Lamentations is a book of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, that mourns the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 587 or 586 B.C. According to tradition, Jeremiah, the prophet of the destruction, wrote this book. However, numerous scholars believe that the content of Lamentations does not reflect the views of Jeremiah.
All five chapters of Lamentations are written in verse. The first four chapters are alphabetic acrostics, with each stanza (or three stanzas in chapter 3) beginning with a letter in order of the Hebrew alphabet. The first four chapters relate the dreadful conditions brought about by the destruction and mourn the degradation of Jerusalem. The author attributed these problems to God’s punishment of the people for their sins. However, despite widespread despair, the author holds out hope for God’s salvation. The fifth chapter of Lamentations ends with a plea for God to forgive and restore Israel.
See also Jeremiah, Book of ; Tishah be-Av .
