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Selected Verse: Jeremiah 9:17 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Jer 9:17	King James	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:

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
mourning women--hired to heighten lamentation by plaintive cries baring the breast, beating the arms, and suffering the hair to flow dishevelled (Ch2 35:25; Ecc 12:5; Mat 9:23). cunning--skilled in wailing.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

mourning women--hired to heighten lamentation by plaintive cries baring the breast, beating the arms, and suffering the hair to flow dishevelled (Ch2 35:25; Ecc 12:5; Mat 9:23).

cunning--skilled in wailing.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Women - Who were hired to tear their hair, and beat their breasts, with other mourning postures, a foolish custom which has obtained in most ages and countries. Cunning - Such as are most skilful in it.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Call for the mourning women - Those whose office it was to make lamentations at funerals, and to bewail the dead, for which they received pay. This custom continues to the present in Asiatic countries. In Ireland this custom also prevails, which no doubt their ancestors brought from the east. I have often witnessed it, and have given a specimen of this elsewhere. See the note on Mat 9:23. The first lamentations for the dead consisted only in the sudden bursts of inexpressible grief, like that of David over his son Absalom, Sa2 19:4. But as men grew refined, it was not deemed sufficient for the surviving relatives to vent their sorrows in these natural, artless expressions of wo, but they endeavored to join others as partners in their sorrows. This gave rise to the custom of hiring persons to weep at funerals, which the Phrygians and Greeks borrowed from the Hebrews. Women were generally employed on these occasions, because the tender passions being predominant in this sex, they succeeded better in their parts; and there were never wanting persons who would let out their services to hire on such occasions. Their lamentations were sung to the pipe as we learn from Mat 9:23. See the funeral ceremonies practiced at the burial of Hector, as described by Homer: - Οἱ δ' επει εισαγαγον κλυτα δωματα, τον μεν επειτα Τρητοις εν λεχεεσσι θεσαν, παρα δ' εἱσαν αοιδους, Θρηνων εξαρχους, οἱ τε στονοεσσαν αοιδην Οἱ μεν αρ' εθρηνεον, επι δε στεναχοντο γυναικες. Il. lib. 24., ver. 719. "Arrived within the royal house, they stretched The breathless Hector on a sumptuous bed, And singers placed beside him, who should chant The strain funereal; they with many a groan The dirge began; and still at every close The female train with many a groan replied." Cowper. St. Jerome tells us that even to his time this custom continued in Judea; that women at funerals, with dishevelled hair and naked breasts, endeavored in a modulated voice to invite others to lament with them. The poem before us, from the seventeenth to the twenty-second verse, is both an illustration and confirmation of what has been delivered on this subject, and worthy of the reader's frequent perusal, on account of its affecting pathos, moral sentiments, and fine images, particularly in the twenty-first verse, where death is described in as animated a prosopopoeia as can be conceived. See Lototh's twenty-second Prelection, and Dodd. The nineteenth verse is supposed to be the funeral song of the women. "How are we spoiled! We are greatly confounded! For we have forsaken the land; Because they have destroyed our dwellings."

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

Call for the mourning women - Those whose office it was to make lamentations at funerals, and to bewail the dead, for which they received pay. This custom continues to the present in Asiatic countries. In Ireland this custom also prevails, which no doubt their ancestors brought from the east. I have often witnessed it, and have given a specimen of this elsewhere. See the note on Mat 9:23. The first lamentations for the dead consisted only in the sudden bursts of inexpressible grief, like that of David over his son Absalom, Sa2 19:4. But as men grew refined, it was not deemed sufficient for the surviving relatives to vent their sorrows in these natural, artless expressions of wo, but they endeavored to join others as partners in their sorrows. This gave rise to the custom of hiring persons to weep at funerals, which the Phrygians and Greeks borrowed from the Hebrews. Women were generally employed on these occasions, because the tender passions being predominant in this sex, they succeeded better in their parts; and there were never wanting persons who would let out their services to hire on such occasions. Their lamentations were sung to the pipe as we learn from Mat 9:23. See the funeral ceremonies practiced at the burial of Hector, as described by Homer: -

Οἱ δ' επει εισαγαγον κλυτα δωματα, τον μεν επειτα

Τρητοις εν λεχεεσσι θεσαν, παρα δ' εἱσαν αοιδους,

Θρηνων εξαρχους, οἱ τε στονοεσσαν αοιδην

Οἱ μεν αρ' εθρηνεον, επι δε στεναχοντο γυναικες.

Il. lib. 24., ver. 719.

"Arrived within the royal house, they stretched

The breathless Hector on a sumptuous bed,

And singers placed beside him, who should chant

The strain funereal; they with many a groan

The dirge began; and still at every close

The female train with many a groan replied."

Cowper.

St. Jerome tells us that even to his time this custom continued in Judea; that women at funerals, with dishevelled hair and naked breasts, endeavored in a modulated voice to invite others to lament with them. The poem before us, from the seventeenth to the twenty-second verse, is both an illustration and confirmation of what has been delivered on this subject, and worthy of the reader's frequent perusal, on account of its affecting pathos, moral sentiments, and fine images, particularly in the twenty-first verse, where death is described in as animated a prosopopoeia as can be conceived. See Lototh's twenty-second Prelection, and Dodd. The nineteenth verse is supposed to be the funeral song of the women.

"How are we spoiled!

We are greatly confounded!

For we have forsaken the land;

Because they have destroyed our dwellings."

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²³ And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,

⁵ Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

²⁵ And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.

²³ And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,

⁴ But the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!

²³ And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,