Bible Strands
Jeremiah 15:9
The mother of seven will grow faint; she will breathe her last breath. Her sun will set while it is still day; she will be disgraced and humiliated. And the rest I will put to the sword in the presence of their enemies,” declares the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through Jeremiah to the prophet concerning the imminent collapse of Judah’s families. The declaration targets the mothers of young men as a destroyer arrives at noon.
The words — אֻמְלְלָ֞ה ('um.le.Lah) denotes she has grown feeble, while שִׁמְשָׁ֛/הּ (shim.Sha/h) literally means sun/ her.
The thread — The motif of sudden widowhood and child loss appears in Isaiah 47:9 and Lamentations 1:1, while the image of a barren woman bearing seven echoes 1 Samuel 2:5.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine judgment operates with irreversible finality. It requires the reader to confront the concrete collapse of family and national structures without softening the declaration.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the Lord.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 2:5 The well-fed hire themselves out for food, but the starving hunger no more. The barren woman gives birth to seven, but she who has many sons pines away.
- Isaiah 47:9 These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.
- Lamentations 1:1 How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.
- Amos 8:9 And in that day, declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the daytime.
- Jeremiah 15:2 If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity, to captivity.’
- Jeremiah 21:7 ‘After that,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officers, and the people in this city who survive the plague and sword and famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who seek their lives. He will put them to the sword; he will not spare them or show pity or compassion.’
- Jeremiah 44:27 I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine, until they are finished off.
- Lamentations 4:10 The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Ezekiel 5:12 A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.