Lamentations

Filled with remarkably vast but somber poetry, the book of Lamentations mourns the sufferings of the ancient kingdom of Judah, conquered by Babylon in 587/6 BCE. Though the events the book concerns took place over two millennia ago, the power contained within the verses of Lamentations has reverberated the horrors and pains endured so long ago. It is a summation in poetry of the history of the Jewish people in some essential sense, and has been seen as such for nearly as long as the text's existence. By its contention with suffering, its unflinching willingness to stare into the abyss of human agony, it impresses the reader today with its capacity to help us reflect on the harshest aspects of existence, and perhaps to help us navigate our own existence as well.