to give · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
head
רֹאשִׁי֙ro.Shi
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
waters
מַ֔יִםMa.yim
H4325
water · noun, common masculine plural absolute
eyes
וְעֵינִ֖יve.'ei.Ni
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
fountain
מְק֣וֹרme.Kor
H4726
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
tears
דִּמְעָ֑הdim.'Ah
H1832
weeping · noun, common feminine singular absolute
weep
וְאֶבְכֶּה֙ve.'ev.Keh
H1058
to weep · conjunction + verb, qal, 1st person common singular
day
יוֹמָ֣םyo.Mam
H3119
daily · adverb
night
וָלַ֔יְלָהva.Lay.lah
H3915
properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
slain
חַֽלְלֵ֥יcha.Lei
H2491
pierced (especially to death) · adjective, masculine plural construct
daughter
בַתvat-
H1323
a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms… · noun, common feminine singular construct
people
עַמִּֽי'a.Mi
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
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
Jeremiah 13:17 But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, becau…
Isaiah 22:4 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.
Jeremiah 8:21-22 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
Lamentations 2:11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; b…
Jeremiah 6:26 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentat…
Psalms 42:3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
Psalms 119:136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.
Isaiah 16:9 Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shout…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 9:1-11
The prophet, being commissioned both to foretel the destruction coming upon Judah and Jerusalem and to point out the sin for which that destruction was brought upon them, here, as elsewhere, speaks of both very feelingly: what he said of both came from the heart, and therefore one would have thought it would reach to the heart.
I. He abandons himself to sorrow in consideration of the calamitous condition of his people, which he sadly laments, a one that preferred Jerusalem before his chief joy and her grievances before his chief sorrows.
1. He laments the slaughter of the persons, the blood shed and the lives lost (Jer 9:1): "O that my head were waters, quite melted and dissolved with grief,…
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears,.... Or, "who will give to my head water, and to mine eyes a fountain of tears?" as the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions. The prophet wishes that his head was turned and dissolved into water, and that tears might flow from his eyes as water issues out from a fountain; and he suggests, that could this be, it would not be sufficient to deplore the miserable estate of his people, and to express the inward grief and sorrow of his mind on account of it.
That I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people; the design of all this is to set forth the greatness and horribleness of the destruction, sig…
Jeremiah 9:1
1. 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!
1. Quis ponet caput meum aquas, et oculum meum fontem lachrymarum? et deflebo die et nocte (hoc est, dies et noctes) interfectos filiae populi mei.
He follows the same subject. During times of tranquillity, when nothing but joyful voices were heard among the Jews, he bewails, as one in the greatest grief, the miseries of the people; and being not satisfied with this, he says, Who will set, or make, my head waters, and my eye a fountain of tears? He intimates by these words, that the ruin would be so dreadful that it could not be bewai…
The Church Fathers
What should we do? Let us allow a spring of tears to flow every day, day and night. Let us, too, say with the weeping Jeremiah, the great prophet, "Who will give some water to my head, and a spring of tears to my eyes? I would weep for my sins day and night." Let us first of all confess our sins before this.… which is full of terror and trembling tears. Let us invoke the goodness and mercy of our God, while we are in this exile of tears, before death overtakes us.
(Chapter IX — Verse 1) Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, so that I may weep day and night for the slain daughters of my people? If I could only be turned into weeping, and tears were to flow abundantly like a river, still I would not be able to weep worthy tears for the slain daughters of my people. For their affliction is so great that it surpasses all sorrow. And this can be understood both from the perspective of the Prophet and of the Lord.
You exclaim, "How fitting it was for Jeremiah, with the chorus of the prophets and all the saints, to cry out, 'Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes,' that he might bewail the sins of the foolish people, because the church of Christ expelled the teachers of the Pelagian error." If you wish to weep wholesomely, weep for this, that you are involved in that error, and let your tears wash you clean of the new plague. Are you ignorant, or have you forgotten or do you wish not to know that the holy, the one, the Catholic church was also signified by the word Paradise?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Judgments · Saints: Sympathise with those under — Saints: Sympathise with those under
Patriotism · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Prophets · Felt deeply on account of the calamities which they predicted — Felt deeply on account of the calamities which they predicted
Weeping · For others — For others
Zeal, Religious · EXEMPLIFIE — EXEMPLIFIE
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).
Jer 9:1. "Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfarers! then would I leave my people, and go away from them. For they be all adulterers, a crew of faithless ones. Jer 9:2. They bend their tongue like their bow with lying; and not according to faithfulness do they manage in the land, but go on from evil to evil, and me they know not, saith Jahve. Jer 9:3. Beware each of his neighbour, and trust not in any brother; for every brother supplanteth, and every friend goeth slandering. Jer 9:4. And one overreaCheth the other, and truth they speak not; they teach their tongue to speak lies, to deal perversely they weary themselves. Jer 9:5. Thy dwelling is in the midst of deceit; in d…
