2 Nephi 13:26

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26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be desolate, and shall sit upon the ground.

“Sit on the ground”

Sitting on the ground was a posture which denoted deep distress. When Job’s friends came to sympathize with him, “they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great” (Job 2:13). When the Jews were in captivity, it is said, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.” (Ps. 137:1). Jeremiah also alludes to the same custom in Lam. 2:10; 3:28. The same idea is represented in a more intensified form in the expressions, “wallow thyself in ashes” (Jer. 6:26), and “roll thyself in the dust” (Micah 1:10).

Most of the Roman coins which were struck in commemoration of the capture of Jerusalem have on one side the figure of a woman sitting on the ground….The figure is generally represented with one hand to the head, which rests upon it inclining forward, and the other hanging over the knee, thus presenting a picture of great grief. In one instance, however, the hands are tied behind the back.

James M. Freeman, Manners and Customs of the Bible [Plainfield, New Jersey: Logos International, 1972], 254-55