Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, August 20th, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Read the Bible

Complete Jewish Bible

Jeremiah 9:16

Thus says Adonai -Tzva'ot: "Mark this, then summon the mourning women, so that they will come; send for those who are best [at mourning], so that they will come:

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Israel, Prophecies Concerning;   War;   Scofield Reference Index - Law of Moses;   The Topic Concordance - Disobedience;   Forsaking;   Heart;   Israel/jews;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Law of God, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Baal;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Funeral;   Persecution;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Lamentations;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Gall;   Poetry;   Wormwood;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Poetry, Hebrew;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Burial;   Captivity;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I will scatter them among the nations that they and their fathers have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”
Hebrew Names Version
I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.
King James Version
I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
English Standard Version
I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them."
New American Standard Bible
"I will also scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have put an end to them."
New Century Version
I will scatter them through other nations that they and their ancestors never knew about. I will chase the people of Judah with the sword until they are all killed."
Amplified Bible
"I will [also] scatter them among nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them until I have annihilated them."
World English Bible
I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.
Geneva Bible (1587)
I wil scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers haue knowen, and I will send a sworde after them, til I haue consumed them.
Legacy Standard Bible
I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them."
Berean Standard Bible
I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off."
Contemporary English Version
I'll scatter them in foreign countries that they and their ancestors have never even heard of. Finally, I will send enemy soldiers to kill every last one of them.
Darby Translation
and will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.
Easy-to-Read Version
I will scatter the people of Judah throughout other nations. They will live in strange nations that they and their fathers never knew about. I will send men with swords. They will kill the people of Judah. They will kill them until all the people are gone."
George Lamsa Translation
I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send a sword after them till I have consumed them.
Good News Translation
I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have heard about, and I will send armies against them until I have completely destroyed them."
Lexham English Bible
and I will scatter them among the nations that they have not known, they and their ancestors, and I will send the sword after them until I bring them to an end."
Literal Translation
I will also scatter them among the nations which they have not known, nor their fathers. And I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I will scatre them also amonge the Heithen, whom nether they ner their fathers haue knowne: and I will sende a swearde amonge them, to persecute them, vntill I bringe them to naught.
American Standard Version
I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.
Bible in Basic English
And I will send them wandering among the nations, among people strange to them and to their fathers: and I will send the sword after them till I have put an end to them.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the wise women, that they may come;
King James Version (1611)
I will scatter them also among the heathen, whome neither they nor their fathers haue knowen: and I wil send a sword after them, til I haue consumed them.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
I wyll scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers haue knowen: and I wyll send a sworde among them to persecute them, vntyll I bring them to naught.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and I will scatter them among the nations, to them whom neither they nor their fathers knew; and I will send a sword upon them, until I have consumed them with it.
English Revised Version
I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Y schal scatere hem among hethene men, whiche thei and her fadris knewen not; and Y schal sende swerd aftir hem, til thei ben wastid.
Update Bible Version
I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.
Webster's Bible Translation
I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
New English Translation
I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known anything about. I will send people chasing after them with swords until I have destroyed them.'"
New King James Version
I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them."
New Living Translation
I will scatter them around the world, in places they and their ancestors never heard of, and even there I will chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them completely."
New Life Bible
I will spread them out among the nations whom they and their fathers have not known. And I will go after them with the sword until I have put an end to them."
New Revised Standard
I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And will scatter them among the nations, which neither they nor their fathers, have known, - And will send after them the sword, until I have consumed them.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And I will scatter them among the nations, which they and their fathers have not known: and I will send the sword after them till they be consumed.
Revised Standard Version
I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them."
Young's Literal Translation
And I have scattered them among nations Which they knew not, they and their fathers, And have sent after them the sword, Till I have consumed them.
THE MESSAGE
"Then I'll scatter them far and wide among godless peoples that neither they nor their parents have ever heard of, and I'll send Death in pursuit until there's nothing left of them."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have annihilated them."

Contextual Overview

12 Adonai answers: "Because they abandoned my Torah, which I set before them, and neither listened to what I said nor lived accordingly, 13 but have lived by their own hearts' stubbornness and by the ba‘alim, as their ancestors taught them — 14 therefore," says Adonai -Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el: "I will feed this people bitter wormwood and give them poisonous water to drink. 15 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known. I will send the sword after them until I have wiped them out." 16 Thus says Adonai -Tzva'ot: "Mark this, then summon the mourning women, so that they will come; send for those who are best [at mourning], so that they will come: 17 ‘Have them hurry and wail for us, so our eyes will be wet from crying, and our eyelids gush with tears.' 18 For the sound of wailing is heard from Tziyon: ‘We are utterly ruined, we are completely ashamed, because we have left the land, and our homes have been torn down!'" 19 You women, hear the word of Adonai ! Let your ears receive the words from his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail, have each teach her friend how to lament: 20 "Death has come up through our windows, it has entered our palaces, it has cut down children in the streets and young people in the public places." 21 Say: "Here is what Adonai says: ‘The corpses of people are scattered like dung in an open field, like sheaves left behind by the reaper with no one to gather them.'"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

scatter: Jeremiah 13:24, Leviticus 26:33, Deuteronomy 4:27, Deuteronomy 28:25, Deuteronomy 28:36, Deuteronomy 28:64, Deuteronomy 32:26, Nehemiah 1:8, Psalms 106:27, Ezekiel 11:17, Ezekiel 12:15, Ezekiel 20:23, Zechariah 7:14, James 1:1

and I: Jeremiah 15:2-4, Jeremiah 24:10, Jeremiah 25:27, Jeremiah 29:17, Jeremiah 44:27, Jeremiah 49:36, Jeremiah 49:37, Ezekiel 5:2, Ezekiel 5:12, Ezekiel 14:17

