Now Jerusalem is ready to speak for herself again. But there has come a change in her tone. First of all, she makes sure that there is no misunderstanding: in all of her complaints, she is not blaming the Lord. He is the righteous one, she the guilty. He only did what he said he would do a long time ago, and after many patient warnings.
One of the curses on disobedience was that Israel’s sons and daughters would go into captivity (Deuteronomy 28:41). This is what has happened, as Jerusalem now laments, “Hear…; my young women and my young men have gone into captivity.” There can be no greater suffering for a parent or for a city. As we see in the lives of Daniel and his friends, many young people were taken away by the Babylonians. Yet, even in this calamity, the Lord’s actions were righteous.
18 “The LORD is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word; but hear, all you peoples, and see my suffering; my young women and my young men have gone into captivity.