Author: Generally assigned to Jeremiah.

Title: The original Hebrew name assigned to the book is from, ‘ Eykah ', which means, ‘How', which is from the first word that the book opens with. The Greek word assigned to the book is ‘ Threnoi ', which means, ‘Dirges' or ‘Laments'. This is the basis for the English title, “The Lamentations of Jeremiah”.

Arrangement: The structure of this book is slightly artificial, being strictly poetic, and in many portions acrostic (an arrangement of words in which the first or last letters form an alphabet or word – in this case the Hebrew alphabet).

Occasion: The book laments over the closing events of Judah , during the final reign of Zedekiah, when Babylon came and besieged Jerusalem , destroyed the city and removed the people of the land to captivity.

Note :

•  Lamentations 2:11-12 , 20 ; 4:4 , 9 – II Kings 25:3 .

•  Lamentations 2:7 ; 4:12 – Jeremiah 52:12-23 .

•  Lamentations 2:20-21 – II Chronicles 36:17 .

•  Lamentations 1:5 ; 2:9 – II Kings 25:11 .

Contents: The book is a collection of five elegies (poems or songs of lament); the fall of Judea , the destruction of the sanctuary, the exile of the people, the terror of sword and fire, and the famine in the city of Jerusalem . These make up the primary themes upon which the book turns in many varied strains.

We may consider the first two chapters as primarily focused on the siege. The third chapter dwells on the persecutions and calamities of the people (to include Jeremiah himself), the fourth chapter deals with the ruin and desolation of the city, and the fifth seems to be a prayer on behalf of the people in the dispersion and captivity.

The language of Jeremiah is that of a sufferer, rather than a teacher.

The book remains to do its work for any future generation that turns their back on God to suffer His wrath, note:

Lamentations 3:40 “Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord ;”

Good Reading !