Jeremiah 9:17-22 Meaning: When Tears Must Be Hired
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.’”
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.
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.
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.
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.
Meaning in one sentence
Why does God tell Jeremiah to hire professional mourners? A look at the hard-heartedness that needs artificial tears.
Context
Jeremiah speaks to a people who have heard God's warnings for years. They have turned away from His law, chased other gods, and grown stubborn in their sin. Now judgment is certain. Babylon will come, the land will be laid waste, and the streets will be empty of children. But the people are still numb. They do not feel the weight of what is coming. So God does something strange. He tells Jeremiah to summon the professional mourners, women skilled at wailing, to teach the city how to weep. This is not a funeral ritual. It is a prophetic act meant to break through years of spiritual insensitivity.
Key Words
Two terms stand out. The first is “mourning women” or “cunning women.” In Jeremiah's world, these were hired professionals who led funeral cries, beating their breasts and chanting laments. They knew how to make grief look real. But here God calls for them because the people themselves cannot feel anything. The second term is “teach your daughters wailing.” The Hebrew word behind it carries the sense of handing down a skill. Mothers are to pass on lamentation like a craft, because the coming disaster will be so long and deep that one generation's sorrow will not be enough. And then “death has come up into our windows”, a chilling image of judgment slipping past every locked door, taking the young from the streets and the old from their homes. The point is not the method of mourning. The point is that a people so detached from their own sin need someone else to show them how to cry.
How Christians Read This Verse
Christians have read this passage in different ways. Some, like Adam Clarke, see the command as literal: the disaster is so immense that even the finest hired mourners could not do justice to the grief. Others, like Calvin, emphasise the irony, God is exposing the people's stubbornness by making them rely on artificial tears because their own hearts are stone. Still others, like the Cambridge Bible, note that the dirge is not a traditional formula; God himself dictates a new song of wailing, showing that even lament must be taught when repentance has died. What unites these readings is the recognition that numbness to sin is a grave spiritual sickness, and that God will go to startling lengths to wake His people before it is too late.
A common misunderstanding
Some readers think this passage endorses hiring professional mourners as a religious practice. In fact, the command is a stinging indictment. The people have become so spiritually dead that they cannot weep over their own sin. God calls for hired tears to expose their hard-heartedness, not to establish a ritual. The focus is on the tragic gap between what they should feel and what they actually feel.
Living This Out
Is there anything in your life this week that should break your heart, but doesn't? Maybe a strained relationship you have stopped grieving, a sin you have grown comfortable with, or the suffering of someone you have learned to ignore. This passage invites you to do something uncomfortable: ask God to give you the tears you cannot produce on your own. You might write down one lament, speak it aloud, or sit quietly until sorrow rises. Real mourning is the doorway to real change.
Main takeaway: When our hearts grow numb to sin, God may need to teach us how to weep before He can teach us how to hope.
For Families
For ages 5, 8
God wanted His people to cry because they had turned away from Him. But their hearts were too hard to cry. So He told them to ask other people to cry for them. God wants us to have soft hearts that feel sad when we do wrong.
For ages 9, 12
Imagine you hurt a friend so badly that you stopped caring about it at all. You would not even be sorry. That is how God's people were. They had sinned so long that they could not feel sad anymore. God told Jeremiah to hire professional mourners, women whose job was to wail at funerals, to help the city finally weep. It was a shocking way to show how far they had fallen. But it also shows that God will go to any length to wake us up. If you have gone numb to something in your life, you can ask Him to give you a heart that feels again.
Questions People Ask
Why does God tell Jeremiah to call for mourning women?
The people had become so numb to their sin that they could not feel genuine sorrow. By hiring professional wailers, God forced them to confront the coming disaster with real tears. This was not an endorsement of the practice; it was a prophetic act exposing their hard hearts.
What does 'death has come up into our windows' mean?
Death is pictured as a thief or invader climbing in through windows, even into palaces and fortified homes. It means the coming judgment is sudden, unavoidable, and spares no one, not children playing in the streets nor young men in public squares.
Does this passage teach that Christians should hire mourners for funerals?
No. The context is not about funeral customs but about an entire city that has lost the capacity to repent. The hired mourners are a shocking tool to awaken a spiritually dead people. Christians have varied practices around funerals, but this passage is not a command for how to conduct them.
What does 'teach your daughters wailing' mean?
It means the disaster would be so devastating that grief would become a lifelong skill passed from mother to daughter. There would be so many deaths that professional mourners would be scarce, so every woman needed to learn the craft of lament. It shows the scale of the coming destruction.
How does this passage connect to the New Testament?
In Matthew 9:23, Jesus arrives at the ruler’s house and finds flute players and a crowd wailing. He takes the situation seriously but also offers something new: not just lament over death, but the power to overcome it. Jeremiah’s call to mourn points forward to the One who would weep over Jerusalem and then conquer death itself.
For pastors & researchers
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