Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Lamentations
Lamentations is Scripture's book of holy grief: five sorrowful poems over the destruction of Jerusalem, teaching us how to mourn honestly before God. Yet at its very center it rises to one of the Bible's brightest hopes, that His mercies are new every morning. This commentary walks through it verse by verse.
About This Commentary
Lamentations is a collection of five poems mourning the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BC. Traditionally attributed to Jeremiah, who witnessed the fall he had long foretold, the book gives voice to profound grief while confessing that God's judgment was just. In Hebrew it is titled Eikhah, 'How!', its opening cry of sorrow. Its first four chapters are acrostic poems, structured around the Hebrew alphabet, a discipline of ordered grief.
This commentary covers Lamentations verse by verse, with the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, verified background, and an Apostolic reading. At the book's heart stands its great hope: 'Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning' (3:22-23). The sorrow of the city also points to the greater Sufferer, Christ, who bore our griefs. References are given at the foot of each chapter.
All five chapters of Lamentations are complete, from the weeping widow of chapter 1 to the closing prayer, 'Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD.'
Author
Traditionally Jeremiah, witness to Jerusalem's fall.
Setting
Jerusalem after its destruction by Babylon, 586 BC.
Structure
Five poems; the first four are Hebrew acrostics.
Theme
Honest grief, confession of God's righteousness, and mercy new each morning.
Translation
King James Version (KJV) throughout.
The Chapters
Lamentations Commentary
The chapters below are available now. The rest are being written and will open here as they are finished and verified.
Lamentations 1:1-22
How Lonely Sits the City
The book of holy grief opens over fallen Jerusalem, a weeping widow abandoned by the lovers she trusted, crying out her sorrow yet confessing that the LORD is righteous.
Read Chapter 1 →Lamentations 2:1-22
The Lord Was as an Enemy
The hardest lament names God's own hand behind the ruin: in His anger He cast down Zion, cast off His altar, and 'was as an enemy,' fulfilling His word of old, yet the chapter ends turning the broken heart back to Him, 'pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord.'
Read Chapter 2 →Lamentations 3:1-66
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
The shining center of the book: from 'my hope is perished' rises the immortal confession, 'It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed... they are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.' The LORD is our portion; He does not afflict willingly; and from the low dungeon He draws near, 'thou saidst, Fear not.'
Read Chapter 3 →Lamentations 4:1-22
How Is the Gold Become Dim
The fine gold grown dim and the precious sons of Zion debased to clay; the horror of the siege and the sins of prophets and priests that caused it; every human help failing and the anointed taken, yet closing in hope, 'The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion.'
Read Chapter 4 →Lamentations 5:1-22
Turn Thou Us Unto Thee
The book ends in a corporate prayer, 'Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us,' owning the sin behind the ruin, 'woe unto us, that we have sinned,' anchoring in the one unshaken thing, 'thou, O LORD, remainest for ever,' and pleading the prayer of grace, 'Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned.'
Read Chapter 5 →