Lamentations

Lamentations is the twenty-fifth book of the Bible. It is a short collection of five poems mourning the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC. The book is traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, who witnessed the destruction and refers to it elsewhere, though the author is not named in the book itself.

Each of the first four poems is an acrostic in Hebrew, with each verse beginning with a successive letter of the alphabet. The form imposes order on grief that would otherwise be overwhelming.

The first poem describes Jerusalem as a widow weeping in the night, abandoned by friends, mocked by enemies. The second describes God's anger against the city in stark images: fire, broken bows, the destruction of the temple. The third is the longest, written in the first person, alternating between deepest despair and the famous lines: "Because of the Lord's loving devotion we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." The fourth describes the suffering of the city's people: princes thinner than coals, mothers unable to feed their children.

The fifth and final poem is a closing prayer. The book ends without resolution, asking why God has forgotten his people and pleading for restoration.