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Pentecost Season · Proper 22 · Year C

Lamentations 1:1-6

How Lonely Sits the City

October 8, 2028

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt van Rijn
Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1630Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
An early Rembrandt. Jeremiah leans on a book with the city burning in the background, so small and so far off that it takes a moment to find it.Jeremiah's complaint is that he was right and it did him no good, and the painting puts the proof of it behind his shoulder where he is not looking.Rembrandt van RijnRembrandt (1606-1669) painted scripture as if it had happened in a room he had been in, and returned to the same stories across forty years, changing his mind about them in public.Rijksmuseum, AmsterdamThe Netherlands' national museum, built around the Dutch Golden Age and reopened in 2013 after a ten-year rebuilding.Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Revised Common Lectionary
GospelLuke 17:5-10Lk 17:5-10
Epistle2 Tim. 1:1-142 Tm 1:1-14
Old TestamentLam. 1:1-6Lam 1:1-6Alt. OTHab. 1:1-4; 2:1-4Hb 1:1-4; 2:1-4
PsalterLam. 3:19-26Lam 3:19-26 orPs. 137Ps 137Alt. PsalmPs. 37:1-9Ps 37:1-9

Overview & Insights

"How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! She that was great among the nations has become like a widow." (Lamentations 1:1)

The book opens with a funeral dirge that personifies conquered Jerusalem as a grieving widow, abandoned by her former allies and stripped of her splendor after the Babylonian destruction, setting the tone for the extended lament that follows.

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Take it further: Lamentations 1:1-6

Commentary

Commentary on Lamentations 1:1-6Commentary on Lam 1:1-6 Working Preacher

Reads the opening dirge's personification of Jerusalem as a grieving widow.

Lamentations 1:1-6 CommentaryLam 1:1-6 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

A preaching-focused reading of the book's movement from lament toward eventual repentance.

Lamentations 1 CommentaryLam 1 Commentary Enduring Word · David Guzik

Verse-by-verse notes on the fall of Jerusalem pictured as a mourning widow.

Lamentations 1Lam 1 StudyLight

Barnes' Notes on the historical setting and imagery of the opening dirge.

Lamentations 1:1 CommentariesLam 1:1 Commentaries BibleHub

Aggregates classic commentators on the city's desolation and grief.

Background & Word Study

Lamentations 1:1-6Lam 1:1-6 Sefaria

The Hebrew text alongside translation.

Lamentations 1:1 Hebrew InterlinearLam 1:1 Hebrew Interlinear BibleHub

Shows the Hebrew word by word for the opening dirge.

The Church Fathers

Lamentations 1 CatenaLam 1 Catena Catena

Patristic comments on the fall of the city and the grief of its ruin.

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