Background and History

The chapters above are the King James text. This essay is the setting of Lamentations: who is said to have written it, when and where, what happens in it, and how the text has been copied.

At a Glance

Author	Jeremiah, in Jewish and Christian tradition, including the Talmud. The book is anonymous. Many scholars think another poet or poets wrote it.
Date	About 586 BC in one survey, soon after Jerusalem’s fall.
Place written	Jerusalem or Judah, by its setting.
Genre	Five poems of lament, four of them acrostics.
Chapters	5
Verses	154 in the King James Version
Key verse	Lamentations 3:22–23 Lamentations 3:22 · King James VersionIt is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.Lamentations 3:22 · King James VersionOpen the Source

Who Wrote It

The Hebrew book is anonymous. The Talmud says Jeremiah wrote it. (2) 2 Chronicles 35:25 2 Chronicles 35:25 · King James VersionAnd Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.2 Chronicles 35:25 · King James VersionOpen the Source says Jeremiah lamented for Josiah. The Greek Septuagint adds an introduction naming Jeremiah. Critical scholars see differences in style between the poems and doubt Jeremiah wrote them. Others accept him.

Who It Is Not

The Septuagint’s introduction is not in the Hebrew.

When and Where

Bible Gateway gives about 586 BC. (5)

Audience and Setting

Survivors of Jerusalem’s destruction. The purpose is to give voice to grief and to hope in God’s mercy.

Rulers at the Time

The book does not name kings. This page adds none.

When	What
Jerusalem desolate	Lamentations 1
God’s anger	Lamentations 2
Hope in mercy	Lamentations 3
Siege remembered	Lamentations 4
Prayer	Lamentations 5
Composition	About 586 BC in one survey. (5)

Places in This Book

Ancient name	Modern-day location	References
Jerusalem	The Old City of Jerusalem.	Lamentations 1:1 Lamentations 1:1 · King James VersionHow doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!Lamentations 1:1 · King James VersionOpen the Source

What Is Happening

Lamentations 1 mourns the city. Lamentations 2 describes God’s judgment. Lamentations 3 moves from despair to hope. Lamentations 4 recalls the siege. Lamentations 5 prays for restoration.

Key Themes

God’s faithfulness in Lamentations 3:22–23 Lamentations 3:22–23 · King James Version^3:22 It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. ^3:23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.Lamentations 3:22–23 · King James VersionOpen the Source. Honest grief. Sin and judgment in Lamentations 1:8 Lamentations 1:8 · King James VersionJerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.Lamentations 1:8 · King James VersionOpen the Source.

Apologetics Questions

The book addresses why God would allow his own city to fall. It answers with confession and hope rather than explanation.

How the Book Points to Christ

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem in Luke 19:41 Luke 19:41 · King James VersionAnd when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,Luke 19:41 · King James VersionOpen the Source. The suffering man of Lamentations 3 has been read in light of Christ’s sufferings. Jesus is God.

Text and Manuscripts

Lamentations is among the books found at Qumran. (6)

Canon Reception

Joined with Jeremiah in Athanasius’s count. (4) (3)

Book of Lamentations, 1:1; 2:9 Lamentations 1:1 · King James VersionHow doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!Lamentations 1:1 · King James VersionOpen the Source. King James Version

Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 15a, 15a (The William Davidson English on Sefaria is copyrighted. This page paraphrases it and does not reprint it. The page continues the list of writers and the debate about it.)

Against Apion, 1.8 Josephus, Against Apion 1.8 · William WhistonFor we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from, and contradicting one another: [as the Greeks have:] but only twenty two books: which contain the records of all the past times: which are justly believed to be divine. And of them five belong to Moses: which contain his laws, and the traditions of the origin of mankind, till his death.Josephus, Against Apion 1.8 · William WhistonOpen the Source (Flavius Josephus, Against Apion 1.8, translated by William Whiston. Josephus counts twenty-two books: five of Moses, thirteen of the prophets from Moses to Artaxerxes, and four of hymns and precepts.)

Festal Letter 39, 39.4–5 (Athanasius of Alexandria, AD 367, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, vol. 4, on New Advent. The letter lists twenty-two Old Testament books and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, and places Esther among books to be read rather than in the canon.)

When Was Each Book of the Bible Written?, Lamentations (Jacob Edson, Bible Gateway, 16 September 2024. The survey gives Lamentations as ca. 586 BC. It is one editor’s approximation, not a manuscript date.)

Dead Sea Scrolls, introduction, Biblical manuscripts Dead Sea Scrolls, biblical manuscripts · Israel Antiquities AuthorityAmong the Scrolls are partial or complete copies of every book in the Hebrew Bible (except the book of Esther).Dead Sea Scrolls, biblical manuscripts · Israel Antiquities AuthorityOpen the Source (Israel Antiquities Authority. Biblical manuscripts from the Qumran caves date from the third century BC into the first century AD, and every book of the Hebrew Bible except Esther is represented.)