Chapter 1
2024 - Here is an interesting observation.  Chapter 1,2,4, and 5 have 22 verses each.  3 has 66 verses...3x22...I wonder what that is telling us?

Per MSB, there are 5 laments in 5 chapters.  This first is a lament for Jerusalem's devastation, the second, an explanation of God's anger.
First verse starts like this:
1 How lonely sits the city that was full of people...[Lam 1:1 ESV]
Jerusalem has fallen.  She has no allies to help.  None came to her rescue.  She was and is abandoned by all.  This verse:
8 Jerusalem sinned grievously; therefore she became filthy; all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns her face away. [Lam 1:8 ESV]
So do we all become filthy when we sin willfully and repeatedly.
Makes it clear the Lord brought about this fall.  not random, not Babylon's power.  The Lord did it, as stated here:
12 "...on the day of his fierce anger. [Lam 1:12b ESV]
Jerusalem prays that as God has done to her, let Him also do to the evil neighbor nations, who are also evil and deserving of this end.
This phrase showed up several times in Jeremiah and now shows up here:  "...the virgin daughter of Israel.."

2024 - This verse:
15 "The Lord rejected all my mighty men in my midst; he summoned an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah. [Lam 1:15 ESV].
Here again is the picture of the "winepress".  It shows up in Revelation also.  It seems to me that it is always about God's wrath poured out fully.  The winepress might be thought of as an indicator of a harvest, of new wine - a metaphor of blessing and plenty.  But that is not how I see it used in the Bible.  It seems much more common that the crushing of the grapes is a metaphor for the crushing of nations.  Here are a few more examples:
13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great. [Joe 3:13 ESV].
19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia. [Rev 14:19-20 ESV]
15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. [Rev 19:15 ESV]
Not much doubt, when you dig just a little bit, what the point of the winepress metaphor is.

The whole sense of this chapter seems to be abandonment more than devastation.  The mourning is not about toppled buildings and stolen treasure, it is about there being no one to care.  About enemies being glad that the city has fallen.  No friends, no allies, no comforters, no "international aid", no one at all to help.  So at the end of the chapter, the appeal is in this verse:
22 "Let all their evildoing come before you, and deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my transgressions; for my groans are many, and my heart is faint." [Lam 1:22 ESV]

2024 - This whole chapter has been "Jerusalem" crying in her devastation about all that has happened to her.  The POV is from a devastated Jerusalem.  In the next chapter, God's position in the matter is discussed.  First chapter is "what happened", second is "why did it happen".

2024 - It is interesting that this chapter ends with a wish that everyone else also get what they deserve for their evil.  There is a sense of "Hey, I'm not the only one, how come they didn't get punished too?"  Like being the slowest car on the road but you still get a ticket for 10 over.  You were speeding...but so was everyone else.  There's this sense of "why me?"  I'm not quite sure what to make of that.

Chapter 2
Israel/Zion referred to as "...his footstool."  This is what Ezekiel's Temple is also called, sort of:
7 He said to me, "Son of man, [this is] the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the corpses of their kings when they die, [Eze 43:7 NASB]
This phrase:
2 ...he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers. [Lam 2:2b ESV] and still more here:
7 The Lord has scorned his altar, disowned his sanctuary; he has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they raised a clamor in the house of the LORD as on the day of festival. [Lam 2:7a ESV]
In vss 11, 12, Children languish.  The phrase "...their life is poured out on their mother's bosom..."
This verse:
14 Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading. [Lam 2:14 ESV]  I am tempted to compare this to what the evil in our country are telling us.  That killing babies is ok, that marrying your own sex is ok, that your genes do not determine what clothes you should wear.  They are lying to us about science.  They are calling facts lies and lies facts.  But these are politicians.  Where are the prophets - even the false prophets?  In the main, many religions are still calling sin what it is from the pulpit.  The Catholics say Biden is wrong about abortion.  Baptist likewise label these things sin.  There are exceptions of course.  The Episcopalians have lesbian priests and now the Methodists want to go that way also.  But to me, the voice of truth is still there among our "priests and prophets".  
2024 - Pope Francis just made it ok for priests to "bless same sex unions", so long as they don't call them "marriage".

Then a glimpse of the horror of the last days of the siege in this verse:
20 ...Should women eat the fruit of their womb... [Lam 2:20a ESV]
Things were unimaginably bad in Jerusalem during this siege.  God's wrath is a thing to be feared, avoided at any cost, because in His wrath, there is no mercy.
The chapter closes with this:
22 You summoned as if to a festival day my terrors on every side, and on the day of the anger of the LORD no one escaped or survived; those whom I held and raised my enemy destroyed. [Lam 2:22 ESV]
Could anything be more devastating than the destruction of those we "held and raised"?  This picture of a mother mourning murdered children...What a terrible thing is God's wrath.

