Bible Overview

Lamentations

Author: Jeremiah

Background information:

God’s Warnings through Jeremiah went unheeded. The people of Judah continued in their sin and idolatry until God sent the Babylonians in 586 B.C. to finally destroy Jerusalem and the Temple they were trusting in.

Interesting fact: Lamentations is an acrostic

like some of the Psalms and Proverbs 31:10-31. The first four chapters have each verse beginning with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet (though chapter 3 has sets of 3 x 22 letters).

Date: 586 B.C.

Name: the name Lamentations reveals the deep grief and sorrow felt

at the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and the captivity of the southern kingdom.

Purpose: serves as a sequel to Jeremiah’s prophecy; records the horror of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians

Key chapter: 3—Hope in the midst of affliction

Key people: Jeremiah and Jerusalem

Content of Lamentations:

1. Jerusalem’s Grief 2.God’s Wrath 3. Continuing Hope 4.Sin’s Consequences 5.Prayerful Confession

Key Passages: Lamentations 1:1-12, 3:21-27

Lamentations 1:1–12 ESV

How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies. Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress. The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival; all her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly. Her foes have become the head; her enemies prosper, because the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe. From the daughter of Zion all her majesty has departed. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer. Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and wandering all the precious things that were hers from days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the foe, and there was none to help her, her foes gloated over her; they mocked at her downfall. Jerusalem sinned grievously; therefore she became filthy; all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns her face away. Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she took no thought of her future; therefore her fall is terrible; she has no comforter. “O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!” The enemy has stretched out his hands over all her precious things; for she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, those whom you forbade to enter your congregation. All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. “Look, O Lord, and see, for I am despised.” “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.

Lamentations 3:21–27 ESV

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. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

Practical Applications of Jeremiah:

1. God is holy, righteous, and just in his judgment against sin.

2. God is gracious and merciful, so there is always hope for those who trust in the Lord.