For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?
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?
- BSB Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
- 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 two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
- Nah 3:7And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
- Jer 21:7And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
- Ps 69:20Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
- Lam 2:15–16All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
- Lam 1:12–16Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
- 1 Sam 25:5And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:
- Exod 18:7And Moses went out to meet his father in law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent.
- Job 19:21Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
- 1 Sam 17:22And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren.
- Jer 16:5For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies.
- Jer 13:14And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.
- 1 Sam 10:4And they will salute thee, and give thee two loaves of bread; which thou shalt receive of their hands.
- Judg 18:15And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him.
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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 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.