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.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Yahweh speaks through the prophet to Israel at the moment of pronouncing national scattering and the approach of the sword. The command initiates a formal response to the coming devastation.

The words — הִתְבּֽוֹנְנ֛וּ (hit.bo.Nu) means “consider” or “take note,” while לַ/מְקוֹנְנ֖וֹת (la/m.ko.Not) literally denotes “to the wailing [women].” The text commands deliberate attention and the professional summoning of mourners.

The thread — This summons to professional lament echoes Amos 5:16, where wailing fills public squares, and 2 Chronicles 35:25, which records the institutionalized mourning of male and female singers. The motif ties national judgment to established covenantal mourning practices.

Why it lands — The verse demands recognition of impending loss and the activation of formal mourning rituals. It requires the reader to acknowledge that judgment necessitates a structured, communal response to grief.

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

כֹּ֤הkohthus אָמַר֙'a.Marhe says יְהוָ֣הYah.wehYahweh צְבָא֔וֹתtze.va.'otof hosts הִתְבּֽוֹנְנ֛וּhit.bo.Nuconsider וְקִרְא֥וּve./kir.'Uand/ summon לַמְקוֹנְנ֖וֹתla/m.ko.Not<to> the/ wailing [women]וּתְבוֹאֶ֑ינָהu./te.vo.'Ei.nahand/ they may come וְאֶל־ve./'el-and/ to הַחֲכָמ֥וֹתha./cha.kha.Motthe/ skillful [women]שִׁלְח֖וּshil.Chusend וְתָבֽוֹאנָה׃ve./ta.Vo.nahso/ they may come

King James Version

Thus 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:

Cross-references

Amos 5:16 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail.
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.
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.
Job 3:8 May it be cursed by those who curse the day—those prepared to rouse Leviathan.
Matthew 9:23 When Jesus entered the house of the synagogue leader, He saw the flute players and the noisy crowd.
Mark 5:38 When they arrived at the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw the commotion and the people weeping and wailing loudly.