Introduction to the Book of Lamentations The Book of Lamentations records five
poems of sorrow for the fallen city of Jerusalem.
Most believe that the prophet Jeremiah, an eyewitness of the destruction in 586 B
.C., wrote these Lamentations about Jerusalem and the burning of the Temple.
He said, Mine eyes do fail with tears for the destruction of the daughter of my
people.
The Babylonians marched many of the Jewish people into exile in Babylon, hundreds of
miles away.
These Lamentations express the hope that God sympathizes with His people when they
suffer.
Despite the people's blatant, God-defying sin and covenant-breaking rebellion,
Jeremiah reasons, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed,
because His compassions fail not.
Though His divine judgment was righteous, the Lord longed for His people's
repentance and return.
And in time, they would repent.
And God would keep His promise to bring them back into the land and into the
fullness of His love to glorify Him before the nations.