Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 35:25
Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers recite laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Book of Laments.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah laments over King Josiah immediately after his servants bring the king’s body to Jerusalem for burial. The text places this moment at the conclusion of national mourning following Josiah’s death in battle.
The words — The Hebrew וַ/יְקוֹנֵ֣ן (va/y.ko.Nen) means “he made a lament,” and יִרְמְיָהוּ֮ (yir.me.ya.Hu) identifies Jeremiah as the speaker. These terms mark the transition from a personal prophetic act to a public ritual.
The thread — The verse establishes a mourning custom that later prophetic texts distinguish from mourning the exiled (Jeremiah 22:10) or the captured LORD’s anointed (Lamentations 4:20). The text explicitly notes this practice was written in the Book of Laments, linking it to the cursed-day tradition in Job 3:8.
Why it lands — The passage records how a single prophetic lament was codified into a national statute for both male and female singers. It asks the reader to observe how institutional memory formalizes historical grief into recurring liturgical practice.
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The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 22:10 Do not weep for him who is dead; do not mourn his loss. Weep bitterly for him who is exiled, for he will never return to see his native land.
- Lamentations 4:20 The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”
- Job 3:8 May it be cursed by those who curse the day—those prepared to rouse Leviathan.
- Jeremiah 9:17 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
- Matthew 9:23 When Jesus entered the house of the synagogue leader, He saw the flute players and the noisy crowd.
- Jeremiah 22:20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.
- Ecclesiastes 12:5 when 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.