Lamentations 1:1-11

The State Of The One-time Great City Of Jerusalem Is Described (Lamentations 1:1).

The prophet here commences by bewailing the state of Jerusalem. He pines over what it has lost, and describes it in terms which bring out how much it has lost. From the political point of view it had lost its autonomy and was no longer semi-independently ruled, having become but part of a Babylonian province. From the religious point of view it had lost its status as the centre for the worship of YHWH.