The Third Lament. 

        Though this poem occasionally uses the first person plufal, as a whole it is written in the first person singular. It is far from certain whether we have here a description of the author’s own experiences, or whether a representative Israelite or even personified Jerusalem is made to speak. On balance the second or third view seems the more probable.

        The first twenty verses are a description of personal suffer­ings. Then the speaker calls to mind that running through all his sufferings there had been the grace of God; otherwise he would have been completely destroyed. This in turn creates hope for the future. So he calls for penitence (vers. 40-54). This leads to new hope (ver. 55ff) and a call to God for ven­geance on his enemies (vers. 58-66). It is striking that here, too, the only hope open seems to be rather that his enemies should suffer as he has, than that he should be restored to his old estate.

        This lament stands out in sharp contrast with the rest of the book. Were it elsewhere, e.g. among the Psalms, few would think of associating it with the fall of Jerusalem. It is not so much the physical misery of the siege and the shame of captivity and exile that weigh on the poet, as the spiritual misery of being separated from God by a sense of guilt and the destruction of the sanctuary. In many ways it is reminiscent of portions of the book of Job.