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Monday, September 22nd, 2025
the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Jeremiah 9:20

Mourning women! Oh, listen to God 's Message! Open your ears. Take in what he says. Teach your daughters songs for the dead and your friends the songs of heartbreak. Death has climbed in through the window, broken into our bedrooms. Children on the playgrounds drop dead, and young men and women collapse at their games.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Israel, Prophecies Concerning;   War;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Ear, the;   Woman;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Funeral;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Minstrel;  

Encyclopedias:

- The Jewish Encyclopedia - Poetry;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for March 29;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Now hear the word of the Lord, you women.Pay attention to the words from his mouth.Teach your daughters a lamentand one another a dirge,
Hebrew Names Version
Yet hear the word of the LORD, you women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor lamentation.
King James Version
Yet hear the word of the Lord , O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.
English Standard Version
Hear, O women, the word of the Lord , and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; teach to your daughters a lament, and each to her neighbor a dirge.
New American Standard Bible
Now hear the word of the LORD, you women, And let your ears receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And have every woman teach her neighbor a song of mourning.
New Century Version
Now, women of Judah, listen to the word of the Lord ; open your ears to hear the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to cry loudly. Teach one another a funeral song.
Amplified Bible
Now hear the word of the LORD, O you women, And let your ear hear the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters a song of mourning, And each one [teach] her neighbor a dirge.
World English Bible
Yet hear the word of Yahweh, you women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor lamentation.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore heare the worde of the Lord, O ye women, and let your eares regard the words of his mouth, & teach your daughters to mourne, and euery one her neighbour to lament.
Legacy Standard Bible
Indeed, hear the word of Yahweh, O you women,And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;Teach your daughters wailing,And everyone her neighbor a funeral lamentation.
Berean Standard Bible
Now, 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.
Contemporary English Version
"We ask you women to pay attention to what the Lord says. We will teach you a funeral song that you can teach your daughters and friends:
Complete Jewish Bible
"Death has come up through our windows, it has entered our palaces, it has cut down children in the streets and young people in the public places."
Darby Translation
Hear then the word of Jehovah, ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and each one her companion lamentation.
Easy-to-Read Version
Now, women of Judah, listen to the message from the Lord . Listen to the words from his mouth. Teach your daughters how to cry loudly. Each of them must learn to sing this funeral song:
George Lamsa Translation
Therefore hear the word of the LORD, O women, and let your ears receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters lamentations, and every one to her neighbor a melody.
Good News Translation
I said, "Listen to the Lord , you women, and pay attention to his words. Teach your daughters how to mourn, and your friends how to sing a funeral song.
Lexham English Bible
For hear, O women, the word of Yahweh, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters a lamentation, and each woman her neighbor a lament.
Literal Translation
Yet hear the Word of Jehovah, women. And let your ear receive the Word of His mouth, and teach your daughters a lament, and each one her neighbor a dirge.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yet heare the worde of the LORDE (o ye women). And let youre eares regarde the wordes of his mouth: that ye maye lerne youre doughters to mourne, and that euery one maye teach hir neghbouresse, to make lamentacion.
American Standard Version
Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation.
Bible in Basic English
But even now, give ear to the word of the Lord, O you women; let your ears be open to the word of his mouth, training your daughters to give cries of sorrow, everyone teaching her neighbour a song of grief.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
'For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from the street, and the young men from the broad places.--
King James Version (1611)
Yet heare the word of the Lord, O ye women, & let your eare receiue the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and euery one her neighbour lamentation.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Yet heare the worde of the Lorde (O ye women) and let your eares regarde the wordes of his mouth: that ye may learne your daughters to mourne, and that euery one may teache her neighbour to make lamentation
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Hear now, ye women, the word of God, and let your ears receive the words of his mouth, and teach your daughters lamentation, and every woman her neighbour a dirge.
English Revised Version
Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor, wymmen, here ye the word of the Lord, and youre eeris take the word of his mouth; and teche ye youre douytris weilyng, and ech womman teche hir neiybore mournyng.
Update Bible Version
Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O you women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation.
Webster's Bible Translation
Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation.
New English Translation
I said, "So now, you wailing women, hear what the Lord says. Open your ears to the words from his mouth. Teach your daughters this mournful song, and each of you teach your neighbor this lament.
New King James Version
Yet hear the word of the LORD, O women, And let your ear receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And everyone her neighbor a lamentation.
New Living Translation
Listen, you women, to the words of the Lord ; open your ears to what he has to say. Teach your daughters to wail; teach one another how to lament.
New Life Bible
Now hear the Word of the Lord, O you women. Let your ear receive the Word of His mouth. Teach your daughters a song of sorrow. Every one teach her neighbor a song for the dead.
New Revised Standard
Hear, O women, the word of the Lord , and let your ears receive the word of his mouth; teach to your daughters a dirge, and each to her neighbor a lament.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For hear O ye women the word of Yahweh, And let your ear take in the word of his mouth, - And teach your daughters a wail, Yea leach woman - her neighbour, a dirge: -
Douay-Rheims Bible
Hear therefore, ye women, the word of the Lord: and let your ears receive the word of his mouth: and teach your daughters wailing: and every one her neighbour mourning.
Revised Standard Version
Hear, O women, the word of the LORD, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; teach to your daughters a lament, and each to her neighbor a dirge.
Young's Literal Translation
But hear, ye women, a word of Jehovah, And your ear receiveth a word of His mouth, And teach ye your daughters wailing, and each her neighbour lamentation.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now hear the word of the LORD, O you women, And let your ear receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And everyone her neighbor a dirge.

