2 Chronicles 35:25

35:25 Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah which all the male and female singers use to mourn Josiah to this very day. It has become customary in Israel to sing these; they are recorded in the Book of Laments.

Jeremiah 9:17-18

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.

Amos 5:16

5:16 Because of Israel’s sins ⁶  this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, ⁷  says:

“In all the squares there will be wailing,

in all the streets they will mourn the dead. ⁸ 

They will tell the field workers ⁹  to lament

and the professional mourners ¹⁰  to wail.

Matthew 11:17

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

we wailed in mourning, ¹²  yet you did not weep.’

Mark 5:38

5:38 They came to the house of the synagogue ruler where ¹³  he saw noisy confusion and people weeping and wailing loudly. ¹⁴ 

[9:17]  ¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[9:17]  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.

[9:17]  ³ tn Heb “Consider!”

[9:17]  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.

[9:18]  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.

[5:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “Therefore.” This logical connector relates back to the accusation of vv. 10-13, not to the parenthetical call to repentance in vv. 14-15. To indicate this clearly, the phrase “Because of Israel’s sins” is used in the translation.

[5:16]  ⁷ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[5:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “they will say, ‘Ah! Ah!’” The Hebrew term הוֹ (ho, “ah, woe”) is an alternate form of הוֹי (hoy), a word used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow. See 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5. This wordplay follows quickly, as v. 18 begins with הוֹי (“woe”).

[5:16]  ⁹ tn Or “farmers” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[5:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “those who know lamentation.”

[11:17]  ¹¹ 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.

[11:17]  ¹² tn The verb ἐθρηνήσαμεν (eqrhnhsamen) refers to the loud wailing and lamenting used to mourn the dead in public in 1st century Jewish culture.

[5:38]  ¹³ tn Grk “and,” though such paratactic structure is rather awkward in English.

[5:38]  ¹⁴ sn This group probably includes outside or even professional mourners, not just family, because a large group seems to be present.