Jeremiah 15:5
in Jeremiah 15Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For who will have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who will bemoan thee? or who will turn aside to ask of thy welfare?
KJV
For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?
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This verse in Jeremiah 15
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem
on Jeremiah 15:5-9
The questions of verse 5 picture a city so friendless that no one will “turn aside to ask about your welfare”. The words “I am weary of showing compassion” follow the charge “You have turned your back”. Widows and “a destroyer at noon” describe a ruin that comes in daylight.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
We wish to understand the words spoken to Jerusalem with much menace, which run thus: "Who will spare you, O Jerusalem? Or who will be sorrowful for you? Or who will turn aside to ask after your peace? You have turned away from me, says the Lord. You shall go backward, and I will stretch out my hand against you and destroy you, and I will no longer let you go. And I will scatter them in a dispersion." Then: "I have been made childless." Perplexity has seized me. I take as an illustration a man who has been declared an enemy of the one who reigns upon the earth, because for such a person it is not permitted even to impart mercy, lest anyone seem to give offense to the king who has condemned him. And it is not permitted even to show mercy to such a one; some go still further and do not even show sorrow over him, lest by showing sorrow they seem to be displeased with the sentence passed by the king. If you have grasped this, look with me at the one condemned by God on account of his own many sins, and consider such a person: though there are legions of angels appointed to help the nature of human beings, he is pitied by none. […]
(Verse 5.) Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Or who will grieve for you? Or who will go to ask for your peace? For no one can, having offended God, ask for forgiveness for the sins; for neither can a creature be as merciful as its creator, nor can it be as distant from foreigners as the Lord is inclined to spare his own people.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem?....
He will set their acquaintance, as he did Job's at a distance from them; and his hand, his righteous hand, is to be acknowledged in all the unkindnesses of our friends, as well as in all the injuries done us by our foes. The Prophet Assured of His Safety. 10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth!
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Who shall go aside to ask how thou doest? - Perhaps there is not a more despised nor a more degraded people under the sun. Scarcely any one thinks himself called upon to do a kind office for a Jew. Their character is bad in society, and they are not at all solicitous to redeem it.
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֠י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| מִֽי־ | mi- | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יַחְמֹ֤ל | yachmol | will he have compassion | H2550 → | 41 times |
| עָלַ֙יִךְ֙ | ʾalayikh | on you | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם | yerushalim | O Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
| וּמִ֖י | umi | and who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יָנ֣וּד | yanud | will he show sympathy | H5110 → | 24 times |
| לָ֑ךְ | lakh | to <the> you | ||
| וּמִ֣י | umi | and who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יָס֔וּר | yasur | will he turn aside | H5493 → | 299 times |
| לִשְׁאֹ֥ל | lishol | to ask | H7592 → | 171 times |
| לְשָׁלֹ֖ם | leshalom | to welfare | H7965 → | 236 times |
| לָֽךְ׃ | lakh | of <the> you |
כִּ֠יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
מִֽי־who?
mi-H4310 →423 times
יַחְמֹ֤לwill he have compassion
yachmolH2550 →41 times
עָלַ֙יִךְ֙on you
ʾalayikhH5921 →5755 times
יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔םO Jerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →643 times
וּמִ֖יand who?
umiH4310 →423 times
יָנ֣וּדwill he show sympathy
yanudH5110 →24 times
לָ֑ךְto <the> you
lakh
וּמִ֣יand who?
umiH4310 →423 times
יָס֔וּרwill he turn aside
yasurH5493 →299 times
לִשְׁאֹ֥לto ask
lisholH7592 →171 times
לְשָׁלֹ֖םto welfare
leshalomH7965 →236 times
לָֽךְ׃of <the> you
lakh
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
Psalms 69:20Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found no one.
it leads to
- Isaiah 63:5
I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled that no one assisted. So My arm brought Me salvation, and My own wrath upheld Me.
- Job 16:2
“I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all.
- Psalms 142:4
Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul.
- Mark 14:50
Then everyone deserted Him and fled.
- Isaiah 63:5
Through
Jeremiah 21:7‘After that,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officers, and the people in this city who survive the plague and sword and famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 37:17
Later, King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and received him in his palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there a word from the LORD?” “There is,” Jeremiah replied. “You will be delivered into the…
- 2 Kings 25:5–7
but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was separated from him.
- Habakkuk 1:6–10
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
- Jeremiah 37:17
Through
Nahum 3:7Then all who see you will recoil from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated; who will grieve for her?’ Where can I find comforters for you?”
it leads to
- Isaiah 51:19
These pairs have befallen you: devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will grieve for you? Who can comfort you?
- Isaiah 51:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Jeremiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 13.