My sorrow is beyond healing; my heart is faint within me.
Parallel translations
- WEB Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me.
- KJV When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
- NKJV I would comfort myself in sorrow; My heart is faint in me.
- NASB ¶My sorrow is beyond healing, My heart is faint within me!
- NLT My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken.
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
The prophet's heart faints with grief he cannot console. Jeremiah feels the sorrow of his people's coming doom.
Overview
Here Jeremiah's own anguish breaks through; he can find no comfort against the overwhelming sorrow. The 'weeping prophet' identifies deeply with the suffering judgment will bring. His tender grief over a sinful people reflects God's own heart and anticipates the greater Prophet who wept over Jerusalem and bore its sorrows.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Lam 5:17Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
- Isa 22:4Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
- Jer 6:24We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
- Lam 1:16–17For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to revive my soul. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.
- Hab 3:16I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the people who invade us.
- Jer 10:19–22Woe to me because of my brokenness; my wound is grievous! But I said, “This is truly my sickness, and I must bear it.”
- Job 7:13–14When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,
- Dan 10:16–17And suddenly one with the likeness of a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and said to the one standing before me, “My lord, because of the vision, I am overcome with anguish, and I have no strength.
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 8:18 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.