The Book of Lamentations (Lamentations of Jeremias)

Lamentations is one of the shortest books of the Bible: five chapters and 154 verses. It is also one of the most carefully made. Four of its five poems are alphabetic acrostics, and every chapter turns on the same scene: Jerusalem lying in ruins, the Temple burnt, and the prophet sitting among the ashes. In the Catholic Bible it follows the Book of Jeremias (Jeremiah) and comes before Baruch. Each chapter page sets the Latin Vulgate beside the Douay-Rheims.

Who wrote the Book of Lamentations?

The Church has received Lamentations as the work of the prophet Jeremias. The Douay-Rheims calls it "The Lamentations of Jeremias", following the Vulgate's Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae. The Greek Septuagint, and the Vulgate after it, open the book with a short preface: "And it came to pass, after Israel was carried into captivity, and Jerusalem was desolate, that Jeremias the prophet sat weeping, and mourned with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and with a sorrowful mind, sighing and moaning, he said" (Lamentations 1).

The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia grants that this preface was not written by the author of the poems, since it stands outside their alphabetic scheme. "It expresses, however, briefly, the tradition of ancient times which is also confirmed both by the Targum and the Talmud."

The reasons for the tradition

Scripture already calls Jeremias a writer of laments. When King Josias fell at Mageddo, "all Juda and Jerusalem mourned for him, particularly Jeremias: whose lamentations for Josias all the singing men and singing women repeat unto this day ... Behold it is found written in the Lamentations" (2 Paralipomenon 35:24–25). His prophecy is full of weeping: "Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? and I will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people" (Jeremias 9:1).

The poems read like an eyewitness. The Catholic Encyclopedia points to the fire in the bones of 1:13–15 and the famine of 4:10. It also notes the complaints against false prophets (2:14), the reproach for seeking help abroad ("we looked attentively towards a nation that was not able to save", 4:17), the closing prayers of chapters 3 and 5, and the many verbal echoes of Jeremias' prophecy. All of this recalls the man who had preached in the streets of Jerusalem to avert the disaster he now mourns.

The Fathers count it with Jeremias. St Athanasius lists "Jeremiah with Baruch, Lamentations, and the epistle, one book" (Festal Letter 39), and St Cyril of Jerusalem gives the same reckoning (Catechetical Lectures IV.35). St Jerome, writing to Paulinus, says of Jeremias that "he also goes four times through the alphabet in different metres" (Letter 53), meaning the four acrostic laments.

The Pontifical Biblical Commission issued no decision on Lamentations. Many modern scholars doubt that Jeremias wrote it and assign the poems to one or more unnamed poets of the same years. The Catholic Encyclopedia answered that its place among the "Writings" of the Hebrew Bible cannot be taken as decisive against Jeremias, since the Septuagint often corrects the later Hebrew arrangement.

When was Lamentations written?

The book was written just after the fall of Jerusalem to Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon. Its story is told in 4 Kings 25, the last chapter of the Fourth Book of Kings (2 Kings), and in Jeremias 52: the city starved under siege, the walls were broken, King Sedecias was blinded, and the Temple and the palace were burnt. The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia dates the fall to 586 BC, after a siege of eighteen months; some reckonings prefer 587 BC. The laments seem to come from the first years after the catastrophe, written for the remnant among the ruins and the exiles in Babylon, and meant to be sung.

How the poems are built

Chapters 1, 2 and 4 have twenty-two verses each, and each verse begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The Douay keeps the letters at the head of the verses: Aleph, Beth, Ghimel, Daleth. Chapter 3 has sixty-six verses: each letter begins three verses in a row. Chapter 5 also has twenty-two verses but no acrostic; the Vulgate calls it "The prayer of Jeremias the prophet". In chapters 2, 3 and 4, Phe comes before Ain, against the usual order. The same form appears in Psalm 118 (119) of the Psalms, where each letter heads eight verses. The alphabet gives grief an order, carrying it from the first letter to the last.

What is the Book of Lamentations about? A summary

The book has five laments. Together they move from bare desolation toward confession and prayer.

The widowed city (chapter 1)

Lamentations 1 opens with the most famous line of the book: "How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! how is the mistress of the Gentiles become as a widow". In verses 1–11 the poet describes Sion: tears on her cheeks at night, friends turned enemies, the Gentiles in her sanctuary. In verses 12–22 Jerusalem herself speaks: "O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow". She confesses that her ruin is just: "The Lord is just, for I have provoked his mouth to wrath" (1:18).

