Jeremiah 9:1

Jeremiah 9:1 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
• New International Version (NIV)Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
• New King James Version (NKJV)Oh, that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!

Context of Jeremiah 9:1

Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people. 2If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people. 3“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 9:1 word by word

מִֽי־יִתֵּ֤ן רֹאשִׁי֙ מַ֔יִם וְעֵינִ֖י מְק֣וֹר דִּמְעָ֑ה וְאֶבְכֶּה֙ יוֹמָ֣ם וָלַ֔יְלָה אֵ֖ת חַֽלְלֵ֥י בַת־עַמִּֽי׃Read the interlinear

• ·מִיmîy · who?H4310
• Oh, thatנָתַןnâthan · to give: giveH5414
• my headרֹאשׁrô'sh · headH7218
• were a spring of waterמַיmayim · waterH4325
• and my eyesעַ֫יִן‛ayin · eyeH5869
• a fountainמָקוֹרmâqôr mâqôr · fountainH4726
• of tearsדִּמְעָהdim‛âh · tearsH1832
• I would weepבָּכָהbâkâh · to weepH1058
• dayיוֹמָםyômâm · by dayH3119
• and nightלַ֫יְלָהlayil lêyl layelâh · nightH3915
• ·אֵת'êth · [Obj.]H853
• over the slainחָלָלchâlâl · slain: killedH2491
• daughterבַּתbath · daughterH1323
• of my peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971

Cross-references for Jeremiah 9:1

• Jeremiah 4:19My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.
• Jeremiah 13:17But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
• Jeremiah 14:17You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow, a severely grievous wound.
• Psalms 119:136My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.
• Isaiah 16:9So I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest.
• Isaiah 22:4Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
• Lamentations 2:11My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
• Lamentations 3:48Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
• Ezekiel 21:6But you, son of man, groan! Groan before their eyes with a broken heart and bitter grief.
• Psalms 42:3My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”
• Jeremiah 6:26O 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.
• Jeremiah 8:21For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am crushed. I mourn; horror has gripped me.

Commentaries on Jeremiah 9:1

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 1O that my head were waters - מים ראשי יתן מי mi yitten roshi mayim, "who will give to my head waters?" My mourning for the sins and desolations of my people has already exhausted the source of tears: I wish to have a fountain opened there, that I may weep day and night for the slain of my people. This has been the sorrowful language of many a pastor who has preached long to a hardened, rebellious people, to little or no effect. This verse belongs to the…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1This verse is joined in the Hebrew to the preceding chapter. But any break at all here interrupts the meaning. A fountain - Rather, “a reservoir,” in which tears had been stored up, so that the prophet might weep abundantly.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 1The people are corrected, Jerusalem is destroyed. (Jr 9:1-11) The captives suffer in a foreign land. (Jr 9:12-22) God's loving-kindness, He threatens the enemies of his people. (Jr 9:23-26) Verses 1-11 Jeremiah wept much, yet wished he could weep more, that he might rouse the people to a due sense of the hand of God. But even the desert, without communion with God, through Christ Jesus, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, must be a place for temptation…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-26The priests in the Temple memorized and repeated prayers as part of their rituals. They believed using the exact words was crucial; otherwise, the prayers lost their magical power. The character of the priests saying the prayers was not very important. This was also true for lamentations. In contrast, Jeremiah's prayers and lamentations were spontaneous and deeply personal.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-261. This verse is more fitly joined to the last chapter, as verse 23 in the Hebrew (compare Is 22:4; La 2:11; 3:48).Read the comment

Topics related to Jeremiah 9:1

• Church
• Jeremiah
• Patriotism
• Weeping
• Wicked (People)
• Zeal, Religious

In the dictionaries

• Day and Night
• Adulterer
• Arrow
• Desolate
• Heaven
• Perish
• Teach
• Wait
• Burial
• Covenant, the New

Commentaries on Jeremiah 9

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings