The prophetic book Lamentations
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Thought to be Jeremiah reference made in Jeremiah 7:29.	To lament the falling of Jerusalem / Judah and the people. Judah was carried off captive to Babylon in 586bc, 2nd Kings 25, while Israel had already been taken captive by the Assyrians, 136 years earlier in 722bc. The book consists of five poems, one per chapter. Three of the poems are written as acrostics, with each verse beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The theme of the poem's deals with: God's judgment in response to man's sin and God's compassion. five chapters	Around the fall of Jerusalem, about 586 BC.

Verse by verse, account of the book of Lamentations.

Lamentations: chapter 1

¹Jerusalem, the once great city, among the nations filled with people, has now become as a widow, alone and desolate and is as a slave. ²The city weeps in the night but her tears are all in vain, all have turned on her among those she desired, she has none to comfort her, they have all become her enemies. ³Judah has also gone into captivity because of her misdeeds, her people find no rest as they have been overtaken by their persecutors and are now severing the heathen. ⁴The pathways to the LORD's solemn feasts do mourn, for her city gates are desolate, her virgins have been affected and her priests do sigh, bitterness has overtaken her. ⁵Her enemies rule and reign over her and even prosper, for the children have gone into captivity, for the LORD has affected them for her many transgressions. ⁶All beauty has departed from the daughters of Zion, her leaders no longer have cities to lead and they have gone before their pursuers without strength. ⁷Now in the days of her affection, Jerusalem remembers the pleasant things that her she had before her people fell captive, for in those days none helped her and her adversaries mocked her Sabbaths as useless. ⁸Jerusalem has grievously sinned, turned backwards, becoming unclean thus being removed, those who once honored her have seen her shame and now despise her. ⁹She is defiled! She gave little thought to her final end, therefore her fall was great, from a royal throne to slavery. There is no one to comfort her even as she cries out to the LORD, for the enemy has triumphed over her. ¹⁰Her enemies have even defiled her holy places, for she has seen them entering her sanctuaries, taking the holy things, the people that the LORD commanded should not enter. ¹¹Her people groan, they seek for food, bartering with their precious things for food. As the people cry out to the LORD, consider how low we have fallen.

¹²And to those who pass by, Look at how great our sorrow is, there is none greater, for the LORD has afflicted us. ¹³For the LORD has made our bones burn like fire, we are within His nets and He has turned us back, we are most miserable and hopeless. ¹⁴Our yoke that our transgressions have put on us, is controlled by His hand. He has delivered us into their hands and has caused our strength to fail. ¹⁵All of our mighty men has the LORD defeated, He has set forth a time to crush my young men, pressing, as a winepress, even the daughters of Jerusalem. ¹⁶Because of these things I weep and cry. For the comforter that could relieve my soul, is far from me, the enemy has prevailed and my children are desolate. ¹⁷Even though Jerusalem has reached out her hands, there is no one there to comfort her. The LORD has commanded its enemies to surround her, for Jerusalem is unclean and defiled. ¹⁸The LORD is just and righteous, for we have rebelled against Him. Hear this all you people and see our sorrow for our virgins and young men have gone into captivity. ¹⁹ For I called to my lovers and they deceived me, also our priests and elders were merely self-serving. ²⁰Look upon us LORD, we are in distress. Our insides are in knots, our thoughts alone are concerned with our survival. We have greatly rebelled ²¹There is none to comfort me, all my foes have heard my groans and troubles and they are glad. For you will bring the day of Judah's punishment, as you foretold, for it also involves our enemies and they shall become like us. ²²May their wickedness come before you and do unto them as You have done unto us for our transgressions. for our hearts faint and we groan day and night.

Lamentations: chapter 2

¹How the LORD has covered Jerusalem in His anger and cast them down from their high throne, as if He had forgotten about His footstool in the day of His anger. ²The LORD has sent down His wrath and swallowed up the inhabitation of Israel and brought Judah down low. ³In His anger He has broken down Israel's defense, empowered the enemy and they have surrounded Israel. ⁴With the bow the enemy did slay all that they saw, even within the people's sacred places, for the LORD stood by their side. ⁵ The LORD has become like as an enemy to Israel. He has swallowed her up, destroyed her strong holds and their mourning has greatly increased. ⁶For He has withdrawn His Tabernacle in His rage and destroyed the assemblies of their high places. Causing them to forget of His solemn feasts and Sabbaths, for in His anger He has rejected their kings and priests. ⁷The LORD has rejected and cast off His altar, He has given Israel over to the enemy and they now hold a victory triumph, in the house of the LORD, on the feast days. ⁸For the LORD has purposed to destroy the wall of Jerusalem,. ⁹The gates are sunken into the ground and the bars are broken. Her kings and officials are taken captive, the law is no more and her prophets find no visions in the LORD.

