Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.
Now why dost thou cry out aloud? - addressed to the daughter of Zion, in her consternation at the approach of the Chaldeans.
Is there no king in thee? - asked tauntingly. There is a king in her; but it is the same as if there were none, so helpless to devise means of escape are he and his counselors (Maurer). Or, Zion's pains are because her king is taken away from her by the Chaldeans (Jeremiah 52:9; Lamentations 4:20, "The breath of our nostrils (Zedekiah), the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the pagan;" Ezekiel 12:13). (Calvin.) The former view is illustrated by Jeremiah 49:7, "Is wisdom no more in Teman?" asked tauntingly. The latter, however, describes better Zion's kingless state during her present long dispersion (Hosea 3:4-5).