Everything that has made up Judah’s “crown”—her temple service, her royal house, her political freedom, the peace and prosperity of her citizens—is now lost. Here, as many times before in Lamentations, the author puts a confession of sin into his people’s mouths. “Everything that has come over us has been through our own doing.”
16 The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!