that he would give him land, turn him into a great nation, make his name great, and make him a universal blessing (Gen 12). There are two aspects to these promises. On the one hand, we have the physical, temporal, collective, and conditional components. On the other, we have the spiritual, eternal, individual, and unconditional. We must keep both aspects in mind throughout the entirety of Scripture. Lamentations gives a lot of attention to the physical, temporal, corporate, and conditional aspects that were spelled out in Deuteronomy 28. The physical, temporal, corporate people of God had broken the conditional covenant and had experienced the promised curses. Jeremiah had already pointed the people to the New Covenant (Jer 31) as the solution to the problems of the nation. An individual could enter into a personal, eternal, and unconditional covenant with God and secure salvation. The sad reality is that the majority of the nation never understood nor received the New Covenant (the New Covenant was first given to Abraham and called “gospel” by Paul in Gal 3:8, and Moses preached it using language like “circumcise your hearts” (NIV) in Deut 10:16). Individuals like Jeremiah could still find ultimate hope amidst the rubble as they looked to their heavenly king who ruled over an eternal kingdom with an innumerable people.

The first poem ends with an imprecation asking God to punish Judah’s enemies in the same way that they had been punished (v. 22). We also see an imprecation at the end of chapter three (vv. 64–66) and a prediction of the judgment of Edom in chapter four (v. 22). The Psalms are full of imprecations, many of which involve explicit descriptions of punishment that is both temporal and eternal (Pss 5, 6, 11, 12, 35, 37, 40, 52, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 79, 83, 94, 137, 139 and 143 are some examples). The concept of asking God to punish wicked people for their sins, especially because those sins have been directed against God’s people, may appear contrary to the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament. Several general facts about these prayers should be noted.

1. These are prayer requests made to God; these are not examples of someone taking vengeance for himself. Justice is left in the hands of God, where it is most wisely carried out.
2. The enemies are not individuals who have merely annoyed the psalmist with some petty issue; they are enemies of God’s people and of God himself. They desire to destroy God’s people and her king. An attack against the Lord’s anointed meant the kingly line was at risk. Essentially it would be a threat against the ultimate anointed one who would come to save the world.
3. These requests are conditional in nature. The assumption is that if these enemies at any point change their posture and practice, then these punishments would no longer apply.

Far from contradicting the teachings of Jesus, these types of prayers informed his theology and prayer life. Jesus had strong words of condemnation against the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees of his day (Matt 23). The Lord’s Prayer contains an implied imprecation in the request “your kingdom come” (Matt 6:7). Daniel revealed that the triumph of the kingdom of the Messiah results in the destruction of all earthly kingdoms (Dan 2:36–45). The rest of the New Testament also contains imprecations. Paul uttered curses against those who preached another gospel (Gal 1:8) and prayed for justice against those who hindered its work (2Tim 4:14). Even the glorified saints in heaven cry out for vengeance and justice (Rev 6:9–11).

The first ten verses of the second lament continue to highlight God’s direct role in the punishment of his people. He covered with a cloud, cast down splendor, ignored, swallowed up, broke down, brought down, cut down, withdrew, burned, bent his bow, killed, poured out fury, laid in ruins, multiplied mourning, laid waste, spurned, scorned, disowned, and ruined (among other acts of violent punishment). God is described as being angry six times in ten verses. The word used for anger is also a word that is used for nose (’ap). The Hebrew idiom for anger is “burning of nose” (2:3). This is part of the reason for the multiple references to fire, burning, and swallowing up. For humans, anger is often accompanied by loss of control. God’s anger is measured and precise.

Verse one mentions God “not remember[ing]” his people. This does not mean that God somehow forgets or loses track of people. When used of God, it refers to his willful, punitive disregard for the well-being of his people. The English idioms “forget it” and “forget you” carry a similar volitional component. God “remembering,” on the other hand, refers to his active attention directed toward people in order to bring about good for them (Gen 8:1 – God remembers Noah and crew and brings them to dry ground; Gen 19:29 – God remembers Abraham and spares Lot; Gen 30:22 and 1Sam 1:19 – God remembers Rachel and Hannah and gives conception).

God is portrayed as an invading enemy soldier who draws his bow against his people (v. 4), destroys palaces and fortifications (v. 5), and even eradicates his own temple (vv. 6–7). His destructive anger touches everything and everyone.

