Discover resources that will encourage and equip you to engage with the Bible with the loved ones in your home.
What questions do you have?
Contact us and one of our team
members will personally respond
to you by email.
Have questions about your relationship
with God? Start a conversation with one
of our responders who is ready and
willing to answer your questions.
All things work together….
Count it all joy……
For I know the plans…
The Lord is my shepherd…
Do not be conformed…
I can do all things…
Do not be anxious…
Seek first…
Cast all your anxiety…
Fear not, for I am with you…
Be strong and courageous…
Whoever dwells in the shelter…
Read this 4-minute introduction to help you find your bearings in the Bible story, and be inspired to read Lamentations!
This overview video illustrates for us the literary design of the book of Lamentations using creative animations.
Book of Lamentations Summary: A Complete Animated Overview is copyright 2016 by BibleProject and is available for viewing at www.bibleproject.com.
This compelling dramatization of the book of Lamentations introduces us to the main theme of the book and how it points to Jesus through spoken word poetry.
This video was originally published by Spoken Gospel on their YouTube Channel.
This video is part of the series, The Gospel One Chapter at a Time, where Paul David Tripp summarizes each book of the Bible and shows how it points us to Jesus.
This video was originally published by Paul Tripp Ministries, Inc. on their YouTube Channel.
Strictly speaking, the book of Lamentations is anonymous. The work does not name its author. Nevertheless, Lamentations has long been attributed to the prophet who also wrote Jeremiah, and there are several good reasons for thinking that this tradition may be correct.
Two clues about the book’s authorship come from other Biblical documents. One comes from the introduction to Lamentations in the Septuagint, the earliest Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. The Septuagint provides this heading for the book: “And it came to pass, after Israel was taken captive and Jerusalem laid waste, that Jeremiah sat weeping and lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem and said. . . .” The other clue comes from the end of the Chronicles: “Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made these a rule in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments” (2 Chronicles 35:25). It is probable—if not actually certain—that “The Laments” mentioned in this verse are the very laments that form the book of Lamentations.
—Philip Graham Ryken
Source: Content taken from Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope © 2016 by Philip Graham Ryken. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
From Bibles.net: Remember that the ultimate author of every book of the Bible is the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). He has written this book to equip you for life, to help you know the true God, and to give you hope (2 Timothy 3:16; Romans 15:4). The Holy Spirit wrote Lamentations for your good and to lead you into joy.
Lamentations provides eyewitness testimony of Babylon’s destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC in vivid, poetic detail. It was likely written between 586 and 516 BC, with an early date being more probable.
—ESV Global Study Bible
Lamentations is the cry of God’s people, who have experienced devastation. The book was most likely written just after Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 587 BC. The author writes from personal experience and describes many horrific things in detail. While there is no precise date of composition within the book, it implies that temple worship, which would begin again in the time of Haggai and Zechariah between 520 and 516 BC, had temporarily ceased. Moreover, Lamentations conveys the sense of recent suffering. The people bear an open wound that has not yet begun to heal. Therefore, it was likely written closer to 587 BC than to 516.
—Camden Bucey
Source: Content taken from Lamentations, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah: A 12-Week Study © 2018 by Camden Bucey. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Lamentations was most likely written to be prayed or sung in worship services devoted to asking God’s forgiveness. Such services began as early as the months after the temple’s destruction in 586 BC (Jeremiah 41:4–5). They continued after the temple was rebuilt during Zechariah’s time (c. 520 BC; see Zechariah 7:3–5; 8:19). In later years, Lamentations was read and sung as part of annual observances marking the temple’s destruction.
Unless otherwise indicated, this content is adapted from the ESV Global Study Bible® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright ©2012 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
For All Who Grieve by Colin Smith
Pastor Colin Smith preaches this 4-part message series on the book of Lamentations with sensitivity and wisdom to those who are hurting. Walking through Lamentations by listening to these messages will comfort you, lead you to hope, and reveal Jesus’ compassion and love if you are in a season of sorrow, or it will equip you to compassionately and wisely walk with others who are grieving.
Dwell is the best Bible listening app around. Use the link below to get 50% off their subscription price.
