Limitless Word
“Judah mourns And her gates languish; Her people sit on the ground in mourning garments, And the cry of Jerusalem has ascended.
Jeremiah 14:2 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB “Judah mourns, and its gates languish, they sit in black on the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
  • KJV Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
  • BSB “Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
  • NKJV “Judah mourns, And her gates languish; They mourn for the land, And the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
  • NLT “Judah wilts; commerce at the city gates grinds to a halt. All the people sit on the ground in mourning, and a great cry rises from Jerusalem.

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

Judah mourns as her cities languish and the cry of Jerusalem rises up.

Overview

The whole land grieves under the drought's affliction, sitting in mourning on the ground. The 'cry of Jerusalem' going up depicts the people's distress reaching toward heaven. This communal lament reflects creation and society suffering under the weight of judgment for sin.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 22

  • Isa 3:26Her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be desolate and sit on the ground.
  • Jer 8:21For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me.
  • 1 Sam 5:12The men who didn’t die were struck with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
  • Zech 7:13It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,” said Yahweh of Armies;
  • Lam 4:8–9Their appearance is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: Their skin clings to their bones; it is withered, it has become like a stick.
  • Jer 11:11Therefore Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on them, which they shall not be able to escape; and they shall cry to me, but I will not listen to them.
  • Jer 18:22Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you shall bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hidden snares for my feet.
  • Joel 1:10The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes.
  • Lam 2:9Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not; Yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.
  • Isa 15:5My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for on the way to Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction.
  • Job 34:28so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him. He heard the cry of the afflicted.
  • Hos 4:3Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells therein will waste away. all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; yes, the fish of the sea also die.
  • Lam 5:10Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.
  • Jer 12:4How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, “He shall not see our latter end.”
  • 1 Sam 9:16“Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He will save my people out of the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon my people, because their cry has come to me.”
  • Isa 24:4The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The lofty people of the earth languish.
  • Joel 2:6At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have grown pale.
  • Isa 5:7For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
  • Jer 4:28For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.”
  • Exod 2:24God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
  • Isa 24:7The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh.
  • Isa 33:9The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Jeremiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Jeremiah 14:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JeremiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 14:2 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.