Jeremiah 9:19

Jer 9:19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast [us] out.

Ver. 19. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled!] {a} Quis tragoediam aptius et magis graphice depingeret? What tragedy was ever set forth, and in more lively expressions?

{a} Ponit formulam threnodiae.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As though they were weary of us, because of our iniquities, Lev. 18:28 and 20:22.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The cry of "the mourning women."

spoiled--laid waste.

dwellings cast us out--fulfilling Lev 18:28; Lev 20:22. CALVIN translates, "The enemy have cast down our habitations."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

We have said before, that when Jeremiah addressed the people in these words, they were still in a tolerably good condition, so that the king had confidence in his own resources; and his counsellors also thought that some aid would come to them from Egypt, and the people were likewise deceived. But the Prophet speaks of future events and points out as by the finger the evils which were as yet concealed from the view; for he could not otherwise teach with any authority, as he had to do with men of iron hearts. As then he saw that his teaching had no effect, and was wholly disregarded by men so slothful, he felt it necessary to form his style so as to touch their feelings.

On this account he says, that a voice was heard, a voice of wailing from Sion; where yet all exulted with joy. Then he adds, How have we been destroyed! and made greatly ashamed! The Jews thought this a fable, until they found by experience that they had been extremely hard and obstinate: but this really happened. Though they were then indulging in their pleasures, he yet proclaims lamentations to them, as though they were already destroyed: A voice, he says, has been heard, as though the Jews were bewailing the calamity, respecting which they thought the Prophet was fabling, for no danger was yet apparent.

But in order, as I have said, to condemn the hardness of their hearts, he represents them in another character, as bewailing their ruinous condition, and saying, We have left the land; in which however they thought their dwelling would be perpetual; for they boasted that they could never be excluded, as it had been declared,

“This is my rest for ever, here will I dwell, for I have chosen it.” (Psalm 132:14.)

As then God had testified that it would be a quiet habitation to his people, they thought that they were fortified by a triple wall and rampart, and that the city was altogether unassailable. But Jeremiah represents them as saying, that they had left their own land, that is, that they had been drawn and driven into exile. Then he adds, because they have cast us out This seems to refer to their enemies who had cast them out, that is, pulled down their dwellings. Some take dwellings to be the nominative case to the verb, “Our dwellings have cast us out.” But the first meaning reads better: I therefore consider the sense to be simply this, — that they were cast out and that their houses were destroyed by their enemies. It follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(19) We have forsaken.—Better, we have left. The English version suggests a voluntary abandonment, which is not involved in the Hebrew.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. Co. considers that the v. is a gloss as breaking the connexion between the summons to the wailers and the words which they are bidden to use.

have forsaken] a prophetic perfect, meaning must forsake. Exile is regarded as inevitable.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion,.... Out of the fortress of Zion, out of the city of Jerusalem, which was thought to be inexpugnable, and could never be taken; but now a voice is heard out of that, deploring the desolation of it:

how are we spoiled? our houses destroyed, and we plundered of our substance:

we are greatly confounded: filled with shame, on account of their vain confidence; thinking their city would never be taken, and they were safe in it:

because we have forsaken the land; the land of Judea, being obliged to it, the enemy carrying them captive into other countries:

because our dwellings have cast us out; not suffering us to continue there any longer, as being unworthy of them; or enemies have cast down our habitations to the earth, as Jarchi; and so the Targum, "for our palaces are desolate"; the principal buildings in Jerusalem, as well as the houses of the common people, were thrown down to the ground, or burnt with fire, and particularly the temple; so that the whole was in a most ruinous condition, and a fit subject of a mournful song.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Is heard out of Zion, i.e. Jerusalem, spoken in the present tense, after the prophetical style, being a frequent way of the prophet’s expressing the certainty of a thing. How are we spoiled! how great is our misery! or, how come we to be in such a desolate condition? possibly expressions of the artificial mourners, or rather their real sense of it, now it is all too late.

We are greatly confounded: whether this be the complaint of the country people forced to flee from their habitation to Jerusalem for shelter, or of Jerusalem itself, that could expect no less, it filled them with great consternation, that they who thought their houses should have continued for ever, because of God’s promise, Psa 132:10, &c., must now forsake them, Lev 18:25; either their persons carried out into captivity, or have them utterly demolished by the enemy.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Forsaken; rather, left. Our dwellings have cast us out; rather, they hare cast down our dwellings.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Here Yahweh is saying what the people of Judah will say when he destroys the land.

For the sound of wailing is heard in Zion

This refers to the people of Zion wailing loudly and can be stated in active form. AT: "The people of Zion are crying loudly, saying" (See: Active or Passive)

How we are devastated

Yahweh tells what the people of Judah will say when the land is destroyed. AT: "We are very upset" (See: Idiom)

We are greatly ashamed, for we have abandoned the land since they tore down our houses

"Our shame is great, because enemies destroyed our houses and we had to leave the land of Israel"

hear Yahweh's word; pay attention to the messages that come from his mouth

These two phrases mean the same thing and emphasize the command to listen to what Yahweh says. In the second phrase Yahweh's "mouth" is a metonym for himself. AT: "listen to what Yahweh says. Pay attention to his words" (See: Parallelism and Metonymy)

each neighbor woman a funeral song

The understood verb may be supplied. AT: "teach each neighbor woman a funeral song" (See: Ellipsis)

translationWords

Zion

shame

word of God

mourn

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.