Jeremiah 9 18

Jeremiah 9:18 kjv

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.

Jeremiah 9:18 nkjv

Let them make haste And take up a wailing for us, That our eyes may run with tears, And our eyelids gush with water.

Jeremiah 9:18 niv

Let them come quickly and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears and water streams from our eyelids.

Jeremiah 9:18 esv

let them make haste and raise a wailing over us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids flow with water.

Jeremiah 9:18 nlt

Quick! Begin your weeping!
Let the tears flow from your eyes.

Jeremiah 9 verses

Jeremiah 9 18 Meaning

Jeremiah 9:18 issues an urgent, divinely-prompted call for the people of Judah to hasten in appointing professional mourners. This act is intended to initiate an overwhelming, profound collective lamentation for the imminent and extensive devastation coming upon their nation. The verse depicts a desired scene where eyes would perpetually shed abundant tears, and eyelids would uncontrollably pour forth water, symbolizing a complete and unreserved outpouring of national grief over the impending divine judgment for their unfaithfulness.

Jeremiah 9 18 Context

Jeremiah chapter 9 serves as a stark lament over the pervasive sin and impending judgment upon Judah. God, through Jeremiah, expresses profound grief for the moral decay—lying, treachery, deceit, and ignorance of God—that grips His people. The chapter predicts the land's desolation (Jer 9:10-16) and identifies the reason: abandoning God's law. Within this prophecy of judgment, God instructs His people on how to respond. Following the announcement of God's destructive hand against them (Jer 9:15-16), verse 18 acts as a divine imperative for Judah to initiate a lament, emphasizing the depth and reality of the impending catastrophe. Historically, Judah was teetering on the brink of the Babylonian exile, a period where divine judgment for centuries of unfaithfulness would manifest in national destruction and captivity. This call for widespread, professional lamentation served as a powerful, public recognition of the calamity that their actions had invited.

Jeremiah 9 18 Word analysis

• and let them make haste (וַיְמַהֲר֗וּ - vaymahărū): Signifies urgency and swift action. The calamity is not distant; immediate preparation for grieving is required. It suggests the need to act before it's too late or out of proportion to their present lethargy.

• and take up (וַיִּשְׂא֥וּ - vayyiś’ū): Lit. "to lift," "to bear," "to raise." In this context, it refers to commencing, performing, or elevating a lament, implying an organized and deliberate act, rather than a spontaneous burst of grief.

• a wailing (נֶהִי - nehî): A specific type of lamentation, often associated with professional mourners and public rituals. It's a mournful sound, a dirge, or a funeral song, not merely simple weeping. Its presence indicates a profound, collective sorrow over national calamity or death. It suggests the gravity of the impending loss.

• for us (עָלֵ֙ינוּ֙ - ‘ālênū): On our behalf; for our collective plight as a nation. It stresses that the coming judgment is a communal experience, affecting all of Judah. The professional mourners are to weep for the people, perhaps implying that the people themselves are not adequately recognizing or lamenting their own dire situation.

• that our eyes may shed tears (דִּמְעָ֖ה - dim‘āh): Lit. "that tears may give." It is a visual image of the eyes themselves becoming the source of outpouring, producing tears. It denotes sorrow, anguish, and a profound emotional response to loss.

• and our eyelids pour down water (יִזְּלֽוּ מַ֙יִם֙ - yizlū mayim): Intensifies the previous phrase with a strong, vivid image. "Pour down water" implies a copious, gushing flow—not just a few tears, but an uncontrollable torrent, like a flood. This hyperbolic expression underscores inconsolable, overwhelming grief, where the eyelids act as conduits for unending streams of sorrow.

• Words-group analysis:

  • "make haste and take up a wailing for us": This phrase reveals the divine urgency and the specific form of lament expected. It suggests that Judah's normal capacity for sorrow might be insufficient or unresponsive, necessitating external stimulation from professional mourners to acknowledge the true magnitude of their national suffering and guilt before God.
  • "our eyes may shed tears and our eyelids pour down water": This vivid parallelism serves to amplify the depiction of profound grief. The two clauses together paint a picture of tears not merely falling, but literally overflowing and streaming, symbolizing the complete, unceasing, and physically draining nature of the national lament called for by God. It signifies the depth of sorrow required for their sins and impending doom.

Jeremiah 9 18 Bonus section

The presence of professional mourners (like the meqônenôt or 'wailing women') was a well-established custom in ancient Near Eastern cultures, including Israel, primarily at funerals (2 Chr 35:25, Matt 9:23). They were employed to amplify and express the collective grief of a community, helping to channel sorrow into a communal experience. In Jeremiah 9:18, their specific recruitment is for a national catastrophe that, though not yet fully realized, is imminent and certain. This signifies the truly dire and devastating nature of the impending judgment, which required an organized and culturally understood way to articulate overwhelming despair. The polemic is against Judah's hardened heart, their failure to mourn genuinely and repent spontaneously; therefore, a divinely orchestrated intervention using traditional means of expressing grief is mandated.

Jeremiah 9 18 Commentary

Jeremiah 9:18 is a command, issued by God through His prophet, calling for the appointment of professional mourners to instigate a pervasive national lament. This instruction highlights two critical realities. Firstly, the judgment coming upon Judah would be so catastrophic and extensive that the traditional, natural expression of sorrow might not suffice; it demands a collective, intense, and ritually amplified mourning. Secondly, it subtly critiques the people's spiritual complacency. The need to commission mourners implies that the nation itself was not sufficiently grieved by its sin or the impending disaster. God desires their heart-rending sorrow, represented by overflowing tears, not merely as an external display, but as a genuine acknowledgement of their profound loss—the loss of His favor, their land, and their way of life due to disobedience. This lament, a spiritual lament for national catastrophe rather than a literal death, emphasizes the profound breaking of the covenant relationship. It calls for a repentance symbolized by tears so abundant they become rivers.