Why does the Lord tell the people to cut off their hair and to raise a lament?

These verses (Jeremiah 7:29–34) are the only bit of poetry in the current section (Jeremiah 7:1–8:3). The feminine imperatives in the poem refer to Jerusalem.¹ The poem is a call to the people of Jerusalem to lament and mourn. The Hebrew word that is used for hair is not the usual word, but rather the word that is related to the verb nazar which means to dedicate oneself. The Nazarite vow was a way for a non-Levite Israelite to dedicate themselves to the Lord for special service. The vow included not cutting your hair as a sign of your dedication. So, when the Lord says the people must cut their hair and cast it away, it is a metaphor that says to Israel that her special relationship with the Lord is over.² The Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. The Lord’s judgment is coming against the generation of Jeremiah’s time. The city is called to lament on the bare heights. This is a reference to the very places where the people committed their evil acts as they worshipped other gods.