11 My eyes fail because of tears,
My [f]spirit is greatly troubled;
My [g]heart is poured out on the earth
Because of the [h]destruction of the daughter of my people,
When little ones and infants faint
In the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
As they faint like a wounded man
In the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
On their mothers’ bosom.
13 How shall I admonish you?
To what shall I compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
To what shall I liken you as I comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your [i]ruin is as vast as the sea;
Who can heal you?
14 Your prophets have seen for you
False and foolish visions;
And they have not exposed your iniquity
So as to restore you from captivity,
But they have seen for you false and misleading [j]oracles.
15 All who pass along the way
Clap their hands in derision at you;
They hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem,
“Is this the city of which they said,
‘The perfection of beauty,
A joy to all the earth’?”
16 All your enemies
Have opened their mouths wide against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the day for which we waited;
We have reached it, we have seen it.”
17 The Lord has done what He purposed;
He has accomplished His word
Which He commanded from days of old.
He has thrown down without sparing,
And He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you;
He has exalted the [k]might of your adversaries.
18 Their heart cried out to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let your tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief,
Let [l]your eyes have no rest.
19 “Arise, cry aloud in the night
At the beginning of the night watches;
Pour out your heart like water
Before the presence of the Lord;
Lift up your hands to Him
For the life of your little ones
Who are faint because of hunger
At the head of every street.”
20 See, O Lord, and look!
With whom have You dealt thus?
Should women eat their [m]offspring,
The little ones who were [n]born healthy?
Should priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 On the ground in the streets
Lie young and old;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the sword.
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered, not sparing.
22 You called as in the day of an appointed feast
My terrors on every side;
And there was no one who escaped or survived
In the day of the Lord’s anger.
Those whom I [o]bore and reared,
My enemy annihilated them.
Jeremiah continues to mourn the destruction of his people and of Jerusalem. He is “greatly troubled” and in this section he highlights especially the plight of the children and infants. For as God’s wrath is poured out due to the sins of the people, the little ones are caught up in the net of God’s judgment as well.
For this reason, Jeremiah tells the people to let their tears run down day and night, to give their eyes no rest (v. 18), to cry aloud in the night and to pour out their hearts like water before the Lord (v. 19). As we look at our world today, much of the same could be said of the children–or might if there were not still hope. I don’t know what hope Jeremiah still had for the rescue of the innocent in that day, but like him, our hearts should break for the state of the children in our communities.
In many cases, the imminent threat is not physical (but sometimes it is), but more grow up without knowing the love of God as our world turns persistently away from Him. Neither should we discount those older and grown, for their case is not hopeless. God’s judgment is not yet come, and grace may be found by all who seek Him.
Again, our hearts ought to break, just as God’s surely does, for the case of our young ones and the lost surrounding us. There are many who need to know His love, who are lost and hurting all around. More than that, we should pray for them as Jeremiah admonishes in v. 19. And again more, we should ask God to show us how we can help them with needs both physical and spiritual.
A battle is raging in our world, though it be different than the physical calamity of Jeremiah’s time, it is claiming hearts and lives. We must, all of us, be involved “in our Father’s business” just as Jesus said so many years ago. Let His heart become your heart, and let God lead and direct you as you come into contact with lost and hurting souls today and every day.