A plain guide to lament in the psalms: what it is, how it moves, and sixteen examples from single voices and whole peoples.
A lament is a complaint made to God rather than about him. The psalmist names the trouble, asks why or how long, and asks God to act. Many laments then turn to trust or praise before the end, as Psalm 13 does in only six verses. A few never turn, and Psalm 88 ends in darkness. The book of Psalms keeps both kinds.
The page starts with Psalm 13 as a model, then gives laments spoken by one person, laments spoken by a whole people, and laments that do not resolve. A full list follows the picks. Tick any verse and print it.
Psalm 13 has every part of a lament in six verses, so it is the easiest one to learn the shape from.
How long, LORD?Will you forget me forever?How long will you hide your face from me?
How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
The complaint. How long is asked four times across the first two verses, and here it is aimed straight at God: will you forget me forever?
Behold, and answer me, LORD, my God.Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death;
Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
The request. Answer me and give light to my eyes, with the stakes named: lest I sleep in death.
But I trust in your loving kindness.My heart rejoices in your salvation.
But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
The turn. No rescue has been reported, but the writer says, I trust in your loving kindness. The psalm ends one verse later in song.
Laments spoken by one person. The headings attribute many of these to David.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus cries out this line from the cross in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34.
I pour out my complaint before him.I tell him my troubles.
I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble.
I pour out my complaint before him. The heading places it in the cave, and the verse names what a lament does: tell God the trouble.
Hear my voice, God, in my complaint.Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
Hear my voice in my complaint. The request is simply to be heard, and the danger named is fear of the enemy.
I am weary with my groaning.Every night I flood my bed.I drench my couch with my tears.
I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
Weariness, groaning and a bed soaked with tears every night. The lament describes the body as well as the soul.
My tears have been my food day and night,while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
Tears as food day and night, and a question from others: where is your God? The psalm lets the taunt stand.
You count my wanderings.You put my tears into your container.Aren’t they in your book?
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
The writer says God puts his tears into his container and asks whether they are in God's book. Grief is treated as something worth recording.
Laments spoken for a whole people, after defeat in battle, a ruined temple or exile.
Wake up!Why do you sleep, Lord?Arise!Don’t reject us forever.
Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
Wake up, why do you sleep, Lord? The psalm uses sleep as a picture of God's apparent absence after a defeat, and says so bluntly.
God, why have you rejected us forever?Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
Why have you rejected us forever? The psalm goes on to describe the sanctuary burned to the ground, so the question comes from ruins.
How long, LORD?Will you be angry forever?Will your jealousy burn like fire?
How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
How long, LORD? Will you be angry forever? The same how long found in single laments is asked here for a nation.
LORD God of Armies,how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people?
O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
How long will you be angry against the prayer of your people? The complaint is that even prayer seems to meet anger.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down.Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. The lament is for a lost home, spoken in exile.
Not every lament turns to praise. These end with the trouble still there.
You have put lover and friend far from me,and my friends into darkness.
Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.
The last line of Psalm 88: lover and friend put far away, and friends into darkness. There is no turn to praise after it.
Oh spare me, that I may recover strength,before I go away and exist no more.”
O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.
The psalm ends with a request to be spared before I go away and exist no more. It stops there, without praise.
A psalm of lament is a prayer that complains to God about suffering and asks him to act. The usual parts are an address to God, the complaint, a request, and often a statement of trust or a promise to praise. Psalm 13 shows all of them in six verses. No psalm heading in the World English Bible uses the word lament, so it is a name readers give to psalms of this shape.
This site marks 43 psalms as lament, wholly or partly: Psalms 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 17, 22, 27, 31, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 53, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 64, 69, 70, 71, 74, 77, 79, 80, 83, 88, 89, 94, 109, 120, 137, 141, 142 and 143. Of these, 44, 60, 74, 79, 80, 83 and 137 speak for a whole people. The rest mostly speak as one person. Any list is a judgement, because the psalms do not label themselves.
Follow the order of Psalm 13. Speak to God directly. Say what is wrong and how long it has lasted. Ask for something specific. Then, if you can, say what you still trust, even if nothing has changed yet. Psalm 88 shows that a lament can also stop at the complaint, so the last step is not required for the prayer to be honest.
The Bible does not give a number, because no psalm heading calls itself a lament. This site marks 43 psalms as lament in whole or part, and that is a reader's count, not the text's.
An individual lament speaks as I, like Psalm 13 or Psalm 142. A communal lament speaks as we, like Psalm 44, Psalm 74 or Psalm 137, usually after a national disaster.
The headings attribute Psalms 3, 6, 13, 22, 55, 56, 57, 64, 69, 70 and 142 to David, among others. Some headings also name the situation, such as the cave in Psalm 142.
Psalm 88 ends with lover and friend put far away and friends in darkness. Psalm 39 ends with a request to be spared before the writer is gone.
Psalm 13 is the clearest short example, with complaint, request and trust in six verses. Psalm 22 is a longer one that begins with my God, my God, why have you forsaken me.
Psalms about SufferingPsalms for Grief and the Loss of a Loved OnePsalms for a Broken HeartPsalms for DepressionPsalms about PrayerPsalms for Doubt and Questioning God