Jeremiah 9:19
in Jeremiah 9For the sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How devastated we are! How great is our shame! For we have abandoned the land because our dwellings have been torn down.’”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.
KJV
For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.
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This verse in Jeremiah 9
Commentary
6 notes on this verse(Verse 19.) How desolate and utterly confused we are! Because we have forsaken the land, for our tents have been abandoned. This is the voice of those lamenting Zion: how desolate and utterly confused we are! And immediately they answer themselves and explain the reasons for their devastation, saying: Because we have forsaken the land, through our own fault and sin, and our tents have been abandoned, which once possessed as if passing by.
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
How devastated we are
Jerome notes that the mourners give the reason for their own ruin in the same breath. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear Leviticus 18:28 fulfilled, the land casting out a people who defiled it. The shame is the loss of home.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But sin has altered the note; it is now the voice of lamentation. It should seem to be the voice of those who fled from all parts of the country to the castle of Zion for protection. Instead of rejoicing that they had got safely thither, they lamented that they were forced to seek for shelter there: " How are we spoiled!
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The cry of "the mourning women." spoiled--laid waste. dwellings cast us out--fulfilling Le 18:28; CALVIN translates, "The enemy have cast down our habitations."
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| ק֥וֹל | kol | a sound of | H6963 → | 506 times |
| נְהִ֛י | nehi | wailing | H5092 → | 7 times |
| נִשְׁמַ֥ע | nishma' | it has been heard | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| מִצִּיּ֖וֹן | mitziyon | from Zion | H6726 → | 154 times |
| אֵ֣יךְ | ʾeikh | how! | H349 → | 82 times |
| שֻׁדָּ֑דְנוּ | shudadenu | we have been devastated | H7703 → | 57 times |
| בֹּ֤שְׁנֽוּ | boshenu | we have been put to shame | H954 → | 127 times |
| מְאֹד֙ | meod | exceedingly | H3966 → | 300 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| עָזַ֣בְנוּ | ʾazavnu | we have left | H5800 → | 215 times |
| אָ֔רֶץ | ʾaretz | [the] land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הִשְׁלִ֖יכוּ | hishlikhu | people have cast down | H7993 → | 125 times |
| מִשְׁכְּנוֹתֵֽינוּ׃ ס | mishkenoteinu | dwellings our | H4908 → | 139 times |
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
ק֥וֹלa sound of
kolH6963 →506 times
נְהִ֛יwailing
nehiH5092 →7 times
נִשְׁמַ֥עit has been heard
nishma'H8085 →1159 times
מִצִּיּ֖וֹןfrom Zion
mitziyonH6726 →154 times
אֵ֣יךְhow!
ʾeikhH349 →82 times
שֻׁדָּ֑דְנוּwe have been devastated
shudadenuH7703 →57 times
בֹּ֤שְׁנֽוּwe have been put to shame
boshenuH954 →127 times
מְאֹד֙exceedingly
meodH3966 →300 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
עָזַ֣בְנוּwe have left
ʾazavnuH5800 →215 times
אָ֔רֶץ[the] land
ʾaretzH776 →2504 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
הִשְׁלִ֖יכוּpeople have cast down
hishlikhuH7993 →125 times
מִשְׁכְּנוֹתֵֽינוּ׃ סdwellings our
mishkenoteinuH4908 →139 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
Leviticus 18:25Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.
it leads to
- Leviticus 18:28
So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.
- Jeremiah 2:7
I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but you came and defiled My land, and made My inheritance detestable.
- Leviticus 20:22–23
You are therefore to keep all My statutes and ordinances, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.
- Leviticus 18:28
Through
Jeremiah 4:13Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!
it leads to
- Isaiah 19:1
This is the burden against Egypt: Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud; He is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him, and the hearts of the Egyptians will…
- Isaiah 66:15
For behold, the LORD will come with fire—His chariots are like a whirlwind—to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.
- Lamentations 4:19
Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.
- Isaiah 19:1
Through
Deuteronomy 28:29and at noon you will grope about like a blind man in the darkness. You will not prosper in your ways. Day after day you will be oppressed and plundered, with no one to…
it leads to
- Isaiah 59:10
Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall, groping like those without eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; among the vigorous we are like the dead.
- Isaiah 59:10
Through
Leviticus 20:22You are therefore to keep all My statutes and ordinances, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.
it leads to
- Leviticus 18:25–28
Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.
- Leviticus 18:25–28
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.