Jeremiah 9:17-22 · Bible study

Jeremiah 9:17-22 Commentary: God's Call for Mourning

Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say

Meaning in one sentence

Explore the prophetic command for hired wailing women, its historical background, and what it reveals about judgment, grief, and hard hearts.

Research Summary

Meaning: God commands hired mourners to dramatize the coming judgment and expose the people's hardened hearts.
Key words: “mourning women” (הַמְקוֹנְנוֹת, hired female wailers); “wailing” / “lamentation” (קִינָה, a formal dirge); “death” personified as an invader.
Main debate: Is the command literal (approving hired mourning) or rhetorical (an ironic indictment of the people’s insensitivity)? Most commentators take the latter view.
Theological theme: God's judgment leaves no room for false security; only honest lament prepares a people to meet Him.
Best use: A sobering call to self-examination, especially for congregations who have grown comfortable with sin.

Translation Comparison

BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020

¹⁷This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.

¹⁸Let them come quickly and take up a lament over us, that our eyes may overflow with tears, and our eyelids may gush with water.

¹⁹For the sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How devastated we are! How great is our shame! For we have abandoned the land because our dwellings have been torn down.’”

²⁰Now, O women, hear the word of the LORD. Open your ears to the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters to wail, and one another to lament.

²¹For death has climbed in through our windows; it has entered our fortresses to cut off the children from the streets, the young men from the town squares.

²²Declare that this is what the LORD says: “The corpses of men will fall like dung upon the open field, like newly cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather it.”

WEB World English Bible 2000

¹⁷Yahweh of Armies says, “Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come. Send for the skillful women, that they may come.

¹⁸Let 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.

¹⁹For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, ‘How we are ruined! We are greatly confounded because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.’”

²⁰Yet hear Yahweh’s word, you women. Let your ear receive the word of his mouth. Teach your daughters wailing. Everyone teach her neighbor a lamentation.

²¹For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.

²²Speak, “Yahweh says, “‘The dead bodies of men will fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester. No one will gather them.’”

KJV King James Version 1769

¹⁷Thus 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:

¹⁸And 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.

¹⁹For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.

²⁰Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.

²¹For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.

²²Speak, Thus saith the Lord, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.

ASV American Standard Version 1901

¹⁷Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skilful women, that they may come:

¹⁸and 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.

¹⁹For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.

²⁰Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation.

²¹For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.

²²Speak, Thus saith Jehovah, The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman; and none shall gather them.

YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898

¹⁷Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Consider ye, and call for mourning women, And they come, And to the wise women send, and they come,

¹⁸And they hasten, and lift up for us a wailing. And run down our eyes do tears, And from our eyelids do waters flow.

¹⁹For--a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: How have we been spoiled! We have been greatly ashamed, Because we have forsaken the land, Because they have cast down our tabernacles.

²⁰But hear, ye women, a word of Jehovah, And your ear receiveth a word of His mouth, And teach ye your daughters wailing, and each her neighbour lamentation.

²¹For death hath come up into our windows, It hath come into our palaces, To cut off the suckling from without, Young men from the broad places.

²²Speak thus--an affirmation of Jehovah, And fallen hath the carcase of man, As dung on the face of the field, And as a handful after the reaper, And there is none gathering.

Darby Darby Bible 1890

¹⁷Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for the skilful women, that they may come;

¹⁸and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids pour forth waters.

¹⁹For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled, sorely put to shame! For we have forsaken the land, for they have cast down our dwellings.

²⁰Hear then the word of Jehovah, ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and each one her companion lamentation.

²¹For death is come up through our windows, is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from the street, the young men from the broadways.

²²Speak, Thus saith Jehovah: Yea, the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the reaper, and there shall be none to gather.

Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899

¹⁷Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, and let them come: and send to them that are wise women, and let them make haste:

¹⁸Let them hasten and take up a lamentation for us: let our eyes shed tears, and our eyelids run down with waters.

¹⁹For a voice of wailing is heard out of Sion: How are we wasted and greatly confounded? because we have left the land, because our dwellings are cast down.

²⁰Hear therefore, ye women, the word of the Lord: and let your ears receive the word of his mouth: and teach your daughters wailing: and every one her neighbour mourning.

²¹For death is come up through our windows, it is entered into our houses to destroy the children from without, the young men from the streets.

²²Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Even the carcass of man shall fall as dung upon the face of the country, and as grass behind the back of the mower, and there is none to gather it.

Verse in Context

15 Therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.

16 I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”

17 Yahweh of Armies says, “Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come. Send for the skillful women, that they may come.

18 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.

19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, ‘How we are ruined! We are greatly confounded because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.’”

20 Yet hear Yahweh’s word, you women. Let your ear receive the word of his mouth. Teach your daughters wailing. Everyone teach her neighbor a lamentation.

