Jeremiah 44:2

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel ,.... In which manner the prophecies of this book are frequently prefaced; see Jeremiah 42:15 ;

ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah ; they saw it with their bodily eyes; they could not but serve it in their minds; nay, had an experimental knowledge of it; they suffered it in part themselves, and must be convicted in their own consciences that it was from the hand of the Lord:

and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein ; lie waste, at this very time; the walls are broken down the houses are demolished; the goods in them carried off; no inhabitants left, or very few, to rebuild the cities, till the land, and dwell therein.