This catastrophic event was the direct result of Israel's constant rebellion against God's Covenant despite His persistent warnings through prophets to Jerusalem's royal lineage.

Now surrounded by war, grief and suffering, the people of Israel acknowledge their sin and cry out to God for restoration and repentance in the lament poems, which are a way to process emotion and confusion at the disorder and chaos and to express themselves to God. Reading Lamentations helps us today to understand that communicating our distress to God about what's wrong in our lives is an appropriate response to the evil in the world, rather than keeping it bottled up inside.