OUTLINE OF LAMENTATIONS

Lam 2:5 The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. Lam 2:6 And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.

Lam 3:22 It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. Lam 3:23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

I. The Destruction of Jerusalem............................... 1:1-22

A.  The Lament of the Prophet Jeremiah   1:1-11

1.      The Desolation of Jerusalem    1:1-7

Lam 1:1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

2.      The Cause of Jerusalem's Desolation................. 1:8-11

Lam 1:8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.

B.  The Lament of the City Jerusalem .. 1:12-22

1.      The Contrition of Jerusalem    1:12-19

Lam 1:18 The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

2.      The Confession of Jerusalem    1:20-22

Lam 1:20 Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.

II. The Anger of God........................... 2:1-22

A.  The Anger of God     2:1-9

Lam 2:1 How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!

B.  The Agony of Jerusalem     2:10-17

Lam 2:11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.

C.  The Appeal of Jerusalem     2:18-22

Lam 2:19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.

III. The Prayer for Mercy........................... 3:1-66

A. Jeremiah's Cry of Despair........................... 3:1-18

Lam 3:1 I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

Lam 3:2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

B.  Jeremiah's Confession of Faith     3:19-38

Lam 3:22 It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

Lam 3:23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Lam 3:39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

C.  Jeremiah's Condition of Need     3:40-54

Lam 3:49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,

Lam 3:51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.

Lam 3:54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.

D.  Jeremiah's Confidence in God     3:55-66

Lam 3:55 I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.

Lam 3:56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.

IV. The Siege of Jerusalem............................... 4:1-22

A.  The Conditions During the Siege     4:1-10

Lam 4:10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

B.  The Cause of the Siege     4:11-20

Lam 4:11 The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.

C.  The Consequences of the Siege     4:21, 22

Lam 4:22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.

V. The Prayer for Restoration............................. 5:1-22

A.  The Review of the Need for Restoration................... 5:1-15

Lam 5:1 Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.

B.  The Repentance of Sin     5:16-18

Lam 5:16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!

C.  The Request for Restoration     5:19-22

Lam 5:21 Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.