Lamentationes

Lamentationes is the Latin title for the Book of Jeremiah, a book of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible and the Tanakh in Judaism. The title translates to "Lamentations" and refers to the sorrowful and mournful nature of the content within the book. It is traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, although scholarly consensus varies on the extent of his authorship. The book primarily consists of five poems that express deep grief and despair over the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple by the Babylonians in the 6th century BCE.

The poems in Lamentationes are characterized by their use of acrostic structure, with each verse or section beginning with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This literary device is common in ancient Hebrew poetry and serves to organize the text and perhaps symbolize the completeness of the sorrow. The themes explored include divine punishment, the suffering of the people, the desolation of the city, and pleas for divine mercy and restoration. Despite the pervasive sense of sorrow, there are also passages of hope and reaffirmation of God's faithfulness. Lamentationes is traditionally read during solemn occasions in Jewish liturgy, particularly on Tisha B'Av, the day commemorating various tragedies in Jewish history, including the destruction of both Temples.