Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
Lament - O "my land" (Joel 1:6; Isaiah 24:4).
Like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband. A virgin betrothed was regarded as married (Deuteronomy 22:23; Matthew 1:19). The Hebrew х ba`al (H1167)] for "husband" is lord or possessor, the husband being considered the master of the wife in the East.
Of her youth - when the affections are strongest, and when sorrow at bereavement is consequently keenest. Suggesting the thought of what Zion's grief ought to be for her separation from Yahweh, the betrothed husband of her early days, (Jeremiah 2:2, "I remember ... the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals;" Ezekiel 16:8; Hosea 2:7, "My first husband;" cf. Proverbs 2:17; Jeremiah 3:4, "Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me ... thou art the guide of my youth?")