Jeremiah 9:17-18

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 9:12-22

Two things the prophet designs, in these verses, with reference to the approaching destruction of Judah and Jerusalem:?1. To convince people of the justice of God in it, that they had by sin brought it upon themselves and that therefore they had no reason to quarrel with God, who did them no wrong at all, but a great deal of reason to fall out with their sins, which did them all this mischief. 2. To affect people with the greatness of the desolation that was coming, and the miserable effects... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 9:17

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 9:18

And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us ,.... Deliver out a mournful song, as the Arabic version; setting forth their miseries and distresses, and affecting their minds with them. The prophet puts himself among the people, as being a party concealed in their sufferings, and sympathizing with them, as well as to show the certainty of then and how soon they would be involved in them: that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters ; or balls of the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 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,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 9:17

Verse 17 In this passage, as in many others, the Prophet endeavors by a striking representation really to touch the hearts of his people, for he saw that they were extremely refractory, insensible, and secure. Since then the threatenings of God were either wholly despised, or had not sufficiently moved the hearts of the people, it was necessary to set forth God’s judgments as present. Therefore the Prophet gives a striking description of what takes place in times of mourning. At the same time... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 9:18

Verse 18 Let them, he says, take up for us a wailing, and let our eyes come down to tears, and let our eyelids flow down into waters These are hyperbolical words, and yet they do not exceed the intensehess of the coming vengeance: for it was not in vain that he said at the begSnning of the chapter, “Who will make my head waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears?” As then the greatness of the calamity could be expressed by no words, the Prophet was constrained to adopt these hyperbolical... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 9:2-22

Complaint of the treachery and folly of the people; lamentation over their consequences. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 9:10-22

The terrible threatenings of love. There are few more awful passages of Scripture than this. The doom denounced on the guilty people is indeed dreadful. Nevertheless that doom had not yet descended. There was a merciful pause, during which space was given for repentance. Meanwhile the prophet was bidden to utter these threatenings. Notice— I. How TERRIBLE THEY ARE . 1. In themselves . The fertile hills and pastures of their country shall be laid waste, so that no living... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 9:17-22

A new scene is introduced. To give an idea of the greatness of the impending blow, all the skilled mourners are sent for to raise the cry of lamentation. But no, this is not enough. So large will be the number of the dead that all the women must take their part in the doleful office. The description of the mourning women is as true to modem as to ancient life in the East. "And, indeed," says Dr. Shaw, a thoughtful traveler and an ornament of Oxford in the dark eighteenth century, "they perform... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 9:18

That our eyes may run down , etc.; a justification of this artificial system-The piercing notes of the hired mourners are to relieve the sorrow of the afflicted by forcing for it a vent. read more

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