The Book of Lamentations (, Eikhah, ʾēkhā ( h )) is a poetic book of the Hebrew Bible composed by the Jewish prophet Jeremiah.

However, the strict acrostic style of four of the five poems is not found at all in the Book of Jeremiah itself and Jeremiah's name is not found anywhere in the book itself ( nor any other name, for that matter ), so authorship of Lamentations is disputed.

The Book of Lamentations is recited annually on the Tisha b ' Av, the anniversary of the destruction of both of the Jewish Temples as well as numerous other unfavorable days in Jewish history.

Most modern day biblical scholars assert that the Book of Lamentations was written by one or more authors in Judah, shortly after the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC ; and was penned as a response to Babylonian Exile, the intense suffering of the people of Judah, and the complete and utter destruction of Jerusalem.

The theological views that led to its author ( s ) writing the Book of Lamentations emanated from the cultural and religious attitudes of the people of Judah in the 6th and 7th centuries BC and was probably also influenced by non-biblical sources which originated from the cultural and religious attitudes of Judah's neighbors of differing religions.

The Book of Lamentations reflects the theological and biblical view that what happened to Jerusalem was a deserved punishment ; and its destruction was instigated by their god for the communal sins of the people.

For example, from Sumerian Literature we can see the same Genre that we see in the Book of Lamentations of the Funeral Dirge and Lament reflected in the Sumerian Lament: Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur which depicts the destruction of the cities of Sumer and Ur.

Yet, as Lemke and O ’ Connor point out, The Book of Lamentations, while adapting several traditional literary, historical, and cultural Near Eastern elements, is a unique literary composition, scripted to a specific historical situation, in response to an historical catastrophe, addressing the survivors of this catastrophe in a distinctive religious context.

** Book of Lamentations with Hebrew / English and mp3 chanting of the entire book in Hebrew.

Category: Book of Lamentations

simple: Book of Lamentations

The assassination of the Babylonian governor around 582 by a disaffected member of the former royal house of David provoked a Babylonian crackdown, possibly reflected in the Book of Lamentations, but the situation seems to have soon stabilised again.

( a translation of Synonyms or Lamentations of a Sinful Soul, Book of Differences I, and Book of Differences II ) Charlotte, VT: MedievalMS, 2012 ( EPub ISBN 978-1-105-82667-2 )

* The Book of Lamentations

:* Book of Lamentations

Jeremiah is traditionally credited with authoring the Book of Jeremiah, 1 Kings, 2 Kings and the Book of Lamentations, with the assistance and under the editorship of Baruch ben Neriah, his scribe and disciple.

* The Book of Lamentations in the Tanakh

These acrostics occur in the first four of the five songs that make up the Book of Lamentations, in the praise of the good wife in Proverbs 31, 10-31, and in Psalms 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119 and 145 of the Hebrew Bible.

The five relatively short books of Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, the Book of Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Book of Esther are collectively known as the Hamesh Megillot ( Five Megillot ).

The Book of Lamentations is traditionally read, followed by the kinnot, a series of liturgical lamentations.