Jeremiah includes the words of the people in his lament. As in Jeremiah 4:11 and Jeremiah 8:11, the people are referred to as the daughter of my people,
which is a personification of the people as a woman and is a tender and intimate term that expresses the deep connection Jeremiah has with them.1
As the Lord’s judgment is poured out onto Judah, Jeremiah hears the people asking questions about the presence of the Lord. Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?
These could just be cries of despair as judgment comes, but these questions also express the false confidence the people had that the mere presence of the temple in Jerusalem would keep them safe, even as they lived in disobedience to the Lord.2 The people call the Lord, the King
of Judah. This does not often happen explicitly in the Old Testament, but the reality that the Lord is indeed the King of Israel is found throughout the Old Testament.3
19 Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land: “Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” “Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?”