Tel-abib - , on the river Chebar was the chief seat of the Jewish exiles in Babylonia. The name “Tel-abib” (“mount of ears of corn”) was probably given on account of its fertility.
I sat where they sat - Rather, “And I saw them sitting there and I sat there.”
Astonished - Rather, silent, with fixed and determined silence (compare Ezra 9:3-4). “To be silent” was characteristic of mourners Lamentations 3:28; “to sit” their proper attitude Isaiah 3:26; Lamentations 1:1; “seven days” the set time of mourning Job 2:13.