Chapter 3
MSB outline says this lament is Jeremiah's grief expressed.  This is a listing of Jeremiah's (?) feelings/experiences during this outpouring of God's justice on Jerusalem.  A few phrases:  
7b, he has made my chains heavy,
8b, he shuts out my prayer,
9b, he has made my paths crooked,
17b, I have forgotten what happiness is.  Then, in these vss, Jeremiah still has hope:
21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. [Lam 3:21-23 ESV]
Also, the next verses tell how to endure - or more, how we should behave under chastening.  
28 Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; 29 let him put his mouth in the dust-- there may yet be hope; 30 let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults. [Lam 3:28-30 ESV]
We are to accept chastening humbly and without defense.  We must recognize our wrong, repent, and accept the consequences.  Then this concise reminder, this clear rebuke to any thought of complaint:
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? 39 Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? [Lam 3:28, 38-39 ESV]  Can this be a FB post?  Hard stuff for most to accept.  Also, given this wording, how would one then answer the charge that bad things that happen to us are God's doing?  Well, if we sin, then yes, God's justice demands punishment.  Hmm...I don't think I'll put this on FB just yet.  Maybe on the website.

2022 - This verse caught my eye again, especially the second part.  If we sin, what right have we to complain about the consequences, even if they come from God directly?  Should a bank robber complain at his imprisonment?  Shall a murderer complain at his execution?  Putting people in prison or electric chairs surely qualifies as the justice system doing "bad" things.  But what is the alternative?  There must be rules.  Is this what really motivates the "no capital punishment" crowd, the "rehabilitation instead of punishment" crowd?  They rebel against justice because justice requires the imposition of bad things on bad people?  Another perversion of God's truth, perverted by Satan, this time (opposite Hebrews 10) by saying God would never do bad things to anyone, so neither should human justice systems.  But look at the verse!  Both good and bad come from the Most High.  It also makes clear that any "bad" from God is punishment for sin, and as such is both just and necessary  Look back at vs 33, which set this all up:
33 for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men. [Lam 3:33 ESV].  God does not want to afflict, but sometimes justice demands it.  Perhaps this is the reason that he waits so long to impose His wrath - on Samaria, on Judah, on Jerusalem all the way to 70 AD.

2023 - Previously, I've gotten some of this right each time, but never put it all together correctly.  The "problem" we have with this verse is the presumption that God's will should never displease us.  That is the foundation of our belief that nothing "bad" ever comes from God.  In these verses, consequences are labeled as "bad" by the receiver, not the sender.  Does the bank robber think his imprisonment is "bad"?  Of course!  Does the murderer oppose capital punishment?  Of course!  But...aren't they the justice that was promised before the deeds were committed?  If you know the consequences and do it anyway, then the consequences aren't bad, they're justice.  They might be unexpected, because no one wants to receive justice when they are in the wrong.  They only want justice when they've been wronged.  Definitionally, God dispenses justice according to his perfect will and perfect timing, and the Bible shows over and over that He holds off far longer than we would.  And again, vss 31-33 "prepare" us for what is coming.  God doesn't want to "grieve" us any more than a grandparent wants to discipline a grandchild.  But sometimes he must, and like grandchildren, we don't always receive it well, and what grandchild expects discipline from a grandparent - even when they earn it!
Possible FB post using Lam 3:31-33 and 3:38,39.  And 40 gives the right response - Examine your ways! "Discipline of saints".

2025 - The NASB is also very good with this verse:
33 For He does not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of men. [Lam 3:33 NASB95].  "Willingly" is a pretty interesting word to use here, since God never does anything that is against his own will.  Not even Jesus' death was against his will.  It is certainly not how he prefers that things go.  I think we can say that without reservation.  He would rather bless than punish.  He would rather give us joy instead of pain.  But He will do as His character, as his attributes, and his unchangeability demand.  Else he would not be God.

2025 - Here is another interesting NASB95 verse:
33 For He does not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of men. ... 38 [Is it] not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth? [Lam 3:33, 38 NASB95], and here is the ESV version:
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? [Lam 3:38 ESV].
We don't like hearing these.  They make us feel confused.   Because we have been told by so many false teachers that God only does us good, no matter what we do.  That we have a get out of jail free card that means we never get punished for our mistakes, for our wanton sin, but we get blessed for every single tiny thing we get right.  This is just not so.  Remember Job?  He's in the Bible too ya know!  God's purposes in the world - from the overall to the tiniest creature - are what will happen.  Only HE can label some things good and others evil.  False teachers tell us that OUR OWN perceptions, our own classifications, are valid in all cases, but they are NOT!  Job didn't see his circumstances as good, but he understood that they were his to deal with because the all knowing all-wise God caused them or let them happen.  He did not raise a hand to stop them, AND HE ALSO stamped His approval on the application.  His ways are beyond us.  That is true teaching.  

2022 - The lengths to which God must go to unleash wrath:
43 "You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity; 44 you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. 45 You have made us scum and garbage among the peoples. [Lam 3:43-45 ESV]

Chapter 4
MSB outline says "God's Wrath Detailed".
This verse says it..."
6 For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands were wrung for her. [Lam 4:6 ESV]
Furthermore, there is this statement:
9 Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away, pierced by lack of the fruits of the field. [Lam 4:9 ESV]
...and still more of the horrors of the siege:
10 The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people. [Lam 4:10 ESV]
God's wrath...you don't ever want to be part of it.  God had "turned off" the compassion of His people so they were not revolted by these thoughts, but acted on them!  Romans 1 is about this same switching off in nations God has cast off.  Romans 1 tells what this switching off looks like at first, and Lamentations is telling us what it looks like when it runs it's full course.

Chapter 5
MSB says this is the remnant's prayers.  Remember us.  We have to buy water to drink, and wood to burn.  Slaves rule over us, and no one will deliver.  Then an appeal to be restored.