Jeremiah 15:9 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 15:9
She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
to bear young · verb, qal active participle, feminine singular construct
seven
הַשִּׁבְעָ֗הha.shiv.'Ah
H7651
seven (as the sacred full one) · definite article + cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
languisheth
אֻמְלְלָ֞ה'um.le.Lah
H535
to droop · verb, pual perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
up
נָפְחָ֥הna.fe.Chah
H5301
to puff · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
ghost
נַפְשָׁ֛הּnaf.Shah
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
sun
שִׁמְשָׁ֛הּshim.Shah
H8121
the sun · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
gone
בָּ֥אba.'ah'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
day
יוֹמָ֖םyo.Mam
H3119
daily · adverb
ashamed
בּ֣וֹשָׁהBo.o.shah
H954
properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
confounded
וְחָפֵ֑רָהve.cha.Fe.rah
H2659
to blush · conjunction + verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
residue
וּשְׁאֵֽרִיתָ֗םu.she.'e.ri.Tam
H7611
a remainder or residual (surviving · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
deliver
אֶתֵּ֛ן'e.Ten
H5414
to give · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
sword
לַחֶ֧רֶבla.Che.rev
H2719
drought · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
before
לִפְנֵ֥יlif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
enemies
אֹיְבֵיהֶ֖ם'o.ye.vei.Hem
H341
hating · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
saith
נְאֻםne.'um-
H5002
an oracle · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 2:5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that…
Isaiah 47:9 But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perf…
Lamentations 1:1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess am…
Amos 8:9-10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the…
Jeremiah 15:2-3 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for…
Jeremiah 21:7 And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city fr…
Jeremiah 44:27 Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the s…
Lamentations 4:10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 15:1-9
We scarcely find any where more pathetic expressions of divine wrath against a provoking people than we have here in these verses. The prophet had prayed earnestly for them, and found some among them to join with him; and yet not so much as a reprieve was gained, nor the least mitigation of the judgment; but this answer is given to the prophet's prayers, that the decree had gone forth, was irreversible, and would shortly be executed. Observe here,
I. What the sin was upon which this severe sentence was grounded. 1. It is in remembrance of a former iniquity; it is because of Manasseh, for that which he did in Jerusalem, Jer 15:4. What that was we are told, and that it was for it that Jerusale…
borne seven-- (Sa1 2:5). Seven being the perfect number indicates full fruitfulness.
languisheth--because not even one is left of all her sons (Jer 15:8).
sun is gone down while . . . yet day--Fortune deserts her at the very height of her prosperity (Amo 8:9).
she . . . ashamed--The mothers (she being collective) are put to the shame of disappointed hopes through the loss of all their children.
John Gill on Jeremiah 15:9
She that hath borne seven languisheth,.... Either the mother that has borne many children, seven being put for a large number, now being able to bear no more, and being bereaved of what she had, and who were her staff and support, and from whom she had her expectation, faints away, and dies through grief and trouble; or Jerusalem, which formerly abounded with young men, is now in a forlorn and destitute state; her children, the inhabitants of it, being slain with the sword, or dying of famine and the pestilence. In the Talmud (i), this is interpreted of seven wicked kings of Israel, as Jeroboam, Baasha, Ahab, Jehu, Pekah, Menahem, and Hoshea; and elsewhere of seven kings of Judah, thus recko…
The Scriptures prophesied that at noon in Christ's passion there should be darkness. In Amos it says, "And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, the sun shall set at noon, and the day of light shall be darkened. I will turn your feast days into grief and all your songs into lamentation." Also in Jeremiah: "She is frightened that has borne children, and her soul has grown weary. Her sun has gone down while as yet it was noon. She has been confounded and accursed. I will give the rest of them to the sword in the sight of their enemies." Also in the Gospel: "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth even to the ninth hour."
What more can now be said respecting the crime of the Jews, than that they were then blinded and seized with incurable madness, who read these things daily and yet neither understood them nor were able to be on their guard so as not to do them? Therefore, being lifted up and nailed to the cross, Jesus cried to the Lord with a loud voice and of his own accord gave up his spirit. At the same hour there was an earthquake. The veil of the temple, which separated the two tabernacles, was torn into two parts. The sun suddenly withdrew its light, and there was darkness from the sixth even to the ninth hour. Of this event the prophet Amos testifies, "And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord that the sun shall go down at noon, and the daylight shall be darkened. I will turn your feasts into mourning and your songs into lamentation." Also Jeremiah: "She who brings forth is afraid and vexed in spirit. Her sun is gone down while it was yet noon. She has been ashamed and confounded. The residue of them will I give to the sword in the sight of their enemies."
"In that day, saith the Lord, the sun shall go down at noon, and there shall be darkness over the earth in the clear day; and I will turn your feast days into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation," plainly announced that obscuration of the sun which at the time of His crucifixion took place from the sixth hour onwards, and that after this event, those days which were their festivals according to the law, and their songs, should be changed into grief and lamentation when they were handed over to the Gentiles. Jeremiah, too, makes this point still clearer, when he thus speaks concerning Jerusalem: "She that hath born [seven] languisheth; her soul hath become weary; her sun hath gone down while it was yet noon; she hath been confounded, and suffered reproach: the remainder of them will I give to the sword in the sight of their enemies." Those of them, again, who spoke of His having slumbered and taken sleep, and of His having risen again because the Lord sustained Him, and who enjoined the principalities of heaven to set open the everlasting doors, that the King of glory might go in, proclaimed beforehand His resurrection from the dead through the Father's power, and His reception into heaven.
Dictionary and topics
Eclipse Of The Sun — No historical notice of an eclipse occurs in the Bible, but there are passages in the prophets which contain manifest allusion to this phenomenon. (Joel 2:10,31; 3:15; Amos 8:9; Micah 3:6; Zechariah…
Ghost — An old Saxon word equivalent to soul or spirit. It is the translation of the Hebrew nephesh_ and the Greek _pneuma, both meaning “breath,” “life,” “spirit,” the “living principle” (Job 11:20; Jer.…
Sun · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Sun, The · Illustrative: (Going down at noon,) of premature destruction — Illustrative: (Going down at noon,) of premature destruction
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Jeremiah 15:9
9. She that hath born seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
9. Debilitata est quae peperit septem, et expiravit anima ejus (alii vetrunt, afflicta fuit, sed nphh significat sufflare; viderut autem hic metaphorice poni pro expirare: expiravit ergo anima ejus;) ingressus est sol ejus (hoc est, occidit sol) in adhuc die (id est, cum adhuc esset dies;) confusa est et erubuit: et reliquias ipsorum gladio dabo (ad gladium exportam) coram inimicis ipsorum, dicit Jehova.
He proceeds with his narrative; he…
In Jer 15:5-9 we have a still further account of this appalling judgment and its causes. The grounding כּי in Jer 15:5 attaches to the central thought of Jer 15:4. The sinful people will be given up to all the kingdoms of the earth to be ill used, for no one will or can have compassion on Jerusalem, since its rejection by God is a just punishment for its rejection of the Lord (Jer 15:6). "Have pity" and "bemoan" denote loving sympathy for the fall of the unfortunate. חמל, to feel sympathy; נוּד, to lament and bemoan. סוּר, to swerve from the straight way, and turn aside or enter into any one's house; cf. Gen 19:2., Exo 3:3, etc. ל שׁאל לשׁלום, to inquire of one as to his health, cf. Exo 18:7…
She who bore seven Samaria and the nation of the Ten Tribes, from whom rose seven dynasties of wicked kings, has already been cut off and exiled.
and their remnant These are Judah and part of Benjamin, who remained in Israel. I shall deliver them to the sword. These are the seven dynasties: Jeroboam son of Nebat and his dynasty, Baasha and his dynasty, Omri and his dynasty, Jehu and his dynasty, Menahem and his dynasty, Pekah and his dynasty, Hoshea and his dynasty.
her soul grieves an expression of ‘her soul grieves.’ We translate (Deut. 28:65) “And grieving of the soul (וְדַאֲבוֹן נֶפֶֹש)” as וּמַפְּחַן נְפָֹש.
when it is still day Before its time, they hastened to fall. In this manner…