Jerusalem’s agonies were intensified by the realisation that God’s punishing hand was in them. It is described as the day of his fierce anger.
The word fierce
refers to something hot or burning, alluding to the fire that destroyed a part of Jerusalem. The day of the Lord (see also Isaiah 13:9; Jeremiah 4:8; Jeremiah 30:24) refers to the time when God no longer restrains his wrath but acts in judgment against the rebellion of men (see Lamentations 1:21; Lamentations 2:1, Lamentations 2:16, Lamentations 2:21, Lamentations 2:22). The expression implies recognition that judgment has come from God in its fullness and thoroughness.1
12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the LORD inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.