Some consider this verse a further complaint of the captives; others, a continuation of the prophet’s bitter lament for his doomed people. It is, in any case, the lament of failure. In Palestine the grain harvest begins about April. The fruit harvest comes about August or September. When the grain crops failed, there was still the hope there would be a yield of grapes, figs, olives, etc. For Judah, however, the fruit-gathering season—the last opportunity—had passed, and there was no deliverance. Her doom was now inevitable.

Soon for the world the last summer will come and the last harvest be reaped. Then from the lips of thousands now living complacently will again ascend this wail of despair (see 7T 16).