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

‏ 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. (Jr 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.