Jer 9:17-20 | JFB | e4.org | 17. mourning women —hired to heighten lamentation by plaintive cries baring the breast, beating the arms, and suffering the hair to flow dishevelled ( ). cunning

‏ Jeremiah 9:17-20

17. mourning women—hired to heighten lamentation by plaintive cries baring the breast, beating the arms, and suffering the hair to flow dishevelled (2Ch 35:25; Ec 12:5; Mt 9:23).

cunning—skilled in wailing.

18. (Jer 14:17).

19. The cry of "the mourning women."

spoiled—laid waste.

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

20. Yet—rather, "Only" [HENDERSON]. This particle calls attention to what follows.

teach . . . daughters wailing—The deaths will be so many that there will be a lack of mourning women to bewail them. The mothers, therefore, must teach their daughters the science to supply the want.