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We all know that the Psalms were sung during times of praise and worship, but do we think enough about the use of the Psalms and the poetic book of Lamentations as forms of prayer during times of stress and chaos?

As I was struggling with some of my own issues last week, I was searching the scriptures for answers. I was literally starving for some type of comfort, some type of answer. I opened the Bible to Jeremiah and began reading. Then, as I ventured into the kitchen for some diet soda and returned to the sofa, I saw that the pages had turned to Lamentations chapter 5.

I began reading it aloud and the tears started flowing. This was my comfort and my therapy. I found a way to “cry out to God” without feeling guilty.

I use and highly recommend Harper’s Study Bible for those who want to know more about the Bible.

Meanwhile, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Wikipedia has an interesting summary and analysis of the book of Lamentations.

Structure:
The first four poems (chapters) are acrostics, like some of the Psalms (25, 34, 37, 119), i.e., each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet taken in order. The first, second, and fourth have each twenty-two verses, the number of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The third has sixty-six verses, in which each three successive verses begin with the same letter. The fifth is not acrostic, but also has twenty-two verses.

Use:
Speaking of the “Wailing-place (q.v.) of the Jews” at Jerusalem, a portion of the old wall of the Herod’s Temple, Schaff says: “There the Jews assemble every Friday afternoon to bewail the downfall of the holy city, kissing the stone wall and watering it with their tears. They repeat from their well-worn Hebrew Bibles and prayer-books the Lamentations of Jeremiah and suitable Psalms.”

Readings, chantings, and choral settings, of the book of Lamentations, are used in the Christian religious service known as the tenebrae (Latin for darkness).

LAMENTATIONS 5 (NASB)

A Prayer for Mercy

1 Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; Look, and see our reproach!
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, Our houses to aliens.
3 We have become orphans without a father, Our mothers are like widows.
4 We have to pay for our drinking water, Our wood comes to us at a price.
5 Our pursuers are at our necks; We are worn out, there is no rest for us.
6 We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more; It is we who have borne their iniquities.
8 Slaves rule over us; There is no one to deliver us from their hand.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives Because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin has become as hot as an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.
11 They ravished the women in Zion, The virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hung by their hands; Elders were not respected.
13 Young men worked at the grinding mill, And youths stumbled under loads of wood.
14 Elders are gone from the gate, Young men from their music.
15 The joy of our hearts has ceased; Our dancing has been turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head; Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our heart is faint, Because of these things our eyes are dim;
18 Because of Mount Zion which lies desolate, Foxes prowl in it.
19 You, O LORD, rule forever; Your throne is from generation to generation.
20 Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long?
21 Restore us to You, O LORD, that we may be restored; Renew our days as of old,
22 Unless You have utterly rejected us And are exceedingly angry with us.

You can read more of the NASB Bible online at http://www.ibs.org/bible/books/?q=nasb