Lamentations

אֵיכָה

Meaning “how”

Lamentations (also called the Lamentations of Jeremiah), a series of elegies, centers around the suffering endured by Jerusalemיְרוּשָׁלַם‎
Transliteration: yᵊrûšālam – Pronunciation: yer-oo-shaw-lah’-im – proper locative noun meaning “teaching of peace” or possession of peace – also called the city of David and Zion – the chief city of Palestine and capital of the united kingdom and the nation of Judah after the split For more info click here after its capture by Nebuchadnezzarנְבוּכַדְנֶאצַּר‎
Transliteration nᵊḇûḵaḏne’ṣṣar Pronunciation neb-oo-kad-nets-tsar’ Nebuchadnezzar II also spelled Nebuchadrezzar II was the second Neo-Babylonian emperor, ruling from the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC to his own death in 562 BC. Historically known as Nebuchadnezzar the Great, he is typically regarded as the empire’s greatest king For more info click here in 586 BCE. The author expresses profound grief over the city’s agony and anguish. The first lament provides a general description of Jerusalem’sיְרוּשָׁלַם‎
Transliteration: yᵊrûšālam – Pronunciation: yer-oo-shaw-lah’-im – proper locative noun meaning “teaching of peace” or possession of peace – also called the city of David and Zion – the chief city of Palestine and capital of the united kingdom and the nation of Judah after the split For more info click here afflictions, while the second delves deeper into the disaster, emphasizing that the city’s destruction is a divine judgmentמִשְׁפָּט‎
Transliteration: mišpāṭ – properly, a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree (human or (participant’s) divine law, individual or collective), including the act, the place, the suit, the crime, and the penalty; abstractly, justice, including a participant’s right or privilege (statutory or customary), or even a style:— adversary, ceremony, charge custom, desert, determination, discretion, disposing, due, fashion, form, to be judged, judgment, just(-ice, -ly), (manner of) law(-ful), manner, measure, (due) order, ordinance, right, sentence. For more info click here for its sinsחָטָא
Transliteration:ḥāṭā’ Pronunciation:khaw-taw’ – A primitive root From an archery term meaning to miss the mark – For more info click here.

The third lament explores the underlying factors of this judgmentמִשְׁפָּט‎
Transliteration: mišpāṭ – properly, a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree (human or (participant’s) divine law, individual or collective), including the act, the place, the suit, the crime, and the penalty; abstractly, justice, including a participant’s right or privilege (statutory or customary), or even a style:— adversary, ceremony, charge custom, desert, determination, discretion, disposing, due, fashion, form, to be judged, judgment, just(-ice, -ly), (manner of) law(-ful), manner, measure, (due) order, ordinance, right, sentence. For more info click here. The fourth lament highlights the lessons Jerusalemיְרוּשָׁלַם‎
Transliteration: yᵊrûšālam – Pronunciation: yer-oo-shaw-lah’-im – proper locative noun meaning “teaching of peace” or possession of peace – also called the city of David and Zion – the chief city of Palestine and capital of the united kingdom and the nation of Judah after the split For more info click here has learned from the judgmentמִשְׁפָּט‎
Transliteration: mišpāṭ – properly, a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree (human or (participant’s) divine law, individual or collective), including the act, the place, the suit, the crime, and the penalty; abstractly, justice, including a participant’s right or privilege (statutory or customary), or even a style:— adversary, ceremony, charge custom, desert, determination, discretion, disposing, due, fashion, form, to be judged, judgment, just(-ice, -ly), (manner of) law(-ful), manner, measure, (due) order, ordinance, right, sentence. For more info click here.