Jeremiah describes his immense sorrow with vivid physical reactions (v. 11). His eyes “fail” due to the number of tears coming from them. He could be saying that he ran out of tears or that he can no longer see. The phrase “stomach churns” (lit. “my bowels ferment”) describes both emotional turmoil and literal intestinal discomfort or sickness. The NET version renders it “my stomach is in knots.” The ESV phrase “bile is poured out to the ground” is an interpretative gloss of the Hebrew “liver” being poured out. The translators believe that the liver stands for the bile it stores (this figure of speech is known as metonymy), and thus the idea is that the prophet is so emotionally troubled that he vomits. An alternate idea is to take the liver as a metonymy for the seat of emotions (i.e., the heart). The heart itself, then, is figuratively poured out onto the ground. In English we would say, “His heart was broken.”

The cause of all this emotional and physical turmoil is the severity of the suffering that affected even the most innocent and helpless in society, the children and babies (vv. 11–12). The conditions of the siege left families with no food or water. The starving children cry out for nourishment to their helpless mothers who are forced to hold their children as they slowly die in their arms. The hunger was so severe that some mothers even cannibalized their own children to survive (v. 20).

The false prophets were a major contributor to the downfall of the nation (v. 14). Instead of pointing out the sins of the nation and calling them to repentance, they gave promises of peace and prosperity. Jeremiah 28 recounts the story of Hananiah, who promised victory over Babylon within two years of his message and dramatically broke the symbolic yoke on Jeremiah as an object lesson. God told Jeremiah to rebuke Hananiah and to predict his impending death. Within two months of God’s oracle, Hananiah died. When God gave Israel the Law, he included directions on how to discern between true and false prophets (Deut 13:1–5; 18:15–22). Among the major requirements were conformity to God’s previously revealed word, fulfillment of prophecy, and fidelity to the one true God. Unfortunately, people do not like being told that they are wrong and need to change. Israel rejected the true prophets (Jeremiah himself was thrown into a muddy cistern for preaching truth [see Jer 38]; Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, was stoned to death [see 2Chron 24:20–22]) and embraced the false messengers. Some false prophets even received their messages from demonic spirits (1Kgs 22:21–23). Prosperity preachers still abound today and proclaim false messages of health and success. People have “itching ears” (1Tim 4:3) and can always find the preacher or teacher who will give them the message they want to hear, instead of the true message from God’s Word.

Adding insult to injury, the surrounding nations and onlookers made fun of Jerusalem because of its downfall (vv. 15–17). God-haters take delight when a supposed follower of God takes a fall. Part of God’s justice against his enemies includes giving them a dose of their own medicine (Ps 2).

Jeremiah pleads with the nation to cry out to God non-stop (vv. 18–19). The phrase “day and night” is a merism (figure of speech that makes use of polar opposites in order to communicate totality) and gives the image of a 24/7 type of activity. He also tells them to cry without ceasing.

Jeremiah also pleads with God directly (vv. 20–22). He highlights the suffering of children, the execution of spiritual leaders, and the violent and public slaughter of young and old alike.

In this third lament, Jeremiah takes on the suffering of the city as if it were happening to him directly (v. 1). Once again, he portrays God as the immediate cause of the suffering (vv. 2–16). In addition to the pain he brings, God imprisons Jeremiah with heavy chains and stone enclosures (vv. 7–9). The imagery of God as a predatory bear and lion (v. 10) is similar to the warnings given by Amos (Amos 2:14–16; 9:1–4) and Hosea (Hos 5:12ff; 13:7–8) to the Northern Kingdom. These images highlight the suddenness, inescapability, and violence of the punishment. Jeremiah views himself as target practice for God’s arrows, and God hits his mark (vv. 12–13). He reaches his lowest point when God targets his inner man by removing peace and happiness from his spirit (v. 17). This causes him to lose endurance and hope (v. 18).

Just when it appeared that Jeremiah had run out of faith in God, he meditates on God’s “steadfast love” (v. 22). This Hebrew word (ḥesed) is a key theological term that refers to God’s loving loyalty to his people based on his unconditional covenant. This section is the theological heart of the book. It highlights a key principle when dealing with pain, suffering, death, and difficult circumstances in our lives: faith in God’s covenant loyalty will sustain you through the darkest and most difficult days of your life. When it appears that the whole world is collapsing around you, your “friends” have betrayed you, your body fails you, and you have lost everything, you must focus on God’s covenant loyalty.

