Jeremiah 13:17 kjv
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD's flock is carried away captive.
Jeremiah 13:17 nkjv
But if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret for your pride; My eyes will weep bitterly And run down with tears, Because the LORD's flock has been taken captive.
Jeremiah 13:17 niv
If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the LORD's flock will be taken captive.
Jeremiah 13:17 esv
But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD's flock has been taken captive.
Jeremiah 13:17 nlt
And if you still refuse to listen,
I will weep alone because of your pride.
My eyes will overflow with tears,
because the LORD's flock will be led away into exile.
Jeremiah 13 17 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Jer 9:1 | Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! | Personal lament over national suffering |
| Lam 1:2 | She weeps bitterly in the night, with her tears on her cheeks; she has no one to comfort her among all her lovers; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies. | Analogy for Jerusalem's desolation |
| Jer 8:21 | If I fall upon a shepherd, then weep; the wounds of my people | Describing the pain of national ruin |
| Jer 4:19 | My anguish, my anguish! I am in great anguish! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is in turmoil within me; I cannot keep silent, because you hear, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war. | Prophet's inner turmoil mirroring God's judgment |
| Jer 14:17 | You shall say this word to them: “Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not be silent; for the virgin daughter of my people is struck down with a great blow, with a very painful wound. | Direct parallel statement of grief |
| Jer 14:18 | If I go out to the fields, behold, those slain by the sword! And if I enter the city, behold, those sick with famine! For the prophet and the priest alike have gone about, and have no knowledge; | Observing the pervasive destruction |
| Jer 22:6 | For so the Lord says to the house of the king of Judah: “You are but Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon; yet I will surely make you a wilderness, cities not inhabited. | God's judgment on Judah's leadership |
| Isa 22:4 | Therefore he said: “Look away from me; let me weep bitterly; do not seek to comfort me because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.” | Isaiah's similar deep sorrow |
| Luke 19:41 | And when he drew near to the city, he wept over it, saying, | Jesus weeping over Jerusalem |
| John 11:35 | Jesus wept. | Jesus' compassion for human suffering |
| Rom 9:2 | that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. | Paul's sorrow for his fellow Israelites |
| Gal 4:19 | my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! | Paul's deep pastoral concern |
| Ps 6:6 | I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed; I drench my couch with my tears. | Expression of profound sorrow and distress |
| Ps 42:3 | My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?” | Lamenting separation from God and questioning faith |
| Isa 53:3 | He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief... | Foreshadowing Christ's suffering |
| Hos 4:6 | my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being priests to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. | The root cause of destruction: rejection of knowledge |
| Amos 8:10 | I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning of an only son, and its end like a bitter day. | Depicting the severity of judgment |
| Jer 13:10 | This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this sash which is good for nothing. | Direct identification of the people's sin |
| Ezek 33:11 | Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, and why will you die, O house of Israel?’ | God's desire for repentance |
| Joel 1:8 | Lament like a bride stripped of her wedding clothes because of the sin of her princes, the bodies of the people lie slain by the sword in the streets. | Lamenting sin leading to death |
| Prov 24:16 | For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked encounter disaster. | Contrasting the fate of righteous and wicked |
Jeremiah 13 verses
Jeremiah 13 17 Meaning
This verse expresses the prophet Jeremiah's profound sorrow and grief over the sin of his people, which has led to God's judgment. The tears described are not simply a sign of sadness but a lament for national catastrophe and spiritual defilement caused by idolatry and disobedience.
Jeremiah 13 17 Context
Jeremiah chapter 13 describes God's use of symbolic actions and pronouncements to warn Judah of impending judgment due to their persistent idolatry and unfaithfulness. This particular verse, chapter 13 verse 17, occurs after Jeremiah has revealed a vision of a linen sash that has become ruined and useless (Jer 13:1-11), symbolizing Judah's corrupted and rejected state. God commands Jeremiah to convey his deep sorrow and dismay over the people's stubborn rebellion and refusal to listen to His word. The verse underscores the gravity of their spiritual decay, which will lead to exile and suffering.
Jeremiah 13 17 Word Analysis
- Let: A strong imperative or a wish, conveying divine command or prophetic desire.
- my: Possessive pronoun indicating the subject's personal emotion.
- eyes: Referring to the prophet's physical eyes.
- run down: Evokes an image of a continuous, unchecked flow, signifying abundant weeping.
- like: Suggests a comparison, emphasizing the nature and volume of the tears.
- waters: A powerful metaphor for copious tears, mirroring natural flows like rivers or springs.
- night: Signifies constant, pervasive sorrow that does not cease even in rest.
- and: Connects two continuous actions of sorrow.
- let: Again, an imperative or strong wish for persistent action.
- them: Refers to the eyes as the source of tears.
- not: Negates the possibility of cessation.
- be: Indicates a state of being or action.
- silent: Implies that the outward expression of grief (weeping) should be unhindered, reflecting an inner turmoil.
Words/groups of words analysis:
- "Let my eyes run down with tears night and day": This phrase captures the depth of Jeremiah's grief. It’s not a momentary sadness but a deep, continuous sorrow reflecting the dire consequences of Judah's sin. It parallels expressions of intense mourning found throughout Scripture. The imagery of eyes "running down" with "waters" conveys the overwhelming nature of the weeping.
- "and let them not be silent": This part emphasizes the pervasiveness and continuity of the sorrow. The weeping should not cease. This speaks to the magnitude of the impending judgment and the prophet's heavy heart in conveying it. Silence would imply a lack of feeling or recognition of the severity of the situation.
Jeremiah 13 17 Bonus Section
The prophetic function often involved experiencing vicarious suffering. Jeremiah’s intense sorrow can be seen as a foreshadowing of Christ’s weeping over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), demonstrating both divine empathy and the profound pain caused by the rejection of God's will. This imagery also resonates with the concept of "holy grief" – a deep sorrow for sin that stems from a pure heart and an understanding of God's holiness and justice. The refusal to let the "eyes be silent" signifies a complete emotional immersion in the tragedy, highlighting the prophet's role as a mourner for a nation on the brink of ruin.
Jeremiah 13 17 Commentary
Jeremiah's emotional outburst here is not mere human sentimentality but a reflection of God's own heart concerning His people's sin and its devastating consequences. The "tears" are a potent symbol of the anguish and grief that accompany sin's disruption of the divine-human relationship. The prophet, acting as God's spokesman and conduit, is expressing a sorrow so profound that it becomes a constant state, a visible sign of the spiritual catastrophe unfolding. His weeping serves as an empathetic portrayal of the pain that sin causes, not just to God, but to those who bear the prophetic burden and to the nation itself. It’s a call to recognize the gravity of spiritual unfaithfulness and its ultimate outcome if unrepented.