Lamentations 1:1

Jeremiah bewailed the abandoned city of Jerusalem that had once been so glorious and independent. Sitting alone is sometimes a picture of deep sorrow and mourning (cf. Lamentations 2:10; Ezra 9:3; Nehemiah 1:4). Now the city was as solitary as a widow and as servile as a forced laborer. It had changed in three ways: numerically, economically, and socially.

"Jerusalem, a city which used to be close to God, has been changed by the choice of significant men. They have turned away from Him when they knew Him, and now their city is under siege. There is death in the city." [Note: Francis A. Schaeffer, Death in the City, pp. 17-18.]