Jeremiah 9:1
New International Version
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.

New Living Translation
If only my head were a pool of water and my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night for all my people who have been slaughtered.

English Standard Version
Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

Berean Standard Bible
Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.

King James Bible
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

New King James Version
Oh, that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!

New American Standard Bible
Oh, that my head were waters And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For those slain of the daughter of my people!

NASB 1995
Oh that my head were waters And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!

NASB 1977
Oh, that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!

Legacy Standard Bible
Oh that my head were waters And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!

Amplified Bible
Oh that my head were waters And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!

Christian Standard Bible
If my head were a flowing spring, my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night over the slain of my