Worldly Comfort or God's Peace

The lament continues, speaking bluntly about the judgement that God has wrought and the pain that is being suffered. But midway through the poem the tone changes remarkably, and here we are taken into the centre of the whole story of Israel's exile to Babylon. It is in these verses that we find the true nature of Israel's sin, the motivation behind God's action in judging the nation and an extraordinary hope for Israel despite all that has happened. It would appear that God's judgement has achieved its purposes – but, does history tell another tale?