21 For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.

22 Speak, “Yahweh says, “‘The dead bodies of men will fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester. No one will gather them.’”

23 Yahweh says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches.

24 But let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for I delight in these things,” says Yahweh.

Scholars' Consensus

Commentators agree that the command to summon professional mourners is not an endorsement of the practice but a striking rhetorical device. The people had grown “extremely refractory, insensible, and secure” (Calvin). They could not weep for their own sins, so God instructs them to hire women who could weep on cue. Gill notes these women were “called the ‘praeficae’ among the Romans,” skilled at stirring lamentation. The point is not that God delights in paid grief; it is that the coming catastrophe is so vast that even artificial wailing is barely adequate. Keil adds that the wailing is heard “out of Zion,” implying that the judgment has already begun. The passage thus functions as a dramatic wake-up call: if the people will not mourn their sin, they will be forced to mourn its consequences.

How settled is the interpretation?

Interpretive difficulty: Low

What is clear: The passage depicts the terrible consequences of Judah's covenant unfaithfulness using the vivid cultural practice of hired mourning to shock the people into facing reality.

What Scholars Agree and Debate

Topic	Agreed	Debated
Command to hire mourners	All traditions see this as a prophetic action meant to shake a complacent nation and highlight the scale of disaster.	Catholic and Orthodox readers sometimes see it as a legitimate use of lamentation rituals; Reformed and Evangelical readers emphasize the ironic, indicting purpose.
Death personified	All agree that death is described as a besieging enemy that spares no one, echoing the Assyrian/Babylonian threat.	Some see it as purely metaphorical (Babylonian army), others as also pointing to spiritual death and separation from God.
Teaching daughters to wail	The command shows that the mourning will be so prolonged that it must be passed down.	Whether this implies a new rite of perpetual lament (some Anglican and Catholic traditions) or simply a dark prophecy of continued exile (Reformed).

Historical & Cultural Context

Professional mourning women were a fixture in ancient Near Eastern funerals. They were hired to wail, tear their hair, beat their breasts, and improvise laments that drew on the family history of the deceased. The Cambridge Bible describes them as “exceedingly cunning in this business,” able to create instant dirges. Jeremiah draws on this familiar custom to paint the coming destruction in visceral terms.

The broader context is crucial. In Jeremiah 9:13-16, the Lord explains the reason: “They have forsaken my law … and have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart and after the Baals.” The covenant community had become numb to the prophets’ warnings, trusting in alliances with Egypt and their own fortified walls. By invoking hired mourners, Jeremiah shatters that false security. Death is personified as a thief climbing through windows and entering palaces (v.21), a metaphor for the Babylonian army that would scale Jerusalem’s walls. The final image, corpses lying “as dung on the open field” with no one to bury them, was the ultimate dishonor in the ancient world. A person left unburied was cut off from the community even in death, a sign of complete rejection.

Similar language appears in Amos 5:16-17, where the Lord says, “Wailing will be in all the wide ways … They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.” The prophets consistently use mourning practices not as ritual prescriptions but as parabolic warnings. Jeremiah’s command, then, is a prophetic action meant to startle a deaf nation into hearing.

Textual Notes

The Cambridge Bible notes that verse 19 may be a gloss because it breaks the connection between the summons to the wailers and the words they are to use. More significantly, the introductory formula “Speak, Thus saith the Lord” in verse 22 is absent from the Septuagint (LXX), and Keil and Delitzsch note that some have suggested it is a gloss or parenthetical reassertion of the divine origin of the message. The Masoretic Text retains it, emphasizing that the shocking image of unburied corpses comes directly from Yahweh. The variations do not change the passage’s essential meaning.

Reception History

The early church fathers read this passage allegorically: the “mourning women” were sometimes seen as the Old Testament prophets who lamented Israel’s sin, while the “daughters” taught to wail represented the nations who would learn of God’s judgment. John Calvin applied it to the need for pastors to use vivid language to rouse a dull congregation. In the wider Christian tradition, the imagery of death entering through windows has been used in hymns and sermons about the suddenness of judgment and the importance of vigilance. The final verse (corpses as dung) was cited by Puritans as a warning against trusting in earthly glory.

Preaching This Verse

Three-point outline

The numbness of sin: The people had heard judgment announced many times but remained dry-eyed. God commands hired mourners because genuine grief had died (vv.17-18).
The reach of judgment: Death enters through windows, not just the gates, showing that no fortress can block God’s discipline. Children, young men, and adults all fall (vv.21-22).
The training of lament: Mothers must teach their daughters to wail (v.20). The grief is so vast that it must be passed down to the next generation, a lasting memory of what happens when a people forget their God.

