Judah had turned to other nations such as Egypt for help against the Babylonians. The Lord describes these nations they turned to as lovers
who have forgotten you; they care nothing for you.
In the end these nations (and their gods) abandoned Judah and were no help at all. The same had happened in the northern tribes of Israel centuries earlier.
However, the truly horrifying thing for Judah is that the Lord himself has struck Judah with the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe.
The Lord himself has acted against Judah through the Babylonians. It is clear in passages such as Jeremiah 15:9;Jeremiah 19:7;Jeremiah 20:4;Jeremiah 44:30 that an enemy’s blows are meant to be fatal.1 These blows are also described as merciless
and that would certainly have been true of the Babylonian invasion. However, the blows are described here as punishment.
The Lord does stand behind all the horror that comes to Judah, but his purpose is not their destruction, but rather discipline
(see Jeremiah 30:11). This correction will ultimately mean they escape destruction at the hands of the Lord.
The extent of the Lord’s action against Judah is explained by the fact that that their guilt is great
and their sins are flagrant.
The Lord has become their enemy because they have rebelled against him and rejected him. The only reason they are not totally destroyed, as they deserve to be, is because the Lord is full of mercy and determined to not allow sin to destroy his plans and purposes for his people.
14 Tous ceux qui t'aimaient t'oublient, Aucun ne prend souci de toi; Car je t'ai frappée comme frappe un ennemi, Je t'ai châtiée avec violence, A cause de la multitude de tes iniquités, Du grand nombre de tes péchés.