Who wrote Lamentations, and when?
Unnamed; traditionally Jeremiah. Shortly after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC.
The book names no author. Jewish and Christian tradition has long attributed it to Jeremiah, who witnessed the fall of Jerusalem and was known for his grief, and the old Greek translation even adds a note saying so. That is why it sits next to Jeremiah in Christian Bibles. Many scholars think the poems are anonymous, written by one or more survivors, since the book itself never claims Jeremiah as its author and its voice differs in places from his. What is not in doubt is the date: the poems describe the burning of the temple and the horrors of the siege as fresh wounds, so they were almost certainly written soon after 586 BC, while the city still lay in ruins.
Who was Lamentations written to?
The survivors of Jerusalem’s destruction, and God’s people in every generation who need to grieve before him.
Lamentations was written for the people who lived through the destruction of Jerusalem and for those who mourned it from afar. Babylon's army had besieged the city for about eighteen months, starving it, before breaking in, burning the temple and deporting the leading citizens. The survivors had seen famine, violence, the collapse of the priesthood and the monarchy, and the end of everything they thought God had guaranteed. They needed a way to grieve that did not deny God or deny their own guilt. Since then Jews have read the book aloud each year on the ninth of the month of Av, the day that remembers the temple's fall, and Christians have turned to it in times of loss.
What was happening at the time?
Babylon has burned the temple, the city and its walls, and carried the people away. Lamentations is written in the rubble. The first four poems are acrostics, each verse beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, grief given a shape from A to Z. It is still read by Jews each year on the day that remembers the temple’s destruction.
Why was Lamentations written?
To give voice to grief, to confess that judgment was deserved, and to hold on to the LORD’s mercies that are new every morning.
Lamentations gives grief words. It does not rush to explain or console; it lets the pain of the city be spoken fully before God. At the same time it confesses that the judgment was deserved, that the LORD did what he had warned he would do. At the very centre, in chapter 3, the poet remembers that God's steadfast love has not ended and his mercies are new every morning, and chooses to wait for him. The book ends not with resolution but with a plea for restoration. It wants readers to learn that honest lament is a form of faith. In the wider story of the Bible, it stands at the lowest point of Israel's history and shows that even there, hope is anchored in God's character.
How to read Lamentations today
Read it slowly and read it whole; it takes less than half an hour. Notice the shape first: chapters 1, 2 and 4 each have 22 verses, one for every letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and chapter 3 has 66, three for each letter. The grief is ordered, not chaotic. Chapter 3:19-33 is the heart of the book, so pause there. Watch how the poet moves between describing the ruins, accusing God, confessing sin and pleading for help, sometimes within a few lines. Do not force a tidy ending; the last chapter leaves the question open. As you read, pray for anyone you know who is grieving, and bring your own losses to God without polishing them first.
The key verse in Lamentations
Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Passages worth knowing in Lamentations
- Lamentations 1
How lonely sits the city
Jerusalem as a widow weeping in the night.
- Lamentations 2
The Lord’s anger
God himself has become like an enemy.
- Lamentations 3:19-33
Great is your faithfulness
Hope at the exact centre of the book.
- Lamentations 5
Restore us to yourself
A final prayer that ends without resolution.
The main themes of Lamentations
- Grief
- Deserved judgment
- God’s faithfulness
- Hope in the dark
- Prayer for restoration
An outline of Lamentations
| Section | Chapters |
|---|---|
| The desolate city | 1 |
| The Lord’s anger | 2 |
| Suffering and hope | 3 |
| The siege remembered | 4 |
| A prayer for mercy | 5 |