Jeremiah 8:21 - Exposition

For the hurt , etc.; literally, because of the breaking , etc; I am broken ; comp. Jeremiah 23:9 , and the phrase "broken in heart" ( Isaiah 61:1 , etc.). The prophet feels crushed by the sense of the utter ruin of his people. I am black ; rather, I go in mourning (so Psalms 38:6 ; Psalms 42:9 ). The root means rather "foulness" or "squalor" than "blackness" (comp. Job 6:16 , where "blackish," an epithet of streams, should rather be "turbid").