Lamentations

A poem of lament over the destruction of a city, Jerusalem. It doesn’t say, but we think it is the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar shortly after 600BC. (When he took them all into exile in Babylon).
Each chapter in Lamentations is an acrostic of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The equivalent of starting each line with A, B, C, … , Z in an English poem. In chapter 3 there are three lines for each letter, and in chapter 5 there are still 22 lines but they aren’t an acrostic. Why? No idea. What do you think?


	Lamentations
	Who, When, Where
	Written by Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a young prophet in Jerusalem around the time of the Exile. Written ~600BC. After Saul, David and Solomon the Jews were divided into two kingdoms, Israel in the North and Judah in the South. Towards the end of the 200 years of the divided kingdoms. Jerusalem
	Summary
	A poem of lament over the destruction of a city, Jerusalem. It doesn’t say, but we think it is the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar shortly after 600BC. (When he took them all into exile in Babylon). Each chapter in Lamentations is an acrostic of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The equivalent of starting each line with A, B, C, … , Z in an English poem. In chapter 3 there are three lines for each letter, and in chapter 5 there are still 22 lines but they aren’t an acrostic. Why? No idea. What do you think?
	Before You Read
	Are there any clues about why this happened? What about how it all ends up? Is that good or bad?
	Key Verses
	Lamentations 3:22-24 Because of Yahweh’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “Yahweh is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” We are not consumed only because of Yahweh’s great love for us. (We deserve to be, but we’re not).
	After You Read
	What verses really stood out to you? How would you summarize this book in a sentence or two? What is it about? What is God trying to say to us? What would you have done with this city and these people if you were God. Aren’t you glad you’re not? What do you think it would take for this to happen to your city?