Bible Strands
Jeremiah 4:8
So put on sackcloth, mourn and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses Judah immediately after warning of an invading destroyer who has ruined their land and cities. The command is issued at the threshold of national collapse, just before the text notes the king, priests, and prophets will lose their courage and tremble.
The words — The imperative חִגְר֥וּ שַׂקִּ֖ים (chigru saqim) commands the people to gird themselves with sackcloth, followed by סִפְד֣וּ וְהֵילִ֑ילוּ (sifdu veheililu) to mourn and wail. These terms specify the exact physical and vocal actions required to express the grief the text mandates.
The thread — This directive to wear sackcloth and wail reappears in Isaiah 22:12 during a comparable moment of divine judgment, and is repeated in Jeremiah 6:26 as a command for the people to mourn with bitter wailing. The stated cause, the LORD’s anger that has not turned away, directly parallels the declaration in Isaiah 5:25.
Why it lands — The text requires the audience to acknowledge that judgment is fixed and demands observable mourning instead of denial. It forces the reader to confront the reality that institutional leadership will fail and the people must face the consequences directly.
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
For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 22:12 On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.
- Jeremiah 6:26 O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
- Isaiah 5:25 Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lie like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
- Isaiah 10:4 Nothing will remain but to crouch among the captives or fall among the slain. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
- Isaiah 32:11 Shudder, you ladies of leisure; tremble, you daughters of complacency. Strip yourselves bare and put sackcloth around your waists.
- Numbers 25:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that His fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
- Psalms 78:49 He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels.
- Isaiah 9:12 Aram from the east and Philistia from the west have devoured Israel with open mouths. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
- Isaiah 9:17 Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
- Isaiah 9:21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they turn against Judah. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.