Jeremiah 9:1
in Jeremiah 9Oh, 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
KJV
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
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This verse in Jeremiah 9
Commentary
5 notes on this verse(Chapter IX — Verse 1) Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, so that I may weep day and night for the slain daughters of my people? If I could only be turned into weeping, and tears were to flow abundantly like a river, still I would not be able to weep worthy tears for the slain daughters of my people. For their affliction is so great that it surpasses all sorrow. And this can be understood both from the perspective of the Prophet and of the Lord.
This site's exposition
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears
on Jeremiah 9:1-3
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears opens the chapter with the prophet's own extremity, a wish for tear ducts equal to the grief coming rather than the theme of some other speaker's oracle. Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men states the same wish from its other side, escape rather than more weeping, and the bench reads both together as the honest limit of a man told repeatedly not to intercede yet unable to stop grieving. The charge that follows, they bend their tongues like their bow for lies, but they are not valiant for the truth, names the specific sin driving the tears, deceit chosen over courage.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears,.... Or, "who will give to my head water, and to mine eyes a fountain of tears?" as the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions. The prophet wishes that his head was turned and dissolved into water, and that tears might flow from his eyes as water issues out from a fountain; and he suggests, that could this be, it would not be sufficient to deplore the miserable estate of his people, and to express the inward grief and sorrow of his mind on account of it.
Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted hereafter; but let them expect that while they are here the clouds will still return after the rain. While we find our hearts such fountains of sin, it is fit that our eyes should be fountains of tears.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
This verse is joined in the Hebrew to the preceding chapter. But any break at all here interrupts the meaning. A fountain - Rather, “a reservoir,” in which tears had been stored up, so that the prophet might weep abundantly.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִֽי־ | mi- | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יִתֵּ֤ן | yiten | will he give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| רֹאשִׁי֙ | roshi | head my | H7218 → | 599 times |
| מַ֔יִם | mayim | [was] water | H4325 → | 581 times |
| וְעֵינִ֖י | veeini | and eye my | H5869 → | 887 times |
| מְק֣וֹר | mekor | [was] a fountain of | H4726 → | 18 times |
| דִּמְעָ֑ה | dimah | tear[s] | H1832 → | 23 times |
| וְאֶבְכֶּה֙ | veevkeh | so I may bewail | H1058 → | 114 times |
| יוֹמָ֣ם | yomam | by day | H3119 → | 50 times |
| וָלַ֔יְלָה | valaylah | and night | H3915 → | 233 times |
| אֵ֖ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| חַֽלְלֵ֥י | chalei | [those] slain of | H2491 → | 94 times |
| בַת־ | vat- | [the] daughter of | H1323 → | 588 times |
| עַמִּֽי׃ | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
מִֽי־who?
mi-H4310 →423 times
יִתֵּ֤ןwill he give
yitenH5414 →2011 times
רֹאשִׁי֙head my
roshiH7218 →599 times
מַ֔יִם[was] water
mayimH4325 →581 times
וְעֵינִ֖יand eye my
veeiniH5869 →887 times
מְק֣וֹר[was] a fountain of
mekorH4726 →18 times
דִּמְעָ֑הtear[s]
dimahH1832 →23 times
וְאֶבְכֶּה֙so I may bewail
veevkehH1058 →114 times
יוֹמָ֣םby day
yomamH3119 →50 times
וָלַ֔יְלָהand night
valaylahH3915 →233 times
אֵ֖ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
חַֽלְלֵ֥י[those] slain of
chaleiH2491 →94 times
בַת־[the] daughter of
vat-H1323 →588 times
עַמִּֽי׃people my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 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
Jeremiah 13:17But 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.
it leads to
- Malachi 2:2
If 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…
- Jeremiah 14:17
You 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,…
- Malachi 2:2
Through
Lamentations 2:11My 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…
it leads to
- Lamentations 1:20
See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.
- Job 16:13
His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.
- Lamentations 1:16
For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to revive my soul. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.
- Jeremiah 4:19
My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm…
- Lamentations 1:20
Through
Jeremiah 6:26O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
it leads to
- Zechariah 12:10
Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They…
- Jeremiah 4:8
So put on sackcloth, mourn and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.”
- Zechariah 12:10
Where this verse is studied
1 study on this verse
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.