At a Glance
Lamentations at a Glance
- Author. The book names no author. The Greek Old Testament introduces it as Jeremiah's lament, and Jewish and Christian tradition has held the same. We receive it as the work of Jeremiah.
- Date. Shortly after Jerusalem fell in 586 BC, while the memory was still raw.
- Written To. The survivors in the ruined city and the exiles in Babylon.
- Setting. Nebuchadnezzar's army has burned the temple and the city (Jeremiah 52:12–13). The people who survived are hungry, scattered, and asking what God is doing.
- Key Verse. his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22–23).
- Key Word or Theme. Hope in grief. The Hebrew title is Ekah, “How,” the word that begins chapters 1, 2, and 4.
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Further reading
For Deeper Study
- Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to HopeAmazon Philip Graham RykenA pastor's expository commentary that follows Lamentations from sorrow to hope. Reformed, so we differ with him on Israel and the kingdom.
- Unger's Commentary on the Old TestamentAmazon Merrill F. UngerA dispensational commentary in two Old Testament volumes. Its second volume covers Lamentations.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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How the Bible Fits Together
The Bible is sixty-six books written by about forty men over some fifteen hundred years, yet it tells one story of God's redemption from creation to the new earth, and its center is Jesus Christ.
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