Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
Parallel translations
- WEB For who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? or who will bemoan you? or who will turn aside to ask of your welfare?
- KJV For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?
- NKJV “For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?
- NASB ¶“Indeed, who will have pity on you, Jerusalem, Or who will mourn for you, Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
- NLT “Who will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem? Who will weep for you? Who will even bother to ask how you are?
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
God asks who will pity Jerusalem or even pause to ask after her welfare, for she will be left utterly alone. Her sin has cut her off from comfort and concern.
Overview
The rhetorical questions emphasize Jerusalem's coming isolation, abandoned by would-be helpers in her ruin. This loneliness is the bitter fruit of forsaking the LORD, who alone is her true help. It points ahead to the One who would weep over and seek this same city (Luke 13:34), the compassionate Savior who pities and gathers the lost when they will come to Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Isa 51:19These pairs have befallen you: devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will grieve for you? Who can comfort you?
- Nah 3:7Then all who see you will recoil from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated; who will grieve for her?’ Where can I find comforters for you?”
- Jer 21:7‘After that,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officers, and the people in this city who survive the plague and sword and famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who seek their lives. He will put them to the sword; he will not spare them or show pity or compassion.’
- Ps 69:20Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found no one.
- Lam 2:15–16All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”
- Lam 1:12–16Is 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?
- 1 Sam 25:5So David sent ten young men and instructed them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel. Greet him in my name
- Exod 18:7So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and went into the tent.
- Job 19:21Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
- 1 Sam 17:22Then David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing.
- Jer 16:5Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or show sympathy, for I have removed from this people My peace, My loving devotion, and My compassion,” declares the LORD.
- Jer 13:14I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’”
- 1 Sam 10:4They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hands.
- Judg 18:15So they turned aside there and went to the home of the young Levite, the house of Micah, and greeted him.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 15:5 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.