Five-point outline

Who weeps when we cannot? (v.17), God provides surrogate mourners when the community is hardened.
Tears as a gift (v.18), The prophet puts himself among the mourners, showing that grief is not weakness but honesty.
The sound from Zion (v.19), The cry comes from the very city that trusted in its own security.
Teaching sorrow (v.20), Lament is not instinctive; it must be learned and passed on.
The final picture (v.22), Unburied bodies as dung, the terrible result of rejected grace.

Illustration hooks

A family hires a grief counselor after a sudden death, but the counselor cannot feel what they feel. The hired mourner in Jeremiah is a sign that even the most skilled false tears point to a sorrow too deep for art.
When a community has ignored warnings for years, a declining church, a nation drifting from its values, they often need an outside voice to break through. Jeremiah’s call for wailing women is that “outside voice.”

Questions your congregation is asking

Is it wrong to hire professionals for grief, like funeral directors or counselors? This passage is about judgment, not funerals, but it reminds us that genuine mourning before God cannot be outsourced.
Why does God command something that seems so foreign (paid mourners)? He is using what the culture knows to get their attention, not endorsing the practice itself.
What does it mean for death to “come up into our windows”? It means no one is safe, not the rich in their palaces, not the children in the streets. Judgment reaches everywhere.

Leading a Discussion

This passage forces us to ask: are we still able to weep over sin? Jeremiah describes a people so calloused that they need hired professionals to feel anything. As you read these verses together, let the shocking images do their work. The goal is not to guilt-trip, but to open hearts to the seriousness of walking away from God.

Discussion questions

Why does God ask for “skillful” or “cunning” women to mourn (v.17)? What does that tell us about the people’s emotional state?
The prophet includes himself in the call: “let them take up a wailing for us” (v.18). Why does he identify with the people he is confronting?
Read verse 19 slowly. What loss do the people name first, land, dwellings, or shame? What does that reveal about their priorities?
Verse 20 commands mothers to teach their daughters to wail. Why would grief need to be taught? What does that imply about the coming generations?
How does the image of death entering through windows (v.21) challenge false security? Where do we place our trust today?
Verse 22 ends with “no one will gather them.” In the ancient world, burial was a sacred duty. What does the lack of burial say about God’s judgment?
How can a church learn to lament again without becoming morbid? What practices might help us grieve over sin and suffering honestly?

What the Commentators Say

7 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.

Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826

Clarke focuses on the ancient custom of hiring professional mourning women, a practice he says continued in Asia and Ireland. He describes how grief shifted from natural outbursts to hired wailing, and personifies Death as a reaper who enters houses and homes, leaving the dead unburied like dung.

Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564

Calvin focuses on the prophet's use of hired mourners and exaggerated language to break through the people's stubborn indifference. The goal is not to endorse the custom but to shame them: they ignored God's word yet would be moved by paid weeping. The prophet speaks of future disaster as already present, forcing them to feel what they refused to see.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880

The Cambridge Bible highlights the professional mourners' remarkable skill: they know each family's history and instantly craft personal laments that open fresh tears in every heart. The commentary also treats "have forsaken" as a prophetic perfect, meaning the exile is already certain, and notes that God himself will dictate the dirge for universal use.

Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599

The Geneva notes highlight that God Himself commands sending for professional mourners, showing that the coming calamity is so overwhelming only skilled lamentation will suffice. The point is that death and destruction will be inescapable, invading even the most secure places like palaces and windows, leaving bodies unburied like dung.

Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748

Gill notes the ancient custom of hiring professional mourners, and says God commands the people to summon them not as an endorsement but as a pointed mockery of their empty rituals. The real mourning required comes from the calamity itself: death will enter through their strongest defenses, cutting down children and young men, leaving corpses unburied like dung.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871

JFB highlights the desperate shortage of professional mourners because so many die that mothers must teach their daughters the art of wailing. Death's soldiers burst through windows to cut children off from the streets, and Jewish corpses are trodden contemptuously like worthless grain that no gleaner bothers to gather.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754

Wesley points out the foolish custom of hiring professional mourners to wail and tear their hair, calling this a practice common across ages. He stresses the total, inescapable destruction, comparing it to handfuls of grain that fall from the reaper, left to be eaten by birds or trampled. No one will even care to bury the dead.

Cross-References

Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)

II Chronicles 35:25	Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel. Behold, they are written in the lamentations.
Job 3:8	Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan.
Ecclesiastes 12:5	yes, they shall be afraid of heights, and terrors will be on the way; and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets;
Amos 5:16	Therefore Yahweh, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: “Wailing will be in all the wide ways. They will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
Amos 5:17	In all vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through the middle of you,” says Yahweh.
Matthew 9:23	When Jesus came into the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd in noisy disorder,
Mark 5:38	He came to the synagogue ruler’s house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing.
Isaiah 22:4	Therefore 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.

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.

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