the Second Week after Easter
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Brenton's Septuagint
Jeremiah 9:17
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This is what the Lord of Armies says:
Thus says the LORD of Hosts, Consider you, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come:
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:
Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Consider, and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skillful women to come;
This is what the LORD of armies says: "Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; And send for the skillful women, that they may come!
This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: "Now, think about these things! Call for the women who cry at funerals to come. Send for those women who are good at that job.
Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider and call for the mourning women to come; Send for the wailing women to come.
Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, Consider you, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come:
Thus sayeth the Lorde of hostes, Take heede, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for skilfull women that they may come,
Thus says Yahweh of hosts,"Carefully consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come;And send for the skillful women, that they may come!
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
The Lord All-Powerful said, "Send for the women who are paid to weep at funerals, especially the women who can cry the loudest."
‘Have them hurry and wail for us, so our eyes will be wet from crying, and our eyelids gush with tears.'
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for the skilful women, that they may come;
This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: "Now think about these things! Call for the women who get paid to cry at funerals. Send for the people who are good at that job.
Thus says the LORD of hosts, Call for the mourning women that they may come; and send for women versed in lamentations that they may come;
The Lord Almighty said, "Think about what is happening! Call for the mourners to come, for the women who sing funeral songs."
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Consider closely, and call for the wailing women, so that they come, and for the skillful women, so that they come.
So says Jehovah of Hosts, Consider and call for the wailers, that they may come. And send for the wise women , that they may come.
Morouer, thus saieth the LORDE of hoostes: loke that ye call for mournynge wyues, and sende for wise women: that they come shortly,
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:
This is what the Lord of armies has said: Take thought and send for the weeping women, so that they may come; and send for the wise women, so that they may come:
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.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider yee, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for cunning women, that they may come.
Moreouer, thus saith the Lorde of hoastes: Beware of the vengeaunce that hangeth ouer you, and call for mourning wiues, and sende for wyse women, that they come shortly,
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the cunning women, that they may come:
The Lord of oostis, God of Israel, seith these thingis, Biholde ye, and clepe ye wymmen `that weilen, and come thei; and sende ye to tho wymmen that ben wise, and haste thei.
This is what Yahweh of hosts says, Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come:
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for skillful [women], that they may come:
The Lord who rules over all told me to say to this people, "Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!"
Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider and call for the mourning women, That they may come; And send for skillful wailing women, That they may come.
This is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies says: "Consider all this, and call for the mourners. Send for the women who mourn at funerals.
The Lord of All says, "Take thought and call for the women who are filled with sorrow, that they may come. Call for the women who cry for the dead, that they may come.
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider, and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skilled women to come;
Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Consider ye diligently and call for the wailing women that they may come, - And unto the wise women, send ye, that they may come;
Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, and let them come: and send to them that are wise women, and let them make haste:
Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider, and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skilful women to come;
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Consider ye, and call for mourning women, And they come, And to the wise women send, and they come,
A Message from God -of-the-Angel-Armies: "Look over the trouble we're in and call for help. Send for some singers who can help us mourn our loss. Tell them to hurry— to help us express our loss and lament, Help us get our tears flowing, make tearful music of our crying. Listen to it! Listen to that torrent of tears out of Zion: ‘We're a ruined people, we're a shamed people! We've been driven from our homes and must leave our land!'"
Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; And send for the wailing women, that they may come!
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
call: 2 Chronicles 35:25, Job 3:8, Ecclesiastes 12:5, Amos 5:16, Amos 5:17, Matthew 9:23, Mark 5:38
the mourning women: Those whose office it was to sing mournful dirges, and make public lamentations at funerals.
Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 1:17 - lamented Ezra 2:65 - two hundred Isaiah 51:19 - who shall Jeremiah 6:26 - make thee Jeremiah 7:29 - and take Jeremiah 9:20 - and teach Jeremiah 48:17 - bemoan Lamentations 1:2 - weepeth Lamentations 2:18 - let tears Ezekiel 19:1 - take Ezekiel 21:6 - Sigh Ezekiel 27:2 - General Ezekiel 28:12 - take up Ezekiel 32:16 - General Joel 1:8 - Lament Micah 2:4 - and lament Matthew 2:18 - lamentation Matthew 11:17 - piped Luke 8:52 - all
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider ye,.... The punishment that was just coming upon them, as Kimchi; or the words that the Lord was about to say unto them; as follows:
and call for the mourning women, that they may come; the same with the "praeficae" among the Romans; persons that were sent for, and hired by, the relations of the dead, to raise up their mourning; and who, by their dishevelled hair, naked breasts, and beatings thereon, and mournful voice, and what they said in their doleful ditties in praise of the dead, greatly moved upon the affections of the surviving relatives, and produced tears from them. This was a custom that early prevailed among the Jews, and long continued with them; and was so common, that, according to the Misnic doctors c, the poorest man in Israel, when his wife died, never had less than two pipes, and one mourning woman; :-. Now, in order to show what a calamity was coming on them, and what mourning there would be, and what occasion for it; the Lord by the prophet, not as approving, but deriding the practice, bids them call for the mourning women to assist them in their lamentations:
and send for cunning women, that they may come; such as were expert in this business, and could mimic mourning well, and had the art of moving the affections with their voice and gestures.
c Miss. Cetubot, c. 4. sect. 4.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
The punishment described in general terms in the preceding three verses is now detailed at great length.
