Jeremiah 9:18
in Jeremiah 9Let them come quickly and take up a lament over us, that our eyes may overflow with tears, and our eyelids may gush with water.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
KJV
And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
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This verse in Jeremiah 9
Commentary
5 notes on this verseLet those therefore do it now whose trade it is. Or, rather, it intimates the extreme sottishness and stupidity of the people, that laid not to heart the judgments they were under, nor, even when there was so much blood shed, could find in their hearts to shed a tear.
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”.
This site's exposition
take up a lament over us
Matthew Henry reads the call as a rebuke: the people were too hardened to weep for themselves, so the trade of grief had to start. The mourners are asked to come quickly. Tears were meant to spread from them to everyone.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(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 Awakening1 voice
And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us,.... Deliver out a mournful song, as the Arabic version; setting forth their miseries and distresses, and affecting their minds with them.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּתְמַהֵ֕רְנָה | utemaherenah | and they may hasten | H4116 → | |
| וְתִשֶּׂ֥נָה | vetisenah | and they may take up | H5375 → | 656 times |
| עָלֵ֖ינוּ | ʾaleinu | on us | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| נֶ֑הִי | nehi | wailing | H5092 → | 7 times |
| וְתֵרַ֤דְנָה | veteradnah | so they may run down | H3381 → | 381 times |
| עֵינֵ֙ינוּ֙ | ʾeineinu | eyes our | H5869 → | 887 times |
| דִּמְעָ֔ה | dimah | tear[s] | H1832 → | 23 times |
| וְעַפְעַפֵּ֖ינוּ | veafapeinu | and eyelids our | H6079 → | |
| יִזְּלוּ־ | yizelu- | they may flow | H5140 → | |
| מָֽיִם׃ | mayim | water | H4325 → | 581 times |
וּתְמַהֵ֕רְנָהand they may hasten
utemaherenahH4116 →
וְתִשֶּׂ֥נָהand they may take up
vetisenahH5375 →656 times
עָלֵ֖ינוּon us
ʾaleinuH5921 →5755 times
נֶ֑הִיwailing
nehiH5092 →7 times
וְתֵרַ֤דְנָהso they may run down
veteradnahH3381 →381 times
עֵינֵ֙ינוּ֙eyes our
ʾeineinuH5869 →887 times
דִּמְעָ֔הtear[s]
dimahH1832 →23 times
וְעַפְעַפֵּ֖ינוּand eyelids our
veafapeinuH6079 →
יִזְּלוּ־they may flow
yizelu-H5140 →
מָֽיִם׃water
mayimH4325 →581 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 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
- Jeremiah 13:17
But 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.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- 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 13:17
Through
Lamentations 2:18The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief, and your…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:1
Oh, 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.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 119:145
I call with all my heart; answer me, O LORD! I will obey Your statutes.
- Jeremiah 9:1
Through
Jeremiah 9:20Now, O women, hear the word of the LORD. Open your ears to the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters to wail, and one another to lament.
it leads to
- Luke 23:27–30
A great number of people followed Him, including women who kept mourning and wailing for Him.
- Isaiah 32:9–13
Stand up, you complacent women; listen to me. Give ear to my word, you overconfident daughters.
- Job 22:22
Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart.
- Luke 23:27–30
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 Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.