Reciprocal: Leviticus 26:25 - will bring Isaiah 24:1 - scattereth Jeremiah 14:12 - but Jeremiah 15:4 - cause them to be removed Jeremiah 22:16 - was not Ezekiel 5:10 - the whole

Cross-References

Genesis 9:3
Every moving thing that lives will be food for you; just as I gave you green plants before, so now I give you everything —
Genesis 9:4
only flesh with its life, which is its blood, you are not to eat.
Genesis 9:8
(v) God spoke to Noach and his sons with him; he said,
Genesis 9:9
"As for me — I am herewith establishing my covenant with you, with your descendants after you,
Genesis 9:10
and with every living creature that is with you — the birds, the livestock and every wild animal with you, all going out of the ark, every animal on earth.
Genesis 9:11
I will establish my covenant with you that never again will all living beings be destroyed by the waters of a flood, and there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth."
Genesis 9:21
He drank so much of the wine that he got drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.
Genesis 9:22
Ham, the father of Kena‘an, saw his father shamefully exposed, went out and told his two brothers.
Genesis 17:7
(vii) "I am establishing my covenant between me and you, along with your descendants after you, generation after generation, as an everlasting covenant, to be God for you and for your descendants after you.
Genesis 17:13
The slave born in your house and the person bought with your money must be circumcised; thus my covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I will scatter them also among the Heathen,.... Besides the bitter judgments of famine and pestilence during the siege, what remained of them should be carried captive out of their own land into foreign countries, than which nothing could be more distressing:

whom neither they or their fathers have known; a circumstance greatly aggravating their captivity:

and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them; or men that kill with the sword, as the Targum: it chiefly regards such of them as were scattered among the Moabites and Ammonites, and especially that went into Egypt; see Jeremiah 44:27.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The punishment described in general terms in the preceding three verses is now detailed at great length.

Jeremiah 9:10

The habitations i. e - the temporary encampments of the shepherds (see Jeremiah 6:3).

So that none can ... - Or, “They are parched up, with no man to pass through them; neither do they hear the voice of cattle; from the birds of the heaven even to the beasts they “are fled, they are gone.”

Jeremiah 9:11

Dragons - Rather, jackals.

Jeremiah 9:12

For what the land perisheth ... - This is the question proposed for consideration. The prophet calls upon the wise man to explain his question; that question being, Wherefore did the land perish? He follows it by the assertion of a fact: “It is parched like the wilderness with no man to pass through.”

Jeremiah 9:13

The cause of the chastisement about to fall upon Jerusalem, was their desertion of the divine Law.

Jeremiah 9:14

Imagination - Or, as in the margin.

Which their fathers taught them - It was not the sin of one generation that brought upon them chastisement: it was a sin, which had been handed down from father to son.

Jeremiah 9:15

I will feed them ... - Rather, I am feeding them. The present participle used here, followed by three verbs in the future, shows that the judgment has beam, of which the successive stages are given in the next clause.

Wormwood - See Deuteronomy 29:18, note, and for “water of gall,” Jeremiah 8:14, note.

Jeremiah 9:16

This verse is taken from Leviticus 26:33. The fulfillment of what had been so long before appointed as the penalty for the violation of Yahweh’s covenant is one of the most remarkable proofs that prophecy was something more than human foresight.

Till I have consumed them - See Jeremiah 4:27 note. How is this “consuming” consistent with the promise to the contrary there given? Because it is limited by the terms of Jeremiah 9:7. Previously to Nebuchadnezzars destruction of Jerusalem God removed into safety those in whom the nation should revive.

Jeremiah 9:17

The mourning women - Hired to attend at funerals, and by their skilled wailings aid the real mourners in giving vent to their grief. Hence, they are called “cunning,” literally “wise” women, wisdom being constantly used in Scripture for anything in which people are trained.

Jeremiah 9:18

Take up a wailing for us - i. e., for the nation once God’s chosen people, but long spiritually dead.

Jeremiah 9:19

Forsaken - Or, left: forced to abandon the land.

Because our dwellings ... - Rather, “because they have east down our dwellings.” The whole verse is a description of their sufferings. See 2 Kings 25:1-12.

Jeremiah 9:20

The command is addressed to the women because it was more especially their part to express the general feelings of the nation. See 1 Samuel 18:6; 2 Samuel 1:24. The women utter now the death-wail over the perishing nation. They are to teach their daughters and neighbors the “lamentation, i. e., dirge,” because the harvest of death would be so large that the number of trained women would not suffice.

Jeremiah 9:21

Death is come up ... - i. e., death steals silently like a thief upon his victims, and makes such havoc that there are no children left to go “without,” nor young men to frequent the open spaces in the city.

Jeremiah 9:22

The “handful” means the little bundle of grain which the reaper gathers on his arm with three or four strokes of his sickle, and then lays down. Behind the reaper came one whose business it was to gather several of these bundles, and bind them into a sheaf. Thus, death strews the ground with corpses as thickly as these handfuls lie upon the reaped land, but the corpses lie there unheeded.


 
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