Jeremiah lamenteth the former excellency and present misery of Jerusalem for her sin, Lam_1:1-11. She complaineth of her grief, Lam_1:12-17; confesseth God's judgments to be righteous; and prayeth unto him, Lam_1:18-22.
The interrogative particle
how, once expressed and twice more understood in this verse, doth not so much inquire the cause or reason of the effect, as express admiration or lamentation. The prophet admires the miserable state of the city, which was full of people beyond the proportion of other cities, and now was solitary, so thin of people that scarce any could be seen in her streets. She that had a king, or rather a god, that was a husband to her, now was forsaken of God, her king taken from her, and she like a poor widow. She that was like a princess amongst the nations, that sometimes (as in David's time) had the Moabites, Ammonites, &c. tributaries to her, was now a tributary herself.