Contextual Overview

12 I asked, "Is there anyone around bright enough to tell us what's going on here? Anyone who has the inside story from God and can let us in on it? "Why is the country wasted? "Why no travelers in this desert?" 13 God 's answer: "Because they abandoned my plain teaching. They wouldn't listen to anything I said, refused to live the way I told them to. Instead they lived any way they wanted and took up with the Baal gods, who they thought would give them what they wanted—following the example of their parents." And this is the consequence. God -of-the-Angel-Armies says so: "I'll feed them with pig slop. "I'll give them poison to drink. 16 "Then I'll scatter them far and wide among godless peoples that neither they nor their parents have ever heard of, and I'll send Death in pursuit until there's nothing left of them." 17A 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!'" 20Mourning women! Oh, listen to God 's Message! Open your ears. Take in what he says. Teach your daughters songs for the dead and your friends the songs of heartbreak. Death has climbed in through the window, broken into our bedrooms. Children on the playgrounds drop dead, and young men and women collapse at their games. 22 Speak up! " God 's Message: "‘Dead bodies everywhere, scattered at random like sheep and goat dung in the fields, Like wheat cut down by reapers and left to rot where it falls.'"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

hear: Isaiah 3:16 - Isaiah 4:1, Isaiah 32:9-13, Luke 23:27-30

receive: Job 22:22

and teach: Jeremiah 9:17, Jeremiah 9:18

Reciprocal: Proverbs 4:10 - my Jeremiah 18:22 - a cry Ezekiel 26:17 - take Hosea 4:1 - Hear Amos 5:1 - I take

Cross-References

Genesis 3:23
So God expelled them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they'd been made. He threw them out of the garden and stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the path to the Tree-of-Life.
Genesis 4:2
Then she had another baby, Abel. Abel was a herdsman and Cain a farmer.
Genesis 9:18
The sons of Noah who came out of the ship were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah; from these three the whole Earth was populated.
Genesis 9:24
When Noah woke up with his hangover, he learned what his youngest son had done. He said, Cursed be Canaan! A slave of slaves, a slave to his brothers! Blessed be God , the God of Shem, but Canaan shall be his slave. God prosper Japheth, living spaciously in the tents of Shem. But Canaan shall be his slave.
Deuteronomy 28:30
You'll get engaged to a woman and another man will take her for his mistress; you'll build a house and never live in it; you'll plant a garden and never eat so much as a carrot; you'll watch your ox get butchered and not get a single steak from it; your donkey will be stolen from in front of you and you'll never see it again; your sheep will be sent off to your enemies and no one will lift a hand to help you.
Proverbs 10:11
The mouth of a good person is a deep, life-giving well, but the mouth of the wicked is a dark cave of abuse.
Proverbs 12:11
The one who stays on the job has food on the table; the witless chase whims and fancies.
Proverbs 24:30
One day I walked by the field of an old lazybones, and then passed the vineyard of a lout; They were overgrown with weeds, thick with thistles, all the fences broken down. I took a long look and pondered what I saw; the fields preached me a sermon and I listened: "A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next? Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, with poverty as your permanent houseguest!"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women,.... Not the mourning women, but others who had lost their husbands and their children, and had just reason for real mourning; and therefore they are called upon to it, not only because they were more tenderhearted than men, as Kimchi observes; or because they were more attentive to the hearing of the word of God than men; but because of the paucity of men, such numbers being slain in the siege, and by the sword; and of the loss the women had sustained, see Jeremiah 9:22:

and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; by his prophets; so the Targum,

"let your ear hearken to the words of his prophets:''

and teach your daughters wailing. The Arabic version, "a mournful song"; but not the daughters of the mourning women are meant; but the real daughters of those who had lost their husbands or children; since it follows:

and everyone her neighbour lamentation; signifying that the mortality among them would be very universal, not a family escaping; which is described in the next verses. This wailing and lamentation was made by responses, according to the Jews; for they say d,

"what is lamentation? when one speaks, and all the rest answer after her, as it is written in Jeremiah 9:20.''

d Misn. Moed Katon, c. 3. sect. 9.

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 9:20. Teach your daughters — This is not a common dirge that shall last only till the body is consigned to the earth; it must last longer; teach it to your children, that it may be continued through every generation, till God turn again your captivity.


 
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