Previously Jerusalem was the pride and joy of its inhabitants and that of all Israel (see Psalm 50:2). The people would boast about Jerusalem to the neighbouring nations, even to her enemies. This invites a gleeful reaction from passers-by to her present condition.1 Their rhetorical question is an expression of scornful astonishment.2
15 All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”