The fifth and final lament (more accurately, a prayer) describes how Jerusalem’sיְרוּשָׁלַם‎
Transliteration: yᵊrûšālam – Pronunciation: yer-oo-shaw-lah’-im – proper locative noun meaning “teaching of peace” or possession of peace – also called the city of David and Zion – the chief city of Palestine and capital of the united kingdom and the nation of Judah after the split For more info click here sufferings have led her to seek divine mercy and hope for YAHWEH’s יְהֹוָה‎
Hebrew Yəhōwā, one vocalization of the Tetragrammaton יהוה‎ (YHWH), the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. It is considered one of the seven names of God in Judaism and a form of God’s name in Christianity. Covenant making covenant keeping GOD. For more info click here continued grace to Israelיִשְׂרָאֵל
Transliteration: yiśrā’ēl The name Israel (Septuagint Ancient Greek: Ἰσραήλ, Israēl, “El (God) persists/rules” or “God prevails”) refers to the patriarch Jacob who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was given the name after he successfully wrestled with the Angel of the Lord. The earliest known archaeological artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt (dated to the late-13th century BCE) for more info click here, now purified through affliction. Since Lamentations deals with suffering as divine judgmentמִשְׁפָּט‎
Transliteration: mišpāṭ – properly, a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree (human or (participant’s) divine law, individual or collective), including the act, the place, the suit, the crime, and the penalty; abstractly, justice, including a participant’s right or privilege (statutory or customary), or even a style:— adversary, ceremony, charge custom, desert, determination, discretion, disposing, due, fashion, form, to be judged, judgment, just(-ice, -ly), (manner of) law(-ful), manner, measure, (due) order, ordinance, right, sentence. For more info click here for sinחָטָא
Transliteration:ḥāṭā’ Pronunciation:khaw-taw’ – A primitive root From an archery term meaning to miss the mark – For more info click here, it serves as a language of confession, self-humiliation, and invocation for the afflicted believer.

THE AUTHOR

From the earliest times, Jews and later Christians have attributed Lamentations to Jeremiahיִרְמְיָהוּ
Transliteration: yirmᵊyâ – Pronunciation: yir-meh-yaw’ – proper masculine noun Meaning “whom Yahweh has appointed”or “Yah will rise”, the major prophet, son of Hilkiah of the priestly family in Anathoth; author of the prophetic book bearing his name. 2. a man of Libnah and father of Hamutal the wife of king Josiah. Also the name of seven or eight Israelites: For more info on the word click here. The Septuagint The Septuagint (LXX), also known as the Greek Old Testament, is the earliest complete translation of the Hebrew Bible into Koine Greek, produced primarily by Jewish scholars in Alexandria, Egypt, between the third and first centuries BCE to serve the needs of Hellenistic Jewish communities who spoke Greek as their primary language. For more info click here made this attribution in the second century B.C., and the Vulgate in the fourth century A.D. The Jewish-Christian tradition has presented compelling arguments for Jeremianic authorship. Assuming Jeremiah’sיִרְמְיָהוּ
Transliteration: yirmᵊyâ – Pronunciation: yir-meh-yaw’ – proper masculine noun Meaning “whom Yahweh has appointed”or “Yah will rise”, the major prophet, son of Hilkiah of the priestly family in Anathoth; author of the prophetic book bearing his name. 2. a man of Libnah and father of Hamutal the wife of king Josiah. Also the name of seven or eight Israelites: For more info on the word click here authorship, Lamentations becomes a supplement to the Book of Jeremiahיִרְמְיָהוּ
Transliteration: yirmᵊyâ – Pronunciation: yir-meh-yaw’ – proper masculine noun Meaning “whom Yahweh has appointed”or “Yah will rise”, the major prophet, son of Hilkiah of the priestly family in Anathoth; author of the prophetic book bearing his name. 2. a man of Libnah and father of Hamutal the wife of king Josiah. Also the name of seven or eight Israelites: For more info on the word click here, which frequently predicted catastrophes like those described in Lamentations. However, Jeremiah’sיִרְמְיָהוּ
Transliteration: yirmᵊyâ – Pronunciation: yir-meh-yaw’ – proper masculine noun Meaning “whom Yahweh has appointed”or “Yah will rise”, the major prophet, son of Hilkiah of the priestly family in Anathoth; author of the prophetic book bearing his name. 2. a man of Libnah and father of Hamutal the wife of king Josiah. Also the name of seven or eight Israelites: For more info on the word click here lamentations are entirely devoid of the “I told you so” attitude. He is solely concerned with mourning Jerusalem’sיְרוּשָׁלַם‎
Transliteration: yᵊrûšālam – Pronunciation: yer-oo-shaw-lah’-im – proper locative noun meaning “teaching of peace” or possession of peace – also called the city of David and Zion – the chief city of Palestine and capital of the united kingdom and the nation of Judah after the split For more info click here sorrows and pleading with God not to abandon her forever.