As you read through Lamentations, you might come across words and ideas that are foreign to you. Here are a few definitions you will want to know! Note that this dictionary was created for the New International Version (NIV) Bible.
Great trouble or pain.
A place where sacrifices were made to worship God. An altar could be a pile of dirt or stones, or a raised platform of wood, marble, metal, or other materials. The bronze or brazen altar was used for burnt offerings in the tabernacle’s courtyard. It was a large box, eight feet square and four-and-a-half feet high, made of wood covered with bronze. A much larger altar replaced it when Solomon built the temple. The altar of incense (also called the golden altar) was smaller, covered with gold, and placed just in front of the veil to the Holy of Holies. Every day, both morning and evening, incense was burned here, symbolizing the prayers of the people.
The 70-year period when Jews were in exile in Babylon.
Someone who has been made to leave his or her country and live somewhere else. The Jews were exiles in Babylon for 70 years.
The most important city of Bible times. Jerusalem was the capital of the united kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah. The temple was built in Jerusalem, so many people traveled to the city to worship God. In 587 BC, Jerusalem was captured and mostly destroyed by Babylonian armies. The city was rebuilt when the Jews returned after 70 years of exile in Babylon. Jesus taught in the city of Jerusalem, was crucified outside the city wall, was buried near the city, and then rose again. The first Christian church began in Jerusalem after the Holy Spirit came to the believers there.
Among the Jews, a man who offered prayers and sacrifices to God for the people. Priests led the public worship services at the tabernacle and later at the temple. Often the priests also taught the Law of God to the people. The priests of Israel were all descendants of Aaron’s family. All Christians are also priests (see 1 Peter 2:9). We are to help others learn about and worship God.
Men and women in the Old and New Testaments chosen by God to tell his messages to people. Also refers to the seventeen Old Testament books written by prophets.
To buy back. In Bible times, a person could buy a slave and then set the slave free. The slave had been redeemed by the person who had paid the price and then given the slave freedom. The New Testament tells us that by dying, Jesus paid the price to buy us back and set us free from our slavery to sin.
(1) To bring back; to establish again. (2) To bring back to a former or original condition. (3) To return something lost, stolen, or taken. The return of the Jews from being captives in Babylon is referred to as their restoration.
A rough, dark material usually woven from goats’ hair. When someone died, the person’s friends and family wore clothes made of sackcloth to show that they were very sad. A person would also wear sackcloth to show that he or she was sorry for sinning.
A holy place; a place where God is worshiped. In the Bible, sanctuary usually refers to the tabernacle or to the temple.
Something seen during a trance or dream. A vision was a way God showed someone a truth that would otherwise not be known. Sometimes people were asleep when God gave them visions (see Ezekiel 8:1-4; Acts 10:9-29).
Very great anger.
Dictionary Source
This content is from What the Bible Is All About, written by Henrietta Mears. Copyright © 1953, 2011 by Gospel Light. Copyright assigned to Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
We have found answers to some tough questions that we anticipate may arise as you read Lamentations. We know we can’t answer every question you will have; therefore, we have written this article, so you know how to find answers for your kids: How Do I Answer Tough Questions About the Bible?
The following insights are from pastors and scholars who have spent significant time studying the book of Lamentations.
The title of Lamentations in the Hebrew Bible is a Hebrew word translated “How,” which is the first word of Lamentations and begins chapters 2 and 4 as well. This term is an exclamation of how much Jerusalem has suffered. Although this suffering is overwhelming, the author pours out his heart beautifully. The book of Lamentations is structured in five poems, which align with the five chapters in our English Bible. The first four poems are acrostics; that is, each new line begins with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The author of the book is not specifically identified, yet some believe him to be the prophet Jeremiah, who “uttered a lament for Josiah” (2 Chronicles 35:25 ESV). Regardless of who put the lament to the scroll, the voice is corporate and expresses the suffering of the people. Lamentations is a eulogy for the death of the kingdom of Judah, which has been taken away into exile. The situation is stark and bleak, yet there is hope in God, whose mercies are new every morning. He is the faithful and compassionate one who forgets not his people—even as they suffer justly for what they have done.
