The words used to describe the pre-creation state in Genesis -- tohu va-vohu -- mean "wild and waste" (e.g., Jer. 4:23). Wild and waste, darkness, and the deep waters are images for the pre-creation state of non-order. Jeremiah is activating day one of Genesis, but reversing it. He's talking about the ruin of their city and calling it an undoing of creation--a lack of order and of human flourishing. Using these Genesis 1 images heightens the sense of disaster. God is allowing humans to de-create Jerusalem.