Although it is difficult to translate the first question, it means something like: What familiar soothing words can I say to you? The writer has nothing soothing or comforting to say in these circumstances.1
Jerusalem has complained, Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow
(Lamentations 1:12). The writer wishes that Jerusalem was not alone in her suffering, prompting him to articulate his second rhetorical question. The search for some comparable calamity in the world is rooted in a desperate search for the slightest form of comfort.2,3 The writer has been observed to search for evidence or an analogy that one might draw upon to provide some perspective to Jerusalem's awful devastation and loss.4 The implied answer: there are neither words nor comparisons that might bring comfort to Jerusalem.
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?