Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 49:25

"How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy?" — Jeremiah 49:25 (ASV)

How is the city of praise not left...! —The exclamation, half scornful, half ironical, points to the fact that the inhabitants of Damascus had tried in vain to flee (Jeremiah 49:24). The city so fair and glorious, with its rivers Abana and Pharphar (2 Kings 5:12), had not been “left,” would not be empty when it was taken. The people would perish with it. Her young warriors and her veterans should be cut off within the walls.