The anger of the Lord (chapter 2)

Lamentations 2 looks at the cause. The Lord Himself "is become as an enemy". He has cast off His altar, cursed His sanctuary and stretched out a line to destroy the walls. Challoner explains "cursed": "he permitted his sanctuary to be destroyed, as if it had not been consecrated". False prophets "have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance" (2:14). The poet tells the city to pray: "pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord" (2:19).

The man of sorrows and the mercies of the Lord (chapter 3)

Lamentations 3 is the heart of the book. One man speaks: "I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation." He has been led into darkness, walled in, filled with wormwood. Then, at verse 21, he turns to hope: "These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope." There follows the book's great confession of mercy, and a call to the whole people: "Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord" (3:40). From "the lowest pit" he calls on God's name and hears the answer, "Fear not" (3:55–57).

The gold grown dim (chapter 4)

Lamentations 4 returns to the siege. "How is the gold become dim, the finest colour is changed". Those brought up in scarlet "have embraced the dung", and the hands of pitiful women "have sodden their own children". The iniquity of the daughter of Sion "is made greater than the sin of Sodom" (4:6), and the poet names the cause: "the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her" (4:13). Even the king, "the breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord", is taken (4:20). It ends with a promise: "Thy iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Sion, he will no more carry thee away into captivity" (4:22).

The prayer of Jeremias (chapter 5)

Lamentations 5 is a prayer said by the whole people: "Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider and behold our reproach." It lists the losses: "Our inheritance is turned to aliens", orphans and widows, water bought for money. It confesses, "woe to us, because we have sinned", and rises to faith: "But thou, O Lord, shalt remain for ever, thy throne from generation to generation" (5:19). Its last petition has been taken up in prayer ever since: "Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted: renew our days, as from the beginning" (5:21).

The meaning of Lamentations: themes and the Catholic reading

Sin is the cause of ruin, and God is just. The book never blames God unjustly. Over and over it names the cause: "because the Lord hath spoken against her for the multitude of her iniquities" (1:5); "Jerusalem hath grievously sinned" (1:8). The book is a school of contrition, teaching the soul to say, "Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?" (3:39).

Suffering is not God's last word. "For the Lord will not cast off for ever. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men" (3:31–33). We take up this teaching in what God says about suffering.

Jerusalem's sorrow foreshadows the Passion. The Fathers and the liturgy read the book of Christ, the true Temple destroyed by the sins of the people. The Catholic Encyclopedia gives the reason: since Our Lord "spoke of the temple of his body" (John 2:21), the Church "surely has a right to pour out her grief over His death in those Lamentations which were sung over the ruins of the temple".

The man of chapter 3, whose bones are broken and who "shall give his cheek to him that striketh him" (3:30), is read as Christ in His Passion, the Servant of Isaias who says, "I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them" (Isaias 50:6); see the Passion of Jesus Christ. Challoner notes on 4:20 that "Christ the Lord", said literally of the anointed king, "also relates, in the spiritual sense, to Christ our Lord, suffering for our sins". Our Lord Himself wept over Jerusalem: "seeing the city, he wept over it" (Luke 19:41).

Our Lady of Sorrows. Christian devotion has long placed "O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow" on the lips of the Mother standing by the Cross, whose heart the sword pierced. It is the spirit of the Seven Sorrows Chaplet and of the Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows.

Famous verses and chapters of Lamentations

Lamentations 1:1, "How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people!" (chapter 1). The first word in Hebrew, Ekhah, "How!", gives the book its Hebrew name.

Lamentations 1:12, "O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow". In Latin it is O vos omnes, set to music by many composers for Holy Week.

Lamentations 3, the chapter most searched and most loved (Lamentations 3). Its centre is verses 22–26: "The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him. The Lord is good to them that hope in him ... It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God."

Lamentations 5:21, "Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted" (chapter 5).

Lamentations in the canon and in the liturgy

Lamentations is a protocanonical book, received by Jews and Christians alike, so it is in every Bible: Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant. Only its position and its preface differ. The Septuagint and the Vulgate place it among the prophets, directly after Jeremias. In the later Hebrew Bible it stands among the Writings, as one of the five "scrolls", and the Jews read it on the fast of the ninth of Ab, which mourns the Temple.

Protestant Bibles such as the King James Version follow the Catholic order, placing it after Jeremiah, but they translate from the Hebrew and so leave out the Septuagint preface and the Hebrew letters. The Council of Trent (Session IV, 1546) does not list Lamentations by name: it falls under "Jeremias, with Baruch", as in the ancient lists that counted it as part of Jeremias' book. The Douay-Rheims prints it whole, preface and letters included; see the Douay-Rheims Bible and the Latin Vulgate Bible.

