HOW…! — the opening cry of a funeral dirge, and the standard first word of Hebrew lament. ⚠ It is the first word, and therefore the Hebrew TITLE, of the book of LAMENTATIONS. Isaiah 1:21 uses it over Jerusalem while the city is still standing and its courts are still sitting: 'How she has become a whore, the faithful town!' The same word opens Lamentations 1, 2 and 4 over the city after it fell. It is also the word David uses over Saul and Jonathan — 'How the mighty have fallen' (2 Samuel 1:19). → first discussed at Isaiah 1:21