Jeremiah 9:19

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

They will wail, ¹  ‘We are utterly ruined! ²  We are completely disgraced!

For our houses have been torn down

and we must leave our land.’” ³ 

Jeremiah 52:3

52:3 What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger when he drove them out of his sight. ⁴  Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

[9:19]  ¹ 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.

[9:19]  ² tn Heb “How we are ruined!”

[9:19]  ³ 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.

[52:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “Surely (or “for”) because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until he drove them out from upon his face.” For the phrase “drive out of his sight,” see 7:15.