Jeremiah 6:26 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

0 daughter of my people, i.e. O my people, that art beloved as a daughter. Gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: he calls upon them to mourning in the deepest manner wherein they can express it, girding with sackcloth, close mourning, Jeremiah 4:8, wallowing in ashes, Jeremiah 25:34 Micah 1:10, lying low in humiliation, and prostrating themselves before him: he further describes the nature of it in the following expression, such as is for the death of a child, a son, an only son, Amos 8:10; and then seems to sum it up in this bitter, most bitter lamentation, Heb. wailing of bitternesses, noting the highest degrees of lamentation; he seems to want words to express it. See Jeremiah 9:17,18. And it is likely the prophet doth not so designedly exhort them to repent, as rather describe the state of persons in a lost and despairing condition. For here the prophet takes upon himself thee person of one denouncing war; and sackcloth and ashes is often mentioned where there is net hope of conversion or repentance. The spoiler; the king of Babylon and his army, Jeremiah 4:8.