Charles Spurgeon Commentary Jeremiah 10:17-18

"Gather up thy wares out of the land, O thou that abidest in the siege. For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel [it]." — Jeremiah 10:17-18 (ASV)

They had fled to their fortresses for shelter, for the Babylonians were coming up against them; but no hope of deliverance was held out to them, and they were told to pack up their little bundles, to put their small provisions together as compactly as they could, because they had to go away into a far distant country as captives of the mighty King Nebuchadnezzar.

God compares their captivity to the forcible ejection of stones from a sling: I will slide out the inhabitants of the land at this once. How severely God chastened his people in Jeremiah's day! Yet, when we think of their innumerable provocations, and of how they revolted again and again against the Lord, we are not surprised that at last, the Lord sent them into captivity.

Now listen to Jeremiah's lamentation over the people, whom he regards as already in captivity; he speaks in the name of the nation and says: