This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh of Armies says, “Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come.
- KJV Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
- NKJV Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider and call for the mourning women, That they may come; And send for skillful wailing women, That they may come.
- NASB This is what the Lord of armies says: “Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; And send for the skillful women, that they may come!
- NLT This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “Consider all this, and call for the mourners. Send for the women who mourn at funerals.
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 summons professional mourning women to come and wail over the coming calamity. The scale of grief calls for skilled lament.
Overview
Yahweh calls for the 'mourning women,' skilled in funeral dirges, to lead the nation's lamentation. The summons treats the coming judgment as a death to be openly mourned. The verse makes vivid the reality and depth of the loss ahead, calling the people to honest grief over the consequences of their sin rather than denial.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Amos 5:16–17Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail.
- Eccl 12:5when men fear the heights and dangers of the road, when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry shrivels—for then man goes to his eternal home and mourners walk the streets.
- 2 Chr 35:25Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the choirs of men and women sing laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Book of Laments.
- Mark 5:38When they arrived at the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw the commotion and the people weeping and wailing loudly.
- Job 3:8May it be cursed by those who curse the day—those prepared to rouse Leviathan.
- Matt 9:23When Jesus entered the house of the synagogue leader, He saw the flute players and the noisy crowd.
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 9:17 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.