3:1 I am the man. This chapter is an acrostic with three verses for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. On the author’s possible identity as Jeremiah, and the acrostic form in Hebrew poetry, see the Introduction, and further below. For portrayals of the Lord Himself as the One who has afflicted the speaker, see Job 19:21; Ps. 88:7, 15; Jer. 15:17, 18. In this poem an individual expresses the grief of his community (vv. 22, 40–47).