Jeremiah 9 20

Jeremiah 9:20 kjv

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.

Jeremiah 9:20 nkjv

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.

Jeremiah 9:20 niv

Now, you women, hear the word of the LORD; open your ears to the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament.

Jeremiah 9:20 esv

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.

Jeremiah 9:20 nlt

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.

Jeremiah 9 verses

Jeremiah 9 20 Meaning

Jeremiah 9:20 is a solemn prophetic command addressed to the women of Judah, instructing them to attentively receive the Lord's word regarding impending national judgment. They are then to teach their daughters and neighbors specific forms of lamentation—a formal cry of grief or mourning song. This verse underscores the certainty and severity of the coming catastrophe, urging the populace to prepare for widespread death and sorrow by learning and disseminating the appropriate cultural expressions of mourning. It reflects a divine call for an anticipatory funeral, acknowledging the dire reality of Judah's destruction due to its persistent sin.

Jeremiah 9 20 Context

Jeremiah 9:20 is situated within a broader passage (9:10-22) that vividly describes God's judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem, using imagery of utter devastation and widespread death. Chapter 9 opens with Jeremiah's profound personal grief over his people's unfaithfulness (vv. 1-9) and shifts to God's decree of judgment. This judgment manifests as desolation of the land (vv. 10-11) and expulsion from it (vv. 12-16). Verse 17 directly precedes our focus, initiating a divine command to "call for the wailing women" to come and perform lamentation. These women, often professional mourners in the ancient Near East, were essential for communal expressions of grief. Jeremiah 9:20 then expands this instruction, moving from hiring professionals to the broader populace—specifically the women—to internalize this necessity. The following verse, 9:21, provides the horrific justification: "For death has come up into our windows; it has entered our palaces..." The historical context is Jeremiah's ministry in Judah during the late 7th and early 6th centuries BCE, leading up to the Babylonian exile. The nation's idolatry, social injustice, and false prophets have provoked God's wrath, and He is orchestrating their national demise. The call to lament is a desperate preparation for the funeral of a nation, underscoring the irreversible nature of their doom.

Jeremiah 9 20 Word analysis

• Yet hear (וּשְׁמַ֣עְנָה u-shmə‘an-nah): The conjunction u- (and/yet) connects this urgent command to the previous context, implying a continuation of the divine pronouncement. Shəmáʿnāh is an imperative, directly commanding action. It signifies not just to hear acoustically, but to listen attentively, comprehend, and heed. The feminine plural ending targets the women specifically.
• you women (נָשִׁים nāshīm): Hebrew term for women. Their specific address is significant. In ancient Near Eastern cultures, women often held key roles in lamentation rituals, as expressed in funerary practices.
• the word (דְבַר־ dvar-) of the Lord (יְהוָה YHWH): Dāḇār denotes more than a sound; it is a communication, a message, a declaration, and even an event. Combined with YHWH, the covenant name of God, it emphasizes divine authority, absolute truth, and certainty of what is being declared.
• and let your ear (וְתִקַּ֣ח אׇזְנְכֶ֗ם və-tiqqaḥ ‘oznəḵem): Tiqqaḥ (from laqaḥ) means "take," "receive," "grasp." The idiom "let the ear receive" implies deep reception, internalizing the message into one's understanding and conscience, beyond mere auditory perception.
• receive (אׇזְנְכֶ֗ם oznəḵem): Hebrew for "ear." Here, in plural (though contextually implying "your ears"), it represents the capacity for discerning hearing and understanding.
• the word (מִלַּ֣ת millat) of his mouth (פִּ֔יו pîv): Millāh is a poetic synonym for dāḇār, also meaning "word" or "speech." The phrase "of his mouth" emphasizes the direct, explicit, and undeniable origin of the message from God Himself, underscoring its personal divine authorship and truth. It acts as a parallel strengthening of "the word of the Lord."
• teach (וְלַמְּד֥וּ və-lammədū) to your daughters (בְנוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם vənôṯêḵem) a lament (נֶ֑הִי nehî): Limmad is the verb "to teach" or "to instruct." This is an active, didactic command to pass on specific knowledge. Bənôtêkem (daughters) refers to the next generation. Nehî is a Hebrew term for a formal, mournful wailing, a dirge, or a lamentation for the dead, often performed vocally and expressively. It's a specific genre of grief poetry/song.
• and each (וְאִשָּׁ֥ה və-’ish-shāh) to her neighbor (רְעוּתָ֖הּ rə‘ūṯāhh) a dirge (קִינָֽה qînāh): ’Ishāh (woman) combined with rə‘ûṯāh (her neighbor/companion) expands the teaching obligation beyond the immediate family to the wider community. Qînāh is another term for a dirge or lament, often poetic and expressive of deep sorrow for national or individual tragedy, particularly death. Its pairing with nehî reinforces the necessity of communal, widespread mourning practices.

Jeremiah 9 20 Bonus section

The urgency in Jeremiah 9:20 resonates with a recurring theme throughout Jeremiah's prophecy: the lament is due. The Hebrew poetic structure, particularly the parallelism between "word of the Lord" and "word of his mouth," and between "lament" (nehî) and "dirge" (qînāh), heightens the emphasis and intensity of the divine instruction. Nehî often connotes a professional, skilled lament, while qînāh frequently describes a dirge specifically mourning the dead, common in funeral practices (2 Sam 1:17; 2 Chr 35:25; Eze 19:1). This specificity leaves no doubt about the nature of the sorrow awaiting Judah. The command bypasses superficial responses and calls for a profound, spiritually aware expression of grief for a people who, despite Jeremiah's warnings, were refusing to believe in the reality of their impending judgment. Thus, God compels them to engage in the very rites typically performed after death and devastation, signifying that in His eyes, Judah's fate was already sealed.

Jeremiah 9 20 Commentary

Jeremiah 9:20 delivers a piercing call to the women of Judah, framing the impending national catastrophe not as a possibility but as an inescapable reality that requires formal, anticipatory mourning. The dual command—first, to attentively "hear" and "receive" the Lord's word directly from His mouth, and second, to actively "teach" these lamentations—underscores the divine intention for Judah to fully grasp and prepare for its doom. This is not an ordinary message; it is God Himself orchestrating the instruction for a nation's funeral.

The specific address to "women" and the use of terms like nehî and qînāh highlights their culturally established role as purveyors of grief in ancient society. They were the primary custodians of funerary rites and the emotional processors of communal trauma. By commanding them to teach these dirges to "daughters" and "neighbors," God ensures the message of pervasive death and sorrow is ingrained across generations and throughout the community, rather than being confined to professional mourners. This command serves as a stark contrast to the false peace and idolatrous trust Judah had embraced. The nation needed to awaken to its true spiritual condition and the devastating consequences, recognizing that the only appropriate response was a deep, national lament. The teaching of lamentation here functions not only as preparation for impending death but also as an indictment of Judah's unrepentant heart, forcing them to confront the grim harvest of their disobedience.

• Example for Practical Usage: In the face of undeniable consequences of actions (personal, communal, or national), understanding this verse can encourage an honest reckoning with reality, fostering a spirit of genuine grief or repentance where appropriate, rather than denial or superficiality.