This loyalty is the heart of the New Covenant. God has promised to himself that he will save his people from sin, death, and eternal destruction. No amount of temporary, physical, and difficult circumstances will ever nullify the eternal blessings of the New Covenant (these thoughts echo in the writings of Paul [Rom 8:38–39; 2Cor 4:17] and Peter [1Pet 4:12–19]). Jeremiah describes this persevering faith as “waiting quietly” for God’s salvation and says, “It is good” (v. 26). The concept of waiting on God is found frequently in the Psalms (27:14; 37:7, 34; 39:7; 40:1; 62:5; 130:5) and should be interpreted as a hopeful expectation of an unstoppable, guaranteed salvation from God (even if it comes after death).

This section also highlights the paradox of belonging to the “people of God” in the Old Testament. Being part of the national, physical people of God meant that the way God would show his faithfulness required punishment for breaking the covenant. Being part of the spiritual people of God meant that God’s faithfulness hasn’t changed in the midst of punishment and exile; it should be a source of comfort that he keeps his promises of blessing and cursing. God is the source of “good and bad,” and the nation should not be complaining about being punished for breaking the covenant (v. 39). Even though the punishment might portray God as being vindictive or mean, “he does not afflict from his heart” (v. 33).

Far from driving the nation away from God, the punishments are meant to bring them to repentance. Jeremiah pleads with the people to examine themselves, acknowledge their sins, and return to God (vv. 40–42). Jeremiah concludes this lament by highlighting the violence and wickedness of the enemies (vv. 46–54), praying for deliverance (vv. 55–63), and asking for the destruction of the wicked (vv. 64–66).

Lament four returns to the detailing of the judgment. The first section lists off a series of reversals. Gold is dim. Precious stones are scattered. Children once worth gold are now considered worth as much as a clay pot. While jackals nourish their young, God’s people neglect their young like ostriches. Children accustomed to having milk and nourishment are now thirsty and starving. Those used to eating delicacies now starve in the streets. Those used to wearing fine clothing now sit in ashes. Princes who were white and healthy are now black and shriveled. Violent death is better than natural death (quick death by the sword vs. slow death by starvation). Compassionate women cannibalize their children. Everything is upside down.

In addition to the reversals of the previous section, this next section highlights several unexpected consequences in the judgment. First, nobody could believe that enemies entered the gates of Jerusalem. Both outsiders and God’s people had the misconception that being the people of God and having his temple meant they were invincible. Jeremiah’s temple sermon (Jer 7) was meant to shatter that false notion, but it persisted. Belonging to God does not make one less accountable to him; it makes one more accountable (see Amos 3:2 and 1Pet 4:17). Additionally, it was actually the sins of the religious leaders, the priests and prophets, that led God to reject them. They are indicted for shedding the blood of the righteous (v. 13) and are relegated to a life of uncleanness and wandering (v. 15). Thirdly, the people believed that the “Lord’s anointed” would rule perpetually and universally (v. 20). The Davidic promise of always having a king on the throne was misunderstood to mean that the physical nation would always have a physical king on an earthly throne in Jerusalem. The destruction of Jerusalem and capture of its king was shocking. It should have caused them to look for an eternal, heavenly king, but by the time we get to the New Testament, the majority of the Jewish people are still looking for the earthly ruler.

This last section gives hope to Zion that the exile will satisfy the judgment demanded by the covenant and that those involved in the destruction of Jerusalem would also face their own judgment.

The final lament is the shortest and the only non-acrostic poem. It uses brief one-line utterances to highlight to God extreme examples of suffering in hopes that he would deliver them soon. They have experienced loss of land and homes, fathers, drinking water, firewood, food, freedom, safety, honor, and joy. All of this was because of their sin (v. 16)

The final plea affirms faith in God’s sovereignty for all generations. It closes with a type of rhetorical request that is intended to communicate submission to God’s timing and to appeal to God’s faithfulness. It’s the final expression of waiting expectantly on God to answer.

The post-exilic prophets and writers show us that God indeed answered the requests of his people and brought them back from captivity to the city of Jerusalem. The people rebuilt their homes and rebuilt the temple, but they never again had a king sit on the throne in Jerusalem. God was going to bring the perfect, everlasting king to rule over an everlasting kingdom. When King Jesus arrived, the people of Israel still did not understand or accept that God’s choice of Israel was never intended to make the physical descendants of Abraham the exclusive recipients of an imperfect earthly kingdom. Jesus came unto his own but was rejected. He would join with Jeremiah and lament, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Matt 23:37).

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Ziegler, Yaal. Lamentations: Faith in a Turbulent World. New Milford, CT: Maggid Books, 2021.

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