Lamentations, Book of

The Book of Lamentations — called in Hebrew 'Ekhah ("How!") after its opening word of anguished address — consists of five poems of mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. The Septuagint and ancient tradition attribute the book to Jeremiah, an identification consistent with his documented grief over the city. The first four poems are elaborate acrostics structured on the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet; the third poem is tripled in length. The central poem (ch. 3) contains the great affirmation amid desolation: "It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning" (Lam. 3:22–23). The book became the basis for the Jewish liturgical reading on Tisha B'Av, the annual commemoration of the temple's destruction.