Jeremiah 10:19

"Woe is me because of my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it. My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: there is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of Jehovah: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered. The voice of tidings, behold, it cometh, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals."

In the sad picture that emerges here, Jerusalem is compared to a tent-dwelling mother whose tent has been destroyed and her children carried away. Nobody is left to help her repair the tent. The blame belongs to the ignorant leaders who neglected to ask guidance from the Lord. Then the scene changes a bit. Destruction is already approaching from the north country, which was the usual entry into Palestine by invading nations. The Jewish Targum gives the general sense here, thus: "My land is desolate, and all my cities plundered: my people are gone into captivity, and are not."[24]

Jeremiah's sorrow over the fate of his people is so great, and he is identified with them so completely, that the lament of the plundered and destroyed nation seems to be adopted as his own.

"The shepherds ..." (Jeremiah 10:21). These were all of the people's leaders, including kings, priests, scribes, false prophets, and all the rest. They had wantonly and willfully forsaken God with the inevitable consequences about to be executed upon Judah.

"The voice ... behold, it cometh ..." (Jeremiah 10:22). "These words indicate that the captivity is still, at this time, in the future."[25]