Jeremiah 13:17
in Jeremiah 13But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because Jehovah’s flock is taken captive.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Jeremiah 13
Commentary
3 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The Lord’s flock - The people carried away captive with Jeconiah formed the Jewish Church, as we are expressly told, whereas Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem possessed only the externals of the Church and not its reality. It is for this reason that the seventy years’ exile counts from Jeconiah’s captivity.
This site's exposition
Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud
on Jeremiah 13:15-17
The call to give glory to the Lord before darkness falls is an offer of one more chance to turn, framed as a choice between light kept and light lost on the dark mountains. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the darkness as both the coming captivity and the spiritual blindness pride already produces, the two judgments arriving together. Jeremiah's own tears break through his own sermon at verse 17, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride, the same weeping the book names again at 9:1, a prophet who never delivers this message without cost to himself.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
on Jeremiah 13:16-17
(Verse 16, 17.) Give glory to the Lord your God ((or our)) before it grows dark, and before your feet stumble upon dark (or gloomy) mountains. You will wait for light, but there will be only darkness (or according to the Hebrew, he will put it in darkness and gloom). And if you will not listen, your soul ((or mine)) will weep in secret because of arrogance (or injury).
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
and before your feet stumble Heb. יתנגפו (achopper in French), to stumble.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאִם֙ | veim | and if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִשְׁמָע֔וּהָ | tishmauha | you will listen to it | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| בְּמִסְתָּרִ֥ים | bemistarim | in secret places | H4565 → | 10 times |
| תִּבְכֶּֽה־ | tivkeh- | it will weep | H1058 → | 114 times |
| נַפְשִׁ֖י | nafshi | self my | H5315 → | 754 times |
| מִפְּנֵ֣י | mipenei | <from> because of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| גֵוָ֑ה | gevah | pride | H1466 → | |
| וְדָמֹ֨עַ | vedamoa' | and utterly <to weep> | H1830 → | |
| תִּדְמַ֜ע | tidma' | it will weep | H1830 → | |
| וְתֵרַ֤ד | veterad | and it may run down | H3381 → | 381 times |
| עֵינִי֙ | ʾeini | eye my | H5869 → | 887 times |
| דִּמְעָ֔ה | dimah | tear[s] | H1832 → | 23 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| נִשְׁבָּ֖ה | nishbah | it has been taken captive | H7617 → | 47 times |
| עֵ֥דֶר | ʾeder | [the] flock of | H5739 → | 38 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ ס | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
וְאִם֙and if
veimH518 →1069 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תִשְׁמָע֔וּהָyou will listen to it
tishmauhaH8085 →1159 times
בְּמִסְתָּרִ֥יםin secret places
bemistarimH4565 →10 times
תִּבְכֶּֽה־it will weep
tivkeh-H1058 →114 times
נַפְשִׁ֖יself my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
מִפְּנֵ֣י<from> because of
mipeneiH6440 →2123 times
גֵוָ֑הpride
gevahH1466 →
וְדָמֹ֨עַand utterly <to weep>
vedamoa'H1830 →
תִּדְמַ֜עit will weep
tidma'H1830 →
וְתֵרַ֤דand it may run down
veteradH3381 →381 times
עֵינִי֙eye my
ʾeiniH5869 →887 times
דִּמְעָ֔הtear[s]
dimahH1832 →23 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
נִשְׁבָּ֖הit has been taken captive
nishbahH7617 →47 times
עֵ֥דֶר[the] flock of
ʾederH5739 →38 times
יְהוָֽה׃ סYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Malachi 2:2If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse…
it leads to
- Luke 17:18
Was no one found except this foreigner to return and give glory to God?”
- Revelation 14:7
And he said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the One who made the heavens and the earth and the sea…
- Psalms 69:22
May their table become a snare; may it be a retribution and a trap.
- Psalms 81:11–12
But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.
- Luke 17:18
Through
Jeremiah 9:1Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
it leads to
- Isaiah 22:4
Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
- Jeremiah 8:21–22
For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am crushed. I mourn; horror has gripped me.
- Lamentations 2:11
My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of…
- Isaiah 22:4
Through
Jeremiah 14:17You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow,…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 8:21
For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am crushed. I mourn; horror has gripped me.
- Jeremiah 8:21
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.