I. The Royal City of Jerusalem Mourns Like a Widow (1:1–22)

A. The Poet Speaks about Her Destruction (1:1–9a)

B. She Speaks in Anguish to the Lord (1:9b)

C. The Poet Speaks Again of Her Suffering (1:10–11a, 17)

D. Jerusalem Speaks in Mourning (1:11b–16, 18–22)

II. Jerusalem Mourns the Day of the Lord’s Anger That Fell on Her (2:1–22)

A. Destruction Is Described (2:1–10)

B. The Poet Laments the Destruction of the People (2:11–13)

C. The Poet Describes the Tragedy of Her Demise (2:14–19)

D. God Is Addressed About His Work of Judgment (2:20–22)

III. The Poet Speaks of Judgment and Mercy (3:1–66)

A. God’s Judgment Has Fallen on the Poet (3:1–20)

B. God Is Yet Merciful and Just (3:21–39)

C. God’s People Are Called to Examine Their Way, and God Examines the Poet’s Way (3:40–66)

IV. Jerusalem Is Examined Before and After Destruction (4:1–22)

A. Her Judgment Is Greater Than That of Sodom (4:1–11)

B. Kings and Others Are Astounded At Jerusalem’s Fall (4:12–16)

C. The Poet Speaks of the People’s Suffering and Loss (4:17–20)

D. God Will Judge the Cruelty of Edom but Grant Jerusalem a Future (4:21–22)

V. The Community Remembers and Asks God to Remember What Happened to Them (5:1–22)