Lament for and by Jerusalem:

1:1–2 Alef/Bet. The poet does not name Jerusalem at the start, but simply speaks of the city. The name of the city does not have to be spoken; poet and readers would know the identity of the now deserted city of Jerusalem. As today there is no doubt when a New Yorker refers to “the city,” so there is no secret concerning the identity of the city among Judeans. This once bustling place (a city “closely compacted together” [Ps. 122:3]) is now eerily deserted. The poet engages the readers by using an exclamation to get them to picture the scene of the deserted city in their imagination (How deserted lies the city once so full of people!). We feel the poet’s sadness right from the start as he compares the formerly populated city to the nearly empty one now.

He goes o…