Tenebrae: Lamentations in Holy Week

The book's great place in the Church's prayer is Tenebrae, the Matins and Lauds of the Sacred Triduum. In the 1962 Roman Breviary the three lessons of the first nocturn each day are taken from Lamentations, sung with their Hebrew letters. On Holy Thursday they begin Incipit Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae and run through chapter 1, verses 1–14. On Good Friday they take 2:8–15 and 3:1–9. On Holy Saturday they take 3:22–30 and 4:1–6, and close with Incipit Oratio Jeremiae Prophetae, 5:1–11.

Every lesson ends with the same cry, which is not in the book but is the Church's own: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord thy God". O vos omnes returns in the responsories of Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Our pages on Holy Week, Matins and Tenebrae, Holy Thursday and Good Friday describe the rites. The whole Office can be prayed in our Breviary.

How to read the Book of Lamentations

Read Jeremias 52 first, for the facts of the siege. Then read the five chapters slowly, one a day, aloud if you can. Keep chapter 3 for the day you need it most, and pray verses 22–26 as an act of hope. In Holy Week, read the Tenebrae lessons with the Latin beside the English. Then read Psalm 136 (137), "Upon the rivers of Babylon".

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the Book of Lamentations?

The Church has received the Book of Lamentations as the work of the prophet Jeremias, and the Douay-Rheims calls it "The Lamentations of Jeremias". The Septuagint and Vulgate preface says that "Jeremias the prophet sat weeping, and mourned with this lamentation over Jerusalem". The Fathers counted it with his prophecy. Many modern scholars propose other, unnamed authors; the tradition rests on the oldest witnesses.

What is the Book of Lamentations about?

Lamentations is five poems of mourning over Jerusalem after the Babylonians destroyed the city and the Temple. They describe the siege, the famine and the exile, confess that the people's sins brought it about, and turn to hope in God's mercy. The Church also reads the book of the Passion of Christ and sings it at Tenebrae in Holy Week.

When was the Book of Lamentations written?

It was written soon after the fall of Jerusalem to Nabuchodonosor, which the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia dates to 586 BC. Its vivid detail of the siege and the famine points to an eyewitness writing in the first years after the catastrophe.

Who was the Book of Lamentations written to?

It was written for the people of Juda: the remnant left among the ruins of Jerusalem and the exiles carried to Babylon. It gave them words to mourn, to confess their sins and to pray for restoration.

How many chapters are in the Book of Lamentations?

The Book of Lamentations has 5 chapters and 154 verses. Chapters 1, 2, 4 and 5 have 22 verses each, matching the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet; chapter 3 has 66. The first four chapters are alphabetic acrostics.

Where is the Book of Lamentations in the Bible?

In the Catholic Bible, Lamentations comes among the prophets, right after Jeremias and before Baruch, as in the Septuagint and Vulgate. Protestant Bibles also place it after Jeremiah, before Ezekiel. In the Hebrew Bible it is among the Writings, one of the five scrolls.

Is the Book of Lamentations in the Catholic Bible?

Yes. Lamentations is in every Catholic Bible, and also in the Orthodox, Protestant and Hebrew Bibles. The Douay-Rheims prints it with the Vulgate's preface and the Hebrew letters, which the King James omits.

What does the Book of Lamentations teach us?

It teaches that sin brings ruin, that God is just in His chastisements, and that His mercy never fails: "The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed" (Lamentations 3:22). It leads us to the sorrows of Christ and of His Mother.

Is Gregory of Narek's "Book of Lamentations" part of the Bible?

No. St Gregory of Narek, an Armenian monk of the tenth century, wrote a long book of prayers often called the Book of Lamentations. It is a work of devotion, not Holy Scripture. The biblical Book of Lamentations is the five elegies of Jeremias over Jerusalem.

Read the whole Book of Lamentations verse by verse, in Latin and English side by side, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. The Book of Lamentations, with 2 Paralipomenon, Jeremias, Isaias, Luke and John (Douay-Rheims, Challoner revision, with Challoner's notes; Clementine Vulgate); St Athanasius, Festal Letter 39; St Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures IV.35; St Jerome, Letter 53 (to Paulinus); Council of Trent, Session IV, Decree on the Canonical Scriptures (1546); Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), "Jeremias" (section "Lamentations") and "Tenebrae"; Breviarium Romanum (1962), Matins of the Sacred Triduum (Tenebrae).