Jeremiah 9:10
The habitations i. e - the temporary encampments of the shepherds (see Jeremiah 6:3).
So that none can ... - Or, “They are parched up, with no man to pass through them; neither do they hear the voice of cattle; from the birds of the heaven even to the beasts they “are fled, they are gone.”
Jeremiah 9:11
Dragons - Rather, jackals.
Jeremiah 9:12
For what the land perisheth ... - This is the question proposed for consideration. The prophet calls upon the wise man to explain his question; that question being, Wherefore did the land perish? He follows it by the assertion of a fact: “It is parched like the wilderness with no man to pass through.”
Jeremiah 9:13
The cause of the chastisement about to fall upon Jerusalem, was their desertion of the divine Law.
Jeremiah 9:14
Imagination - Or, as in the margin.
Which their fathers taught them - It was not the sin of one generation that brought upon them chastisement: it was a sin, which had been handed down from father to son.
Jeremiah 9:15
I will feed them ... - Rather, I am feeding them. The present participle used here, followed by three verbs in the future, shows that the judgment has beam, of which the successive stages are given in the next clause.
Wormwood - See Deuteronomy 29:18, note, and for “water of gall,” Jeremiah 8:14, note.
Jeremiah 9:16
This verse is taken from Leviticus 26:33. The fulfillment of what had been so long before appointed as the penalty for the violation of Yahweh’s covenant is one of the most remarkable proofs that prophecy was something more than human foresight.
Till I have consumed them - See Jeremiah 4:27 note. How is this “consuming” consistent with the promise to the contrary there given? Because it is limited by the terms of Jeremiah 9:7. Previously to Nebuchadnezzars destruction of Jerusalem God removed into safety those in whom the nation should revive.
Jeremiah 9:17
The mourning women - Hired to attend at funerals, and by their skilled wailings aid the real mourners in giving vent to their grief. Hence, they are called “cunning,” literally “wise” women, wisdom being constantly used in Scripture for anything in which people are trained.
Jeremiah 9:18
Take up a wailing for us - i. e., for the nation once God’s chosen people, but long spiritually dead.
Jeremiah 9:19
Forsaken - Or, left: forced to abandon the land.
Because our dwellings ... - Rather, “because they have east down our dwellings.” The whole verse is a description of their sufferings. See 2 Kings 25:1-12.
Jeremiah 9:20
The command is addressed to the women because it was more especially their part to express the general feelings of the nation. See 1 Samuel 18:6; 2 Samuel 1:24. The women utter now the death-wail over the perishing nation. They are to teach their daughters and neighbors the “lamentation, i. e., dirge,” because the harvest of death would be so large that the number of trained women would not suffice.
Jeremiah 9:21
Death is come up ... - i. e., death steals silently like a thief upon his victims, and makes such havoc that there are no children left to go “without,” nor young men to frequent the open spaces in the city.
Jeremiah 9:22
The “handful” means the little bundle of grain which the reaper gathers on his arm with three or four strokes of his sickle, and then lays down. Behind the reaper came one whose business it was to gather several of these bundles, and bind them into a sheaf. Thus, death strews the ground with corpses as thickly as these handfuls lie upon the reaped land, but the corpses lie there unheeded.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Jeremiah 9:17. Call 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 Matthew 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, 2 Samuel 19:4. But as men grew refined, it was not deemed sufficient for the surviving relatives to vent their sorrows in these natural, artless expressions of wo, but they endeavoured to join others as partners in their sorrows. This gave rise to the custom of hiring persons to weep at funerals, which the Phrygians and Greeks borrowed from the Hebrews. Women were generally employed on these occasions, because the tender passions being predominant in this sex, they succeeded better in their parts; and there were never wanting persons who would let out their services to hire on such occasions. Their lamentations were sung to the pipe as we learn from Matthew 9:23. See the funeral ceremonies practiced at the burial of Hector, as described by Homer: -
Οἱ δ' επει εισαγαγον κλυτα δωματα, τον μεν επειτα
Τρητοις εν λεχεεσσι θεσαν, παρα δ' εἱσαν αοιδους,
Θρηνων εξαρχους, οἱ τε στονοεσσαν αοιδην
Οἱ μεν αρ' εθρηνεον, επι δε στεναχοντο γυναικες.
IL. lib. xxiv., ver. 719.
"Arrived within the royal house, they stretched
The breathless Hector on a sumptuous bed,
And singers placed beside him, who should chant
The strain funereal; they with many a groan
The dirge began; and still at every close
The female train with many a groan replied."
COWPER.
St. Jerome tells us that even to his time this custom continued in Judea; that women at funerals, with dishevelled hair and naked breasts, endeavoured in a modulated voice to invite others to lament with them. The poem before us, from the seventeenth to the twenty-second verse, is both an illustration and confirmation of what has been delivered on this subject, and worthy of the reader's frequent perusal, on account of its affecting pathos, moral sentiments, and fine images, particularly in the twenty-first verse, where death is described in as animated a prosopopoeia as can be conceived. See Lowth's twenty-second Prelection, and Dodd. The nineteenth verse is supposed to be the funeral song of the women.
"How are we spoiled!
We are greatly confounded!
For we have forsaken the land;
Because they have destroyed our dwellings."
