Lamentations 1:12-22

Jerusalem Calls On The World, And Then On YHWH, To Behold Her Condition And Cries To Him For Vengeance (Lamentations 1:12).

This passage can be divided up into two parts, the first in which Jerusalem calls on the world to behold her pitiable state (Lamentations 1:12), and the second in which she calls on YHWH to do the same and to avenge her in accordance with what He has promised (Lamentations 1:20). The cry for retribution has in mind YHWH's declaration of His intentions as described, for example, in Jeremiah 50:15; Jeremiah 50:29; Jeremiah 51:6; Jeremiah 51:11. Initially of course it describes the prophet's viewpoint speaking on behalf of Jerusalem, but the aim was that by participation in his thoughts through reading and reciting his words God's wayward people too might enter into a similar experience.