—Camden Bucey
Source: Content taken from Lamentations, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah: A 12-Week Study © 2018 by Camden Bucey. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Lamentations invites us to meet God in the midst of our suffering and teaches us the language of prayer. Instead of offering a set of techniques, easy answers, or inspiring slogans for facing pain and grief, Lamentations gives voice to our pain, reorients our focus to the faithfulness of God, and affirms that he alone is our portion.
—CSB She Reads Truth Bible
Source: Quoted from the Introduction to Lamentations in the She Reads Truth Bible, published by Holman Bible Publishers in 2017, p.1333.
Suffering is in the Bible. It’s clear. In Scripture, real haziness is seen more than pretend clarity. Nothing hidden. A whole book dedicated to regretful weeping, Lamentations is not an appendix to Scripture; it is Scripture. Lamentations is Scripture because lament is not tacked on to our lives as something to be hidden. It’s right out there in the middle. God chose not to hide the plaintive cries of the confused. This illustrates that the inspired Word of God is bent toward human suffering.
—Steven Smith
Source: Smith, Steven. Edited by David Platt and Dr. Daniel Akin. Exalting Jesus in Jeremiah and Lamentations. Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019.
The elaborate artistry of these five laments communicates something important about their purpose. The lamentations are not simply cries from the heart, although they certainly are that. They are rather an attempt to reflect on the meaning of human suffering. The book of Lamentations is a theodicy, an attempt to explain the ways of God to humanity. The writer wants to do something more than vent his feelings. He also seeks to gain perspective on suffering, and to share that perspective with his fellow sufferers. The book of Jeremiah ended with a factual account of the last, desperate days of the Jerusalem Jeremiah knew and loved. The book of Lamentations is an attempt to interpret the meaning of that catastrophe.
Since this catastrophe was shared by an entire society, the identity of the person who wrote the five laments is relatively unimportant. Lamentations is not about the sufferings of an individual. The five poems that make up the book are communal rather than personal laments. This is what distinguishes Lamentations from another Biblical theodicy, the book of Job. Whereas Job deals with the problem of personal suffering, Lamentations deals with the problem of national suffering. There is a further difference as well: Job’s sufferings were undeserved, whereas Jerusalem deserved her desolation.
The communal focus of Lamentations makes its message continually relevant for the church and the world. The book of Job helps people make sense of personal losses and tragedies. The book of Lamentations helps people make sense of national disasters like famine, warfare, and genocide.
—Philip Graham Ryken
Source: Content taken from Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope © 2016 by Philip Graham Ryken. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
The sin that brought the residents of Jerusalem to this low point is rehearsed throughout the book of Jeremiah. This is not a case of suffering without a reason. This is not like what happened to Job. This is a circumstance that they created. The evidence of this is the existence of the prophet Jeremiah. A prophetic voice is the evidence that God did not want this. He sent Jeremiah to help prevent it. But they passed up the possibility of prevention…
Suffering is inevitable. We think obedience is too much of a hardship. We don’t want to obey, and we resent God for asking us to do so. Following God is not easy, but the price of obedience is a bargain compared to the price of rebellion. Prevention costs less than destruction. Avoiding sin costs less than repenting of sin.
—Steven Smith
Source: Smith, Steven. Edited by David Platt and Dr. Daniel Akin. Exalting Jesus in Jeremiah and Lamentations. Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019.
God is not an impersonal force. God is not an entity void of reason and relationship. We can communicate with him, and we are compelled to initiate communication with him. The people [in Lamentations] respond to God by crying out to him. The activity of prayer is at once reflexive and right. It is our impulse and our only hope. Some impulses can harm you; other impulses can save you. In prayer, ironically perhaps, they are suggesting that the one who is destroying them is the only one who can save them. The one who is the enemy is now their only hope and salvation. Thus we see this beautiful cry come from this destitute wasteland. [Lamentations 2] Verse 18 is a powerful plea for a gut talk with God: do not let yourself rest until you have prayed all of this through. Pour yourself out like water to God.
