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1-9: Lamentations is a short book of poems that lament the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, which is recorded in 2 Kings 25. The fall was a judgment from God for the sins of Jerusalem (Lamentations 1:8-9). God used the Babylonians as His human tool of judgment, by allowing them to conquer the city.

10: The Babylonians, who were pagan gentiles forbidden from entering the temple, went into it and stole everything of material value.

11: The Babylonian armies camped outside the walled city to stop food from entering in. This was a battle tactic that caused a severe famine. The Babylonians attacked when the Jewish armies were hungry and weak.

12-20: The author mourned over the young men (soldiers) being crushed and exiled into Babylonian captivity (Lamentations 1:15). This was compounded by the fact that Israel deserved the judgment for their rebellion (Lamentations 1:18).

21-22: The author asked God to judge the Babylonians as He judged Jerusalem. This is a prayer that would eventually be answered when the Persians defeated the Babylonians (Daniel 5:30-31).

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1-9: The author poetically expressed the abandonment Israel felt after the siege of Jerusalem. They felt like God was their enemy because He destroyed His own temple and tent of meeting. He abandoned the king and priests and caused Zion to forget their festivals and Sabbaths since they were preoccupied with famine and being enslaved. The prophets experienced the silence of God, and it felt like the Law was no more. All of this was the result of Israel breaking covenant with God.

10-22: Many people in Israel were slaughtered. Those that remained mourned and called each other to repentance. They had allowed false prophets to lead them astray, and God poured out His judgment. To make matters worse, Israel’s enemies gloated and celebrated their destruction.

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1-20: The poet gives one metaphor after another to express how he felt God was opposing him. God made him dwell in darkness, broke his bones, made his chains heavy, shut out his prayer, "blocked his paths and made the crooked, tore him to pieces, and made him desolate, etc.". He was speaking as a representative of Israel.

21-27: But despite everything that happened, the poet put his hope in God’s unchanging character— love, mercy, and new beginnings. God mercifully spared some of the Israelites when they deserved to be completely destroyed.

28-33: The author gives great advice for when we are disciplined by the Lord. We should silently accept whatever God brings our way ("cheek to the one who strikes") and humbly repent ("put his mouth to the dust"). God will eventually have compassion on us because He’s merciful and His character is unchanging.

34-36: God opposes oppression and unjust trials.

37-39: As guilty sinners, we’re in no position to complain when God punishes or disciplines us. Unbelievers are punished, and those in Christ are only disciplined, since Jesus already paid for our sins. The purpose of discipline is to lead us into repentance (Revelation 3:19); the purpose of punishment is justice.

40-45: Though the writer accepted God’s punishment, it was still appropriate for him to mourn and express himself. Likewise, it’s appropriate for us to mourn when we are being disciplined, so long as it causes us to "examine our ways and return to the Lord" (Lamentations 3:40). In verse 42 He confessed that Israel had transgressed and deserved to be conquered by Babylon. The sins Israel committed were recorded in (2 Kings 17:7-17). We know from other passages that their sins included sacrificing their own children to false Gods (Jeremiah 19:5).

46-66: The author was confident that God would judge the oppressors He used to judge Israel, since they served a God of justice. The book Habakkuk addressed this when God said He would Judge Babylon as well (Habakkuk 2:15-17).

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1-11: The gold and stones of the temple were rubble on the streets. The author described how the lives of Jerusalem’s inhabitants had changed since being conquered. The people had become cruel, babies were starving, the rich were now in the streets starving and mourning (embracing ash heaps), royalty were now unrecognizable and withering away, and women resorted to cannibalism and ate their own children. Having the nation deteriorate like this was was worse than being swiftly destroyed by sword or instantly burned the way Sodom was, since the suffering was drawn out (Lamentations 4:6,9).

12-20: The kings of other nations thought Israel was invincible because God gave them so many victories. But Israel’s fall came from within; from their corrupt prophets that lead them astray. God scattered and judged the guilty priests and elders.

21-22: The Edomites were told to enjoy it while it lasted because their time for judgment would come too. God’s judgment on Israel was terrible, but it was finished.

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1-22: The author described life under the rule of their enemies. Israelites were enslaved, overworked, raped, humiliated, and lost all hope. He confessed again that Israel had sinned and gave one final plea for God to restore them as in the days of old.