As is evident from this verse and the following verses, the writer finds no words to comfort his people. He poses rhetorical questions that emphasise his inability to provide answers.1 This series of questions seems to convey a sense of hopelessnes. In the face of such calamity, human wisdom is bereft of its capacity to comfort.
13 What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is vast as the sea; who can heal you?