Thomas Aquinas Commentary Lamentations 1:11

"All her people sigh, they seek bread; They have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the soul: See, O Jehovah, and behold; for I am become abject." — Lamentations 1:11 (ASV)

Here the prophet describes the loss of their possessions by detailing what they were forced to give up.

1. First, he presents their need to give things up due to a lack of necessities: they seek bread. As the psalmist says, I am smitten as grass, and my heart is withered: because I forgot to eat my bread (Psalms 101:5).
2. Second, he describes the deprivation itself: they have given all their precious things to revive—not to satisfy, but merely to sustain—the soul. This is what we read of the Egyptians (Genesis 47:13–21).
3. Third, he appeals to God for pity: see, O Lord. As Jeremiah says, How exceedingly base you are become, going the same ways over again! (Jeremiah 2:36).

This final phrase is presented as an outcry from the personified city or its people. The prophet has been describing their misfortune, and now, unable to bear hearing any more, they burst into lamentations and sobs.