Jeremiah 9:17-20

9:17 The Lord who rules over all ¹  told me to say to this people, ² 

“Take note of what I say. ³ 

Call for the women who mourn for the dead!

Summon those who are the most skilled at it!” ⁴ 

9:18 I said, “Indeed, ⁵  let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us.

Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyes

and our eyelids overflow with water.

9:19 For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion.

They will wail, ⁶  ‘We are utterly ruined! ⁷  We are completely disgraced!

For our houses have been torn down

and we must leave our land.’” ⁸ 

9:20 I said, ⁹ 

“So now, ¹⁰  you wailing women, hear what the Lord says. ¹¹ 

Open your ears to the words from his mouth.

Teach your daughters this mournful song,

and each of you teach your neighbor ¹²  this lament.

Matthew 9:23-24

9:23 When Jesus entered the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd, 9:24 he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but asleep.” And they began making fun of him. ¹³ 

Matthew 11:17

11:17 ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; ¹⁴ 

we wailed in mourning, ¹⁵  yet you did not weep.’

Luke 8:52-53

8:52 Now they were all ¹⁶  wailing and mourning ¹⁷  for her, but he said, “Stop your weeping; she is not dead but asleep.” 8:53 And they began making fun ¹⁸  of him, because they knew ¹⁹  that she was dead. ²⁰ 

Acts 9:39

9:39 So Peter got up and went with them, and ²¹  when he arrived ²²  they brought him to the upper room. All ²³  the widows stood beside him, crying and showing him ²⁴  the tunics ²⁵  and other clothing ²⁶  Dorcas used to make ²⁷  while she was with them.

¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

² tn Heb “Thus says Yahweh of armies.” However, without some addition it is not clear to whom the command is addressed. The words are supplied in the translation for clarity and to help resolve a rather confusing issue of who is speaking throughout vv. 16-21. As has been evident throughout the translation, the speaker is not always indicated. Sometimes it is not even clear who the speaker is. In general the translation and the notes have reflected the general consensus in identifying who it is. Here, however, there is a good deal of confusion about who is speaking in vv. 18, 20-21. The Greek translation has the Lord speaking throughout with second plural pronouns in vv. 18, 21 and the absence of the first line in v. 22. It would be hard to explain how the MT arose if it were the original text. Critical commentators such as J. Bright, W. Holladay, and W. McKane resolve the issue by dropping out the introductory formula in v. 17 and the first line of v. 22 and assigning the whole lament to Jeremiah. It seems obvious from the first plural pronouns and the content of v. 18 (and probably v. 21 as well) and the fact that the Lord is referred to in other than the first person in v. 20 that he is not the speaker of those verses. I have attempted to resolve the issue by having Jeremiah report the Lord’s command in v. 17 and have the rest of the speech be essentially that of Jeremiah. It should be admitted, however, that the issue is far from resolved. Most English versions simply ignore the problem. The GNB (= TEV) is a rare exception.

³ tn Heb “Consider!”

⁴ tn Heb “Call for the mourning women that they may come and send for the wise/skilled women that they may come.” The verbs here are masculine plural, addressed to the people.

⁵ tn The words “And I said, ‘Indeed” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to try and help clarify who the speaker is who identifies with the lament of the people.

⁶ tn The words “They will wail” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to make clear that this is the wailing that will be heard.

⁷ tn Heb “How we are ruined!”

⁸ tn The order of these two lines has been reversed for English stylistic reasons. The text reads in Hebrew “because we have left our land because they have thrown down our dwellings.” The two clauses offer parallel reasons for the cries “How ruined we are! [How] we are greatly disgraced!” But the first line must contain a prophetic perfect (because the lament comes from Jerusalem) and the second a perfect referring to a destruction that is itself future. This seems the only way to render the verse that would not be misleading.

⁹ tn The words “I said” are not in the text. The text merely has “Indeed, yes.” The words are supplied in the translation to indicate that the speaker is still Jeremiah though he now is not talking about the mourning woman but is talking to them. See the notes on 9:17-18 for further explanation.

¹⁰ tn It is a little difficult to explain how the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is functioning here. W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:311) may be correct in seeing it as introducing the contents of what those who call for the mourning women are to say. In this case, Jeremiah picks up the task as representative of the people.

¹¹ tn Heb “Listen to the word of the Lord.”

¹² tn Heb “Teach…mournful song, and each woman her neighbor lady…”

¹³ tn Grk “They were laughing at him.” The imperfect verb has been taken ingressively.

¹⁴ sn ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance…’ The children of this generation were making the complaint (see vv. 18-19) that others were not playing the game according to the way they played the music. John and Jesus did not follow “their tune.” Jesus’ complaint was that this generation wanted things their way, not God’s.

¹⁵ tn The verb ἐθρηνήσαμεν (eqrhnhsamen) refers to the loud wailing and lamenting used to mourn the dead in public in 1st century Jewish culture.

¹⁶ sn This group probably includes outside or even professional mourners, not just family, because a large group seems to be present.

¹⁷ tn Grk “beating the breasts” (in mourning); see L&N 52.1.

¹⁸ tn This imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

¹⁹ tn The participle εἰδότες (eidotes) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.

²⁰ tn Or “had died.”

²¹ tn Grk “who.” The relative clause makes for awkward English style here, so the following clause was made coordinate with the conjunction “and” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun.

²² tn The participle παραγενόμενον (paragenomenon) is taken temporally.

²³ tn Grk “and all.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

²⁴ tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

²⁵ tn Or “shirts” (a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin). The name for this garment (χιτών, citwn) presents some difficulty in translation. Most modern readers would not understand what a ‘tunic’ was any more than they would be familiar with a ‘chiton.’ On the other hand attempts to find a modern equivalent are also a problem: “shirt” conveys the idea of a much shorter garment that covers only the upper body, and “undergarment” (given the styles of modern underwear) is more misleading still. “Tunic” was therefore employed, but with a note to explain its nature.

²⁶ tn Grk “and garments,” referring here to other types of clothing besides the tunics just mentioned.

²⁷ tn The verb ἐποίει (epoiei) has been translated as a customary imperfect.