Woe to me because of my brokenness; my wound is grievous! But I said, “This is truly my sickness, and I must bear it.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Woe is me because of my injury! My wound is serious: but I said, “Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.”
- KJV Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.
- NKJV Woe is me for my hurt! My wound is severe. But I say, “Truly this is an infirmity, And I must bear it.”
- NASB ¶Woe to me, because of my injury! My wound is incurable. But I said, “This certainly is a sickness, And I must endure it.”
- NLT My wound is severe, and my grief is great. My sickness is incurable, but I must bear it.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A voice laments a grievous, incurable wound yet resolves to bear it. The people, or the prophet on their behalf, accept the sorrow of judgment.
Overview
The speaker—likely Jerusalem personified or the prophet voicing her grief—cries over a serious injury and submits to bearing it as their lot. The lament mingles pain with a sober acceptance that the suffering is deserved. The verse models honest grief under God's chastening hand and a measure of submission that, rightly directed, opens toward repentance and hope.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Mic 7:9Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the LORD, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.
- Jer 14:17You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow, a severely grievous wound.
- Lam 3:18–21So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
- Lam 3:39–40Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
- Jer 4:31For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child—the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands to say, “Woe is me, for my soul faints before the murderers!”
- Ps 39:9I have become mute; I do not open my mouth because of what You have done.
- Jer 9:1Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
- Isa 8:17I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him.
- Ps 77:10So I said, “I am grieved that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”
- Jer 4:19My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.
- Jer 8:21For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am crushed. I mourn; horror has gripped me.
- Lam 3:48Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Jer 17:13O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water.
- Lam 2:11–22My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
- Lam 1:12–22Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?
- Lam 1:2She weeps aloud in the night, with tears upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 10:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.