I would comfort myself in sorrow; My heart is faint in 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.
- BSB My sorrow is beyond healing; my heart is faint within 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 5:17For this our heart is faint; For these things our eyes are dim;
- Isa 22:4Therefore I said, “Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don’t labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Jer 6:24We have heard its report; our hands become feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labor.
- Lam 1:16–17“For these things I weep. My eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who should refresh my soul is far from me. My children are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.”
- Hab 3:16I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.
- Jer 10:19–22Woe is me because of my injury! My wound is serious: but I said, “Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.”
- Job 7:13–14When I say, ‘My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint;’
- Dan 10:16–17Behold, one in the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spoke and said to him who stood before me, my lord, by reason of the vision my sorrows are turned on me, and I retain 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.