Lamentations 5 A Prayer For Restoration.

There is a strong indication, well worth a thorough study, that the word here translated as ‘remember’, is a call from a covenantal servant to the LORD. In any case, it would appear to have come after the devastation of the exile and captivity had set in. It is borne out by the appeal to the ‘LORD’, at the loss of their ‘inheritance’ (vv. 1-3). The rest that they were to receive as part of the covenantal promise, escaped them (vv. 4-6). Without a doubt, they knew that they were in this condition because of the sin of their fathers, but then ask why it is they who have to suffer, living like vagabonds (vv. 7-9). Famine, rape, assassinations, oppressive slavery, and the lack of any autonomous government was their lot, much less joy or dancing (vv. 10-15). However, they finally admit that they are actually suffering for their own sins as well (vv. 16-18). Finally, they also confess that it is not the LORD who has changed, but them, and on this basis appeal once again, for him to not forsake his people of the covenant (vv. 19-20). In fact, as strange as it might seem, they ask that the LORD would grant them repentance, which obviously means that they recognized that even this was a gift from the LORD (vv. 21-22).