correct that these questions and the following verse have as their background the Autumn New Year Festival when the Lord was enthroned as the King of Jerusalem. The approaching invasion calls the inviolability of Zion into question. The response to the questions makes it clear that the real problem is not the absence of God from Jerusalem but the sin of the people. 21–23 [9:1] Because of the suffering coming upon his people, Jeremiah is gripped with dismay. Once again Jeremiah uses rhetorical questions