A strong and early tradition attributes the writing of Lamentations to the prophet Jeremiah. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah was the author, although the work was anonymous. This tradition is followed by the Septuagint, and later, the Vulgate.1
In later years this tradition was challenged. One of the arguments against the authorship of Jeremiah is that the early tradition could have mistakenly identified Jeremiah due to a statement in 2 Chronicles 35:25, which states that Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah.2
There are then two basic suggestions regarding the author of Lamentations:
1. Jeremiah.
2. An unknown eyewitness of the fall of Jerusalem.
Although the authorship of Lamentations remains unknown, it is highly probable that Jeremiah would have been moved by everything he experienced to compile such deep expressions in the form of lamenting poems.
1 How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave.