Quick! Begin your weeping! Let the tears flow from your eyes.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
- KJV And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
- BSB Let them come quickly and take up a lament over us, that our eyes may overflow with tears, and our eyelids may gush with water.
- NKJV Let them make haste And take up a wailing for us, That our eyes may run with tears, And our eyelids gush with water.
- NASB “Have them hurry and take up a wailing for us, So that our eyes may shed tears, And our eyelids flow with water.
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 mourners are urged to wail quickly so that everyone's eyes overflow with tears. The grief is meant to be immediate and unrestrained.
Overview
The call is for haste in lamentation so that tears stream from all eyes. The intensity underscores the magnitude of the disaster overtaking Judah. Such public weeping is the fitting response to sin's devastating fruit, and it presses the people toward the sorrow that, rightly directed, leads to repentance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Jer 9:1Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
- 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 14:17“You shall say this word to them, “‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.
- Jer 9:20Yet hear Yahweh’s word, you women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth. Teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor lamentation.
- Lam 2:11My eyes fail with tears, my heart is troubled; My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.
- Jer 13:17But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride; and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because Yahweh’s flock is taken captive.
- Lam 1:2She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her: All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.
- Jer 9:10I will weep and wail for the mountains, and lament for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are burned up, so that no one passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the livestock. Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled. They are gone.
- Jer 6:26Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come on us.
- Lam 2:18Their heart cried to the Lord: wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no respite; don’t let the apple of your eye cease.
- Luke 19:41When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it,
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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 9:18 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.