Lamentations

Lamentations, the name of a canonical book of the Old Testament, afterwards extended into the "Lamentations of Jeremiah," but now always used in the earlier and shorter form. The tradition that the book was written by Jeremiah is probably due to a note which precedes the Septuagint version; it is not supported by internal evidence. Each of the first four dirges begins by describing the piteous state of Jerusalem, but finally expresses the writer's confidence that Jehovah will avenge the injuries inflicted on His people. The fifth and closing dirge, on the other hand, is a prayer entreating Jehovah to lay aside His long-continued wrath.