—Steven Smith
Source: Smith, Steven. Edited by David Platt and Dr. Daniel Akin. Exalting Jesus in Jeremiah and Lamentations. Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019.
The idea is clear: sin brings ruin. Sin ruins individuals; sin ruins families; sin ruins churches; sin ruins cities. The weight of destruction is heavier still in light of the warnings: the prophets, the metaphors, the miracles. All the things God did in the past to prevent this from happening are now clear… Since all Scripture is given for our benefit (2 Timothy 3:17), we have to ask what the benefit is of reading of the destruction of Jerusalem. Well, perhaps the reader should be warned. A nation disobeyed God after several warnings. God punished them. God allows suffering as corrective discipline. However, this does not mean all suffering is corrective.
—Steven Smith
Source: Smith, Steven. Edited by David Platt and Dr. Daniel Akin. Exalting Jesus in Jeremiah and Lamentations. Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019.
Here is another of the Bible’s exquisite books of poetry. It is commonly attributed to Jeremiah. Five beautiful, distinct poems are bound together in the book. It is not all sorrow. Above the clouds of the poet’s weeping over the sins of his people, God’s sun is shining. In Lamentations 3:22-27, the light breaks through to throw a shining rainbow across the murky sky. God’s grace always shines above the clouds of sin (see Romans 5:20), and it will always shine in the hearts that trust in God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who desires “to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:3 NIV).
—Henrietta Mears
Source: This content is from What the Bible Is All About, written by Henrietta Mears. Copyright © 1953, 2011 by Gospel Light. Copyright assigned to Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Since it was in keeping with his decree, the fall of Jerusalem revealed many of the perfections of God. It was an act of divine justice, intended to repay a wayward people for their rebellion. Yet it was also an act of divine love, intended to chasten God’s people and thus to turn them away from their sins. Through the sufferings of defeat and exile, God’s people finally learned not to place their confidence in kings or temples, but only in God himself.
Extreme hardship often plays a similar role in the life of the Christian. Suffering is one of the benefits of belonging to God by adoption in Jesus Christ. Indeed, it is one of the surest proofs of sonship: “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Hebrews 12:6 ESV). Being chastened by suffering draws the believer into closer fellowship with God the Father.
—Philip Graham Ryken
Source: Content taken from Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope © 2016 by Philip Graham Ryken. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Christians who suffer do more than suffer. They also wait. This is not the passive waiting of stoic endurance. It is rather an active resting in the goodness of God, with the hopeful expectation that someday one’s trials will come to an end. There are times when the only thing a sufferer can do is wait for God. But waiting is good because God is worth waiting for. His salvation will come in due course, provided one surrenders to his will and to his timing.
—Philip Graham Ryken
Source: Content taken from Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope © 2016 by Philip Graham Ryken. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
As we have seen, Lamentations does not have all the answers to the problem of suffering. One thing it does do, however, is raise some of the kinds of questions God has answered in Jesus Christ. In this case, Lamentations helps to show why Jesus is the true prophet, the holy priest, and the servant king God’s people have always needed. Unlike Judah’s lying prophets, he always gives God’s true Word. Unlike her unholy priests, he has offered perfect atonement for sin, once and for all. And unlike her selfish kings, he bravely defends his people from all their enemies.
. . .
The book ends the way God intended it to end, with the kind of unresolved anguish we have come to expect from the Weeping Prophet. Yet Lamentations was never intended to have the last word. The questions it raises were ones Jeremiah could not fully answer.
There are many times when Christians find themselves asking the same kinds of questions: Has God rejected me? Can I still be saved? Is there any hope? Will my sufferings ever come to an end? In this troubled world, similar questions often need to be asked about the sufferings of others: Why does God allow persecution and oppression? What purpose does he hope to accomplish through warfare and famine?
Unlike Jeremiah, we can do more than ask such questions. We can trust the answer God has provided through the atoning death of Jesus Christ, who makes this promise: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4 ESV).
—Philip Graham Ryken
Source: Content taken from Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope © 2016 by Philip Graham Ryken. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Discover music inspired by the message and content of the book of Lamentations.