Yirmeyah 6:26

26 O Bat Ami, gird thee with sackcloth, and roll thyself in ashes; make thee evel (mourning), as for a yachid (only son), most bitter lamentation; for the shoded (destroyer) shall suddenly come upon us.

Yirmeyah 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.

Yirmeyah 6:26 In-Context

24 We have heard the fame thereof; our hands hang limp; tzarah (anguish) hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in labor.

25 Go not forth into the sadeh, nor walk by the derech; for the cherev of the oyev (enemy) and magur (fear, terror) is on every side.

26 O Bat Ami, gird thee with sackcloth, and roll thyself in ashes; make thee evel (mourning), as for a yachid (only son), most bitter lamentation; for the shoded (destroyer) shall suddenly come upon us.

27 I have set thee for a bachon (tester, assayer) of Ami (My People); that thou mayest know and test their derech (way, conduct).

28 They are all maximum rebels, going about as rachil (talebearers, slanderers); they are nechoshet and barzel; they are all corrupt.