Torah FeedThe Book of Lamentations
Lamentations is book 32 of 39 in the Tanakh, part of Ketuvim. It has 5 chapters and 154 verses.
Updated September 19, 2026
אֵיכָה
- Section
- Ketuvim
- Chapters
- 5
- Verses
- 154
- Longest chapter
- 3 (66 verses)
What Lamentations is about
Lamentations, Eichah in Hebrew, is five poems mourning the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple, four of them alphabetical acrostics. It is one of the five scrolls, read on the night of Tisha B'Av.
Opening verse
אֵיכָה יָשְׁבָה בָדָד הָעִיר רַבָּתִי עָם הָיְתָה כְּאַלְמָנָה רַּבָּתִי בַגּוֹיִם שָׂרָתִי בַּמְּדִינוֹת הָיְתָה לָמַס׃
How doth the city sit solitary, That was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, And princess among the provinces, How is she become tributary!