¹⁰The elders of Jerusalem sit in silence, they have put on sackcloth and put ashes on their heads, even the virgins of Jerusalem mourn. ¹¹My eyes fail with tears and I am troubled, because of the destruction of my people, for the children and the infants are cast out into the city streets. ¹²As they wander the streets, they ask their mothers, where is our food and drink? ¹³Oh How can I comfort you, what can I compare your trials to, that I may witness to you, Oh Jerusalem? For your ruin is great, who can heal you? ¹⁴Your prophets have prophesied vain and foolish things only to increase yourself delusions and they have not revealed to you the truth of your iniquities, to turn you away from your captivity. ¹⁵All who now pass by Jerusalem, are shocked, saying; Was this the city that men called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the earth? ¹⁶All of our enemies speak against us, bragging of their conquest. ¹⁷The LORD has fulfilled His Word as He has said in the days of old, He has thrown you down without pity, He has caused your enemies to rejoice over you, for He has placed them in power over you. ¹⁸Then the hearts of Jerusalem cried out to the LORD, as the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the people, saying; Weep day and night without ceasing. ¹⁹Cry in the night, pour out your heart and lift up your hands to the LORD, for our children are at stake. ²⁰LORD consider to whom You have done this, shall our woman eat their own children, shall our priest be slain as they worship the LORD? ²¹The young and the old lie in the streets and our young men and women have fallen by the sword. For in Your anger You killed them without pity. ²²You, LORD have called for this day of terror and in the day of Your anger none escaped, for all have been consumed by the enemy.

Lamentations: chapter 3

¹I am the man Jeremiah that has seen affliction by the rod of the LORD's wrath. ²The LORD has led me into darkness and not light. ³Surely He has turned against me, all day His hand is against me. ⁴He has made my flesh old and has broken my bones. ⁵He has built a siege against me and surrounds me with bitterness and hardship. ⁶He has caused me to live in dark places, as does a corpse. ⁷He has hedged me in, to where I cannot get out, my bondage is great. ⁸Also when I cry and shout, he shuts out my prayers. ⁹He has walled me in and set me on a crooked path. ¹⁰It was as He lied in wait for me, like a lion hiding in a secret place. ¹¹He has turned me from my ways, ripping me in pieces, he has made me desolate. ¹²He has bent His bow and marked me as the target. ¹³And caused His arrows to enter into my heart and my desires. ¹⁴I have become a mockery to all my people, for in their songs, they mock me all day long. ¹⁵He has filled me and made me drunk with bitterness. ¹⁶He has broken my teeth and covered me with ashes. ¹⁷He has removed my soul far from peace and I have forgotten what prosperity is. ¹⁸My strength and hope in the LORD has perished. ¹⁹May the LORD remember all of my affliction and misery and my bitterness. ²⁰My soul remembers them all and is humbled within me.

²¹When I recall these things, it brings me hope. ²²For it is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, His compassion fails not. ²³They are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness. ²⁴The LORD is my portion, says my soul. Therefore I will hope in Him. ²⁵The LORD is good unto them that wait on Him and the soul that seeks Him. ²⁶It is good that a man both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. ²⁷It is good for a man that he bears this yoke in his youth. ²⁸Let him sit and bear in silence, for this is what God has given him. ²⁹May he be aware of his unworthiness, so that there may still be hope. ³⁰May he humble himself and give his cheek to the LORD that afflicts him, although he is filled full with reproach. ³¹For the Lord will not cast him aside forever: ³²Though the LORD causes grief, yet He will have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. ³³For He does not afflict out of vengeance the children of men. ³⁴Crushing the prisoners of the earth under His feet, ³⁵Turning aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High, ³⁶Subverting a man in his own cause, the Lord does not approve of these things.

³⁷For no one shall speak and have it come to pass, unless the Lord commands it. ³⁸For does not out of the mouth of the Most High proceed both evil and good? ³⁹Why then does a living man complain, for the punishment of his sins? ⁴⁰Let us then examine our ways and turn back to the LORD. ⁴¹Let us lift our hearts and our hands in prayer to GOD in heaven.

⁴²For we have transgressed and rebelled, God did not pardon us. ⁴³For You have covered Yourself with anger and persecuted and slain us without mercy. ⁴⁴And in such anger, our prayers do not pass through. ⁴⁵You have made us as an outcast midst of the people. ⁴⁶All our enemies have spoken against us. ⁴⁷Fear has come upon us, of desolation and destruction. ⁴⁸I cry rivers of tears, because of the destruction of my people. ⁴⁹My eyes overflow continually without ceasing, ⁵⁰Until the LORD sees from heaven. ⁵¹My eyes cause me grief at the fate of my city. ⁵²My enemies have hunted me down, without cause. ⁵³They have cut off my life in the dungeon and cast stones upon me. ⁵⁴Waters flowed over my head, then I said, I am gone.

⁵⁵Then, I called upon the name, O LORD, out of my low state. ⁵⁶You then heard my voice and did not hide from my prayer of relief. ⁵⁷You did draw near in the day when I called and You said; Fear not. ⁵⁸O Lord, You did contend with my soul and You have redeemed my life. ⁵⁹O LORD, You have seen my overthrow, therefore, judge my case. ⁶⁰You have seen their vengeance against me. ⁶¹You have heard their reproach towards me and their imaginations against me; ⁶²How they have spoken and their deeds against me. ⁶³You know all of their movements, behold, I am their amusement. ⁶⁴Give unto them a recompense, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. ⁶⁵Give them sorrow of heart, place Your curse upon them. ⁶⁶LORD, persecute and destroy them with Your anger.

Lamentations: chapter 4

¹The holy things of the sanctuary have been treated so carelessly, the gold has become dim and the precious stones are poured out on the street. ²The princes and priests, once worth their weight in fine gold for they are God's chosen, are now considered as common dirt. ³Even the lowest of life nurse and care for their children, but my people have become cruel and they have deserted their young. ⁴The infant dies of thirst while the young child asks for bread in vain. ⁵Those who eat rich foods are now destitute in the street, while they who were robed in rich garments lie in ash heaps. ⁶For the despair that has come to my people, is greater than the punishment of Sodom. For it was overthrown in a moment. ⁷For in appearance, her priests were whiter than snow and robust in body. ⁸But my people are blacker than coal, they are as skin and bone. ⁹They who are slain with the sword are more fortunate than they who are slain with hunger, for they that perish due to hunger slowly waste away. ¹⁰Even the hand of the merciful women have boiled their own children, for this was their food during the destruction of the city. ¹¹The LORD has fulfilled His wrath, He has poured out His anger and devoured the foundations of the people. ¹²No one believed at first that the enemy could enter into the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³But this happened, due to the sins of the false prophets and the iniquity of the priests. ¹⁴They wander as blind men in the streets and have polluted themselves with blood, as unclean men. ¹⁵They cry, unclean, unclean, as they wander like fugitives. ¹⁶The anger of the LORD has scattered them and does not regard them. ¹⁷As for us, our hopes for other nations to save us have been in vain. ¹⁸They track our steps and our days are numbered for our end has come. ¹⁹Our persecutors are swift, wherever we run to they are there. ²⁰They have even taken the breath of our nostrils, the anointing of the LORD.

²¹Rejoice for now, you people of Edom. For your turn will come and you shall bear your shame. ²²Jerusalem, the punishment for your iniquity has been done, no more will the LORD carry you away into captivity, but He will visit iniquities on the people of Edom.

Lamentations: chapter 5

¹Consider, what has come upon us, O LORD and look upon our reproach. ²Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to foreigners. ³We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. ⁴We have to pay money to drink our own water, our own wood is sold back to us. ⁵We are under persecution and do labor, there is no rest for us. ⁶We have given our pledge to the Egyptians and the Assyrians, merely to get food. ⁷It was our fathers whom sinned and are no more and we have bore their iniquities. ⁸Even slaves rule over us, there is no one to deliver us. ⁹Even to reap our own harvest, we risk our own lives, because of the sword of wicked men. ¹⁰Our skin is parched because of the burning heat of the famine. ¹¹They have ravished the women of Jerusalem and the maids in the cities of Judah. ¹²They have hung princes by their hands, neither do they respect elders. ¹³The young men they have made to carry millstones, also making the children burdens to heavy to carry and they have fallen. ¹⁴The elders no longer gather together and the young men no longer play their happy tunes. ¹⁵There is no longer joy in our hearts and our dance has turned into mourning. ¹⁶Woe unto us for we have sinned! The crown is fallen from our head.

¹⁷For this reason our heart is faint and our eyes are dim. ¹⁸The foxes now walk over the mountains of Jerusalem, for they stand desolate. ¹⁹But You, O LORD, reign forever, Your throne is from generation to generation. ²⁰Have you forgotten us? Why have we been forsaken for so long? ²¹Turn to us, O LORD and we shall turn and be restored, renew our days as before. ²²Or have You utterly rejected us? Are You still angry with us?