Lamentations 1-2

Chapter 1: Jerusalem is Miserable

“How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations…” (Lamentations 1:1) Jerusalem has become desolate; beauty has departed from the daughter of Zion. Jerusalem and its inhabitants have sinned and become filthy. Jeremiah laments the state of Jerusalem.

Chapter 2: Desolation in Jerusalem

The daughter of Zion is covered with the cloud of the Lord’s anger. The Lord has been pitiless. He has burned against Judah like a flaming fire. The Lord is now an enemy. He has taken away his tabernacle or in other words his presence has departed. Feasts and Sabbaths are forgotten in Zion. The elders are girded with sackcloth casting dust on their heads. Enemies hiss and gnash their teeth. Young and the old lie in the streets, dead.