Zion has spread out her hands as a gesture for pity. This gesture may indicate prayer (see Psalm 143:6; Isaiah 1:15; Jeremiah 4:31). In this case however, it sums up the lack of response from the Lord or any passerby.1
It is noteworthy that the writer reports in Lamentations 1:10 that Jerusalem’s enemy has stretched out his hand over Jerusalem’s precious belongings, but now it is Zion that stretches out her hands. In the latter case the intention is different from that of her enemy: not to grab, but to implore and beg. As there is no comforter, the gesture is futile.2
17 Zion stretches out her hands, but there is none to comfort her; the LORD has commanded against Jacob that his neighbors should be his foes; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.