In continuation of this resplendent description verses seventeen through nineteen recorded the lamentations of the merchant--men because the luxuries and revenues in which they had shared had come to nought and were no more at all. In unison they cried: What city is like unto this great city . . . alas, alas, that great city . . . she is made desolate. Thus the traffickers of the heathen world lamented the ignominious end of the once glorious city of Jerusalem.