The Acrostic Form of the Book of Lamentations

The meter of the earlier chapters is largely switched in this chapter for a balanced three-three pattern. The acrostic form has more than aesthetic significance, it has therapeutic and pastoral significance as well. Verses 2 to 18 offer a description of the state of the people, developing various aspects of their plight in succession. In verses 2 to 4 they are cut off from their inheritance. In verses 5 to 10 they experience oppression, poverty, and hunger. In verses 11 to 14, degradation, violation, and humiliation. In verses 15 to 18, grief and the loss of sovereignty. It begins by calling the Lord to take notice of the condition and the suffering of his people, as he did