Commentators are often disturbed by the presence of various speakers in the three poems of Lamentations 1 and 2, and Isa. 51.9-52.2, the change of speakers being thought to disrupt the flow of ideas. This study shows that a close reading of all three poems in the light of their mourning ceremony setting displays a clear and consistant flow of thought. Purported cases of 'distuption' now fit into their present context as moments in which different mouners voice their pains and their questions aloud, and bring their imcomprehensible sufferings to Yahweh their God and the creator of all.
