Jeremiah 9:17
in Jeremiah 9This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skilful women, that they may come:
KJV
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
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This verse in Jeremiah 9
Commentary
7 notes on this verseCall for the mourning women - Those whose office it was to make lamentations at funerals, and to bewail the dead, for which they received pay. This custom continues to the present in Asiatic countries. In Ireland this custom also prevails, which no doubt their ancestors brought from the east. I have often witnessed it, and have given a specimen of this elsewhere. See the note on Mat 9:23. The first lamentations for the dead consisted only in the sudden bursts of inexpressible grief, like that of David over his son Absalom, 2Sa 19:
This site's exposition
summon the wailing women
on Jeremiah 9:17-22
The call to “summon the wailing women” and “send for the most skillful among them” names the professional mourners, whose trade was grief on command. Yet “the sound of wailing is heard from Zion” before they arrive, and the women are told “Teach your daughters to wail”.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
It is our part too henceforth to mourn, or rather we have need to say this every day. We profit nothing by our prayers, nothing by our advice and exhortation, it remaineth therefore that we weep. Thus did Christ; after having many times exhorted those in Jerusalem, when they profited nothing, He wept at their hardness. This also do the Prophets, and this let us do now. Henceforth is the season for mourning and tears and wailing; it is seasonable for us also to say now, "Call for the mourning women, and send for the cunning women, that they may cry aloud" (Jer. ix. 17); perhaps thus we shall be able to cast out the malady of those who build splendid houses, of those who surround themselves with lands gotten by rapine.
(Verse 17, 18.) Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider (or understand) and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the wise women, that they may hurry, and let them take up a lamentation for us (or for you), and let our (or your) eyes shed tears, and let our (or your) eyelids flow with water; for the voice of lamentation is heard from Zion (or in Zion).
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Women - Who were hired to tear their hair, and beat their breasts, with other mourning postures, a foolish custom which has obtained in most ages and countries. Cunning - Such as are most skilful in it.
. the scope of this is to show how very woeful and lamentable the condition of this people was likely to be. Here is work for the counterfeit mourners: Send for cunning women, that know how to compose mournful ditties, or at least to sing them in mournful tunes and accents, and therefore are made use of at funerals to supply the want of true mourners.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider ye,....
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֹּ֤ה | koh | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַר֙ | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| צְבָא֔וֹת | tzevaot | of hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
| הִתְבּֽוֹנְנ֛וּ | hitbonu | consider | H995 → | 170 times |
| וְקִרְא֥וּ | vekiru | and summon | H7121 → | 733 times |
| לַמְקוֹנְנ֖וֹת | lamkonot | <to> the wailing [women] | H6969 → | |
| וּתְבוֹאֶ֑ינָה | utevoeinah | and they may come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| וְאֶל־ | veel- | and to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַחֲכָמ֥וֹת | hachakhamot | the skillful [women] | H2450 → | 138 times |
| שִׁלְח֖וּ | shilchu | send | H7971 → | 845 times |
| וְתָבֽוֹאנָה׃ | vetavonah | so they may come | H935 → | 2568 times |
כֹּ֤הthus
kohH3541 →577 times
אָמַר֙he says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
צְבָא֔וֹתof hosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
הִתְבּֽוֹנְנ֛וּconsider
hitbonuH995 →170 times
וְקִרְא֥וּand summon
vekiruH7121 →733 times
לַמְקוֹנְנ֖וֹת<to> the wailing [women]
lamkonotH6969 →
וּתְבוֹאֶ֑ינָהand they may come
utevoeinahH935 →2568 times
וְאֶל־and to
veel-H413 →5510 times
הַחֲכָמ֥וֹתthe skillful [women]
hachakhamotH2450 →138 times
שִׁלְח֖וּsend
shilchuH7971 →845 times
וְתָבֽוֹאנָה׃so they may come
vetavonahH935 →2568 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
Ecclesiastes 12:5when men fear the heights and dangers of the road, when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry shrivels—for then man goes to his eternal home and mourners…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:17–20
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 17:13
If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
- Job 30:23
Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
- Proverbs 16:31
Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is attained along the path of righteousness.
- Jeremiah 9:17–20
Through
Job 3:8May it be cursed by those who curse the day—those prepared to rouse Leviathan.
it leads to
- Job 41:1
“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
- Job 41:1
Through
Matthew 9:23When Jesus entered the house of the synagogue leader, He saw the flute players and the noisy crowd.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 35:25
Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the choirs of men and women sing laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in…
- 2 Chronicles 35:25
Through
2 Chronicles 35:25Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the choirs of men and women sing laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in…
it leads to
- Lamentations 4:20
The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”
- Jeremiah 22:10
Do not weep for the dead king; do not mourn his loss. Weep bitterly for the one who is exiled, for he will never return to see his native land.
- Lamentations 4:20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of John 64; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.