Lamentations 1:4

The ways of Zion. Or, “the roads of Zion.” Jerusalem lay at the convergence of four main roads: one from Jericho in the Jordan valley, one from Joppa on the Mediterranean, one from Hebron on the south, and one that followed the ridge of the hill country from Samaria on the north. These, with all the minor routes leading in from surrounding villages, had once been crowded with pilgrims at the times of the great annual feasts. Now they are deserted.

Solemn feasts. Jeremiah was doubtless present in 622 B.C. at the greatest Passover service Jerusalem had ever seen (2 Kings 23:21-23). Such memories make the present desolation seem even more bitter.

Her gates. Probably a reference to the space just inside the gates that served as a public meeting place for trade and governmental transactions (see Deut. 21:19; Ruth 4:1, 11; 2 Sam. 19:8; 1 Kings 22:10; Amos 5:12, 15; see on Gen. 19:1; Joshua 8:29). All the daily commerce of the great city has ceased.

Virgins. Heb. bethuloth (see on Isa. 7:14).