Bible Chapter Summary
Lamentations 1 Summary
Jerusalem's Desolation and Mourning
Jerusalem sits desolate and widowed, once great among nations but now tributary and deserted. The city weeps in affliction as captive Judah finds no rest; lovers and friends have become enemies, and her priests sigh while virgins are afflicted. Jerusalem remembers her former beauty and pleasant things, but having grievously sinned, she has been brought low and stripped of honor; the Lord afflicted her for her transgressions, and heathen have entered His sanctuary. The speaker calls upon the Lord to behold her affliction and the enemy's magnification, ending with a prayer for divine justice against adversaries.
Key themes
Key verses
Lamentations 1:1
“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, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!”
Lamentations 1:8
“Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.”
Lamentations 1:12
“Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.”
Lamentations 1:22
“Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.”
Read Lamentations 1 in full
Study the complete chapter with interlinear Hebrew & Greek, verse-by-verse, in the Gospel Daily reader.
Open the full chapter