This second book written by Jeremiah is a dirge or funeral song sung over the wasted remains of Jerusalem. The book of Jeremiah looked forward to the coming destruction. The book of Lamentations looks back and mourns.
In this short book of five chapters, Jeremiah describes Jerusalem's miserable situation. "All the splendor has departed from the Daughter of Zion," Jeremiah writes in chapter 1 verse 6, "in weakness they have fled before their pursuers." He describes the anger of God against his people and he contrasts Judah's glorious past with their present desolation: "How the gold has lost its luster, the fine gold become dull!" (4:1)
But this carefully constructed literary masterpiece of mourning has its light of hope in God. In chapter three, the literary center of the dirge, Jeremiah recalls the great love of God and calls the people, even in exile, to place their hope in God. "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." (3:25-26)
