Jeremiah 13:17
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock is carried away captive. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock is carried away captive.
When pride keeps people from hearing the warning, the Lord's flock is left unguarded and is carried away captive. Refusing light and resisting the appeals of the Holy Spirit hardens the heart, dims the light already received, and leaves souls settled in error. That warning falls on leaders who turn people away from truth and thereby expose them to error and all its consequences. It falls also on those who see the truth yet throw off conviction and follow human leaders or human rules in order to keep their position.
The faithful response to such refusal is deep grief, weeping in secret places with eyes weeping sorely until tears run down. In the weight of the testimony this is God's own grief, His soul weeping in secret and His eye weeping over the loss of His people. Beside it stands the teaching of those who held it to be Jeremiah and the faithful with him who weep deeply over Israel's refusal, apostasy, and captivity.
That sorrow is for backsliding, for the desolation that apostasy brings, and for the fate of the people carried away. It reaches even to the slain and to the suffering people of Israel. The same lament is echoed in Christ's tears over Jerusalem for those who would not accept and follow Him, widening to the destruction of all who reject God's appeals.