As part of his instruction to the nation to prepare for mourning, the Lord places these words on the lips of the people. The people call on the professional mourners to make haste and raise their wailing over us.
There is a sense of urgency because of what the nation faces. There is also a sense of just how serious the situation is. The wailing of the mourners will cause the eyes of the people to run down with tears
and their eyelids to flow with water.
The poetic imagery used here has the people preparing as a nation for their own burial, and yet they will also be the mourners at their own funeral.1 The appeal for repentance is past, the time for mourning has come.2
18 let them make haste and raise a wailing over us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids flow with water.