Jeremiah 6:26

26 Put on black clothes, my people. Roll among the ashes. Cry with bitter sobbing just as you would cry for an only child. The one who is going to destroy us will come suddenly.

Jeremiah 6:26 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 6:26

O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth
Either as a token of repentance for sin; so the king of Nineveh and his subjects did, to show their repentance, ( Jonah 3:6 Jonah 3:8 ) or as a sign of mourning, for the calamities coming on them, ( Genesis 37:34 ) and wallow thyself in ashes;
or roll thyself in them, as a token of the same. The Targum is,

``cover your heads with ashes.''

Make thee mourning as for an only son;
which of all is the most bitter: and therefore it is added, most bitter lamentation;
see ( Zechariah 12:10 ) . For the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us;
namely, Nebuchadnezzar, that would spoil their cities, towns, villages, and houses, and them of all their wealth and substance, and carry it away.

Jeremiah 6:26 In-Context

24 We have heard reports about them. And our hands can't help us. We are suffering greatly. It's like the pain of a woman having a baby.

25 Don't go out to the fields. Don't walk on the roads. Our enemies have swords. And there is terror on every side.

26 Put on black clothes, my people. Roll among the ashes. Cry with bitter sobbing just as you would cry for an only child. The one who is going to destroy us will come suddenly.

27 The LORD says to me, "I have made you like one who tests metals. My people are the ore. I want you to watch them and test the way they live.

28 All of them are used to disobeying me. They go around telling lies about others. They are like bronze mixed with iron. All of them do very sinful things.