Jeremiah 6:26
◄  Jeremiah 6:26  ►
New International Version (©2011)
Put on sackcloth, my people, and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

New Living Translation (©2007)
Oh, my people, dress yourselves in burlap and sit among the ashes. Mourn and weep bitterly, as for the loss of an only son. For suddenly the destroying armies will be upon you!

English Standard Version (©2001)
O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth And roll in ashes; Mourn as for an only son, A lamentation most bitter. For suddenly the destroyer Will come upon us.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
My dear people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in the dust. Mourn as you would for an only son, a bitter lament, for suddenly the destroyer will come on us.

International Standard Version (©2012)
Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as one mourns at the death of an only son. For the destroyer will come on us suddenly.

NET Bible (©2006)
So I said, "Oh, my dear people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with painful sobs as though you had lost your only child. For any moment now that destructive army will come against us."

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Wear sackcloth, and roll around in ashes, my people. Mourn as if you have lost your only child, and cry bitterly. The destroyer will suddenly attack us.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
O daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth, and roll yourself about in ashes: make yourself mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

American King James Version
O daughter of my people, gird you with sackcloth, and wallow yourself in ashes: make you mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come on us.

American Standard Version
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Gird thee with sackcloth, O daughter of my people, and sprinkle thee with ashes: make thee mourning as for an only son, a bitter lamentation, because the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.

Darby Bible Translation
Daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and roll thyself in ashes: make mourning, as for an only son bitter lamentation; for the spoiler cometh suddenly upon us.

English Revised Version
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

Webster's Bible Translation
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

World English Bible
Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come on us.

Young's Literal Translation
O daughter of My people, Gird on sackcloth, and roll thyself in ashes, The mourning of an only one make for thee, A lamentation most bitter, For suddenly come doth the spoiler against us.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:18-30 God rejects their outward services, as worthless to atone for their sins. Sacrifice and incense were to direct them to a Mediator; but when offered to purchase a license to go on in sin, they provoke God. The sins of God's professing people make them an easy prey to their enemies. They dare not show themselves. Saints may rejoice in hope of God's mercies, though they see them only in the promise: sinners must mourn for fear of God's judgments, though they see them only in the threatenings. They are the worst of revolters, and are all corrupters. Sinners soon become tempters. They are compared to ore supposed to have good metal in it, but which proves all dross. Nothing will prevail to part between them and their sins. Reprobate silver shall they be called, useless and worthless. When warnings, corrections, rebukes, and all means of grace, leave men unrenewed, they will be left, as rejected of God, to everlasting misery. Let us pray, then, that we may be refined by the Lord, as silver is refined.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 26. - Wallow thyself in ashes; rather, sprinkle thyself with ashes, a sign of mourning (2 Samuel 13:19; so Micah 1:10). Mourning, as for an only son. The Septuagint renders πένθος ἀγαπητοῦ (comp. Genesis 22:2, where in like manner the Septuagint renders, not "thine only son," but "thy beloved son"). Possibly this was to avoid a supposition which might have occurred to some readers (it has, in fact, occurred to several modern critics) that the "only son" was Adonis, who was certainly "mourned for" by some of the Israelites under the name of Thammuz (Ezekiel 8:14), and whose Phoenician name is given by Philo of Byblus as Ἰεούδ (i.e. probably Yakhidh, only begotten, the word used by Jeremiah; comp. Βηρούθ, equivalent to Berith). M. Renan found a vestige of the ancient festival of Adonis at Djebeil (the Phoenician Gebal) even at the present day. There would be nothing singular in the adoption of a common popular phrase by the prophet, in spite of its reference to a heathen custom (comp. Job 3:8), and the view in question gives additional force to the passage. But the ordinary explanation is perfectly tenable and more obvious. The phrase, "mourning [or, 'lamentation'] for an only begotten one," occurs again in Amos 8:10; Zechariah 12:10. In the last-mentioned passage it is parallel with "bitter weeping for a firstborn."

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth,.... Either as a token of repentance for sin; so the king of Nineveh and his subjects did, to show their repentance, Jonah 3:6 or as a sign of mourning, for the calamities coming on them, Genesis 37:34.

and wallow thyself in ashes; or roll thyself in them, as a token of the same. The Targum is,

"cover your heads with ashes.''

Make thee mourning as for an only son; which of all is the most bitter: and therefore it is added,

most bitter lamentation; see Zechariah 12:10.

For the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us; namely, Nebuchadnezzar, that would spoil their cities, towns, villages, and houses, and them of all their wealth and substance, and carry it away.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

26. wallow … in ashes—(Jer 25:34; Mic 1:10). As they usually in mourning only "cast ashes on the head," wallowing in them means something more, namely, so entirely to cover one's self with ashes as to be like one who had rolled in them (Eze 27:30).

as for an only son—(Am 8:10; Zec 12:10).

lamentation—literally, "lamentation expressed by beating the breast."

Jeremiah 6:26 Parallel Commentaries

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Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


An Invasion from the North
…25Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side. 26O daughter of my people, gird you with sackcloth, and wallow yourself in ashes: make you mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come on us. 27I have set you for a tower and a fortress among my people, that you may know and try their way. …

Genesis 21:16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, "I cannot watch the boy die." And as she sat there, she began to sob.
Job 2:8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
Jeremiah 4:8 So put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.
Jeremiah 9:1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.
Jeremiah 18:22 Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring invaders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.
Jeremiah 25:34 Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For your time to be slaughtered has come; you will fall like the best of the rams.
Lamentations 3:16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.
Ezekiel 27:30 They will raise their voice and cry bitterly over you; they will sprinkle dust on their heads and roll in ashes.
Amos 8:10 I will turn your religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
Jonah 3:6 When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.
Micah 1:10 Tell it not in Gath; weep not at all. In Beth Ophrah roll in the dust.
Zechariah 12:10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.