Major prophets
Lamentations
Five poems of grief over the destruction of Jerusalem, with a note of hope in God’s faithful love.
Lamentations was written soon after Jerusalem fell, when the city lay in ruins. Jewish and Christian tradition name Jeremiah, and the Septuagint adds a note saying so. At its centre is the hope that Yahweh’s mercies “are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22–23).
Kinds of writing
- Song and psalm 100%
Key verses
His mercies are new every morning. It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23 (World English Bible)
Places
On the timeline
Jerusalem falls; the temple is burned
Dating notes
Ussher ties Jeremiah’s lament to Josiah’s death in 610 BC (2 Chronicles 35:25); most place the book after 586 BC. The span is an estimate; Scripture doesn’t say when the book was written.