Psalms of Lament: A Complete List and How to Use Them in Prayer
I still remember the first time I learned about lament psalms like Psalm 13. “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?” Those words didn’t sound like the polished, cheerful prayers I’d grown up hearing in church. They sounded raw. Honest. Almost too honest. And yet, tucked inside my Bible, here was a prayer God had given His people to pray.
If you have ever felt like your prayers are messy, angry, or full of questions, you are not alone. The Bible is full of prayers like that. They are called Psalms of Lament, and they give us permission to bring our pain to God.
This post is your complete guide to the Psalms of Lament: what they are, how scholars define them, a list of which psalms qualify, which ones are debated, and how you can use them in your own prayer life.
What Is a Lament Psalm?
A lament psalm is a prayer of pain. Unlike psalms of praise or thanksgiving, lament psalms come from places of grief, betrayal, fear, or unanswered prayer. Instead of hiding those emotions, the psalmist brings them directly to God.
Lament psalms are not faithless grumbling. They are faith-filled cries. They show us that true faith does not avoid hard questions but takes them to the Lord.
What Does a Lament Psalm Include?
Biblical scholars describe lament psalms as following a recognizable pattern. Not every psalm includes every element, but most contain these movements:
- Address to God
- Complaint: honest expression of suffering or injustice
- Petition: asking God to act, to rescue, to heal, to answer
- Statement of trust: affirming God’s character, even if nothing has changed
- Praise or vow: many laments end with worship or a renewed commitment
Claus Westermann and Walter Brueggemann, two leading scholars on the Psalms, emphasize that lament is not the opposite of faith but one of its deepest expressions. It means we are still turning to God, even when He feels silent.
Which Psalms Are Lament Psalms?
Most scholars agree on a core group of lament psalms. These clearly follow the lament pattern and appear consistently across scholarly and pastoral lists.
Individual laments
3, 6, 13, 22, 31, 39, 42, 43, 51, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 61, 64, 69, 71, 77, 86, 88, 102, 109, 120, 130, 140, 141, 142, 143
Communal laments
12, 44, 60, 74, 79, 80, 83, 85, 89, 90, 94, 123, 126, 129
Which Psalms Could Be Lament Psalms?
Because the Psalms are poetry, many combine genres. Some begin in lament and end in praise. Others weave wisdom, thanksgiving, or trust into their structure. Scholars debate whether these psalms should be considered laments.
- Psalm 25: Yale Bible Study includes it as lament, but Westermann emphasizes its wisdom acrostic form.
- Psalm 27: The first half is confident trust, the second half is desperate petition. Brueggemann suggests it may have originally been two psalms.
- Psalm 32: One of the traditional “Penitential Psalms.” Some see it as lamenting sin, others as thanksgiving for forgiveness.
- Psalm 38: Strong lament language but often classified as penitential.
- Psalm 41: Blends lament (petition for healing) with thanksgiving.
- Psalm 70: A shortened form of lament, sometimes classified simply as petition.
- Psalm 108: A composite of Psalms 57 and 60, making its genre difficult to categorize.
These debated psalms remind us that lament is not always neat. Trust and grief often live side by side in the same prayer.
Why Are Lament Psalms Helpful?
Most of us were never taught to pray this way. We learned how to give thanks, how to ask politely, and how to praise. But few of us ever learned how to wrestle.
Lament psalms are powerful because they give us permission to be honest with God. When our words fail or we struggle to put our emotions into sentences, we can utilize the language given to us in the laments. This category of psalms demonstrates to us that God welcomes our tears. In fact, as Psalm 56:8 says, He numbers each one in his book…He collects each one in a bottle.
In addition to providing us with language to engage with God in pain, these psalms also show us how God engages with us. He is not absent. He has not forgotten us. He has not turned His face away. Instead, lament itself is evidence that we believe He is still listening.
How to Use Lament Psalms in Prayer
If you are in a season of sadness, grief, or longing, these are some ways you can begin integrating the lament psalms into your prayer life:
- Read them aloud as your prayer when you do not have words of your own
- Journal them in your own words, following the structure of complaint, petition, and trust
- Personalize them by inserting your situation (“How long, O Lord, will my body hurt like this?”)
- Pray them in community during seasons of corporate grief
- The purpose is not to “fix” your pain quickly. The purpose is to bring your full heart into the presence of God.
Find Resources on Lament
If lament feels new to you, you are not alone. I am creating a resource that goes deeper into lament—how to write your own, how to pray them honestly, and other ways to engage with God through pain.
You can join the waitlist today to be the first to know when it is released.
Join the Waitlist
