To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing - which the Lord foretold Solomon would be the result of national apostasy: "Everyone that passeth by shall be astonished, and shall hiss" (1 Kings 9:8), in sign of contempt. That which was to be only the event is ascribed to the purpose of the people, although altogether different from what they would have been likely to hope for. Their purpose is represented as being the destruction of their country, because it was the inevitable result of their course of acting.
Everyone that passeth by shall be astonished, and shall wag his head - in mockery (2 Kings 19:21). As the Jews "that passed by wagged their heads" in derision of the Messiah on the cross (Matthew 27:39), so they themselves, in just retribution, were doomed to be objects of the same derision, wagging, of the head. As "wag ... head" answers to "hissing," so "astonished" answers to "desolate;" for which, therefore, Munster, etc., rather translate [lishamaah] 'to make their land an object of wonder' (Jeremiah 19:8).