Jeremiah 9:1
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
Jeremiah 9:1 in other translations
| BSB | Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people. |
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| WEB | Oh 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! |
| ASV | Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! |
| YLT | Who doth make my head waters, And mine eye a fountain of tears? And I weep by day and by night, For the wounded of the daughter of my people. |
| DARBY | Oh that my head were waters, and mine eye a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! |
| BBE | If only my head was a stream of waters and my eyes fountains of weeping, so that I might go on weeping day and night for the dead of the daughter of my people! |
| Webster | Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! |
What does Jeremiah 9:1 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Introduction
The prophet bitterly laments the terrible judgments about to be inflicted upon his countrymen, and points out some of the evils which have provoked the Divine Majesty, Jer 9:1-9. Judea shall be utterly desolated, and the inhabitants transplanted into heathen countries, Jer 9:10-17. In allusion to an ancient custom, a band of mourning women is called to lament over the ruins of Jerusalem, Jer 9:17, Jer 9:18; and even the funeral dirge is given in terms full of beauty, elegance, and pathos, Jer 9:19-22. God is the fountain of all good; man, merely an instrument by which a portion of this good is distributed in the earth; therefore none should glory in his wisdom, might, or riches, Jer 9:23, Jer 9:24. The judgments of God shall fall, not upon the land of Judea only, but also upon many heathen nations, Jer 9:25, Jer 9:26. Verse 1 O that my head were waters - מי יתן ראשי מים mi yitten roshi mayim, "who will give to my head waters?" My mourning for the sins and desolations of my people has already exhausted the source of tears: I wish to have a fountain opened there, that I may weep day and night for the slain of my people. This has been the sorrowful language of many a pastor who has preached long to a hardened, rebellious people, to little or no effect. This verse belongs to the preceding chapter.Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Jeremiah 9:1-11
Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain
Jeremiah 9:1 in the original Hebrew
Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.
Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).
Cross references for Jeremiah 9:1
- Jeremiah 13:17
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive.
- Isaiah 22:4
Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.
- Lamentations 2:11
Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.
- Jeremiah 8:21-22
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
- Jeremiah 6:26
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.
- Psalms 42:3
My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
- Jeremiah 14:17
Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine 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 blow.
- Lamentations 3:48-49
Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
- Psalms 119:136
Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.
- Lamentations 2:18-19
Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease. Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.
- Ezekiel 21:6-7
Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God.
- Isaiah 16:9
Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.
Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
9 and for their judgment.
12 Disobedience is the cause of their bitter calamity.
17 He exhorts to mourn for their destruction;
23 and to trust not in themselves, but in God.
25 He threatens both Jews and Gentiles.
O that. Heb. Who will give, etc.
4:19; 13:17; 14:17; Ps 119:136; Isa 16:9; 22:4; La 2:11,18,19
La 3:48,49; Eze 21:6,7
weep.
Ps 42:3
the daughter.
6:26; 8:21,22
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain
Context
- Jeremiah 9:1
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
- Jeremiah 9:2
Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
Jeremiah 9:1 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | ¡OH si mi cabeza se tornase aguas, y mis ojos fuentes de aguas, para que llore día y noche los muertos de la hija de mi pueblo! |
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| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | Oh! qui me donnera dans le désert une cabane de voyageur! et j’abandonnerais mon peuple et je m’en irais d’avec eux; car ils sont tous des adultères, une assemblée de perfides. |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | O daß mein Haupt Wasser wäre und mein Auge ein Tränenquell, so wollte ich Tag und Nacht beweinen die Erschlagenen der Tochter meines Volkes! |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | Quis dabit capiti meo aquam, et oculis meis fontem lacrimarum, et plorabo die ac nocte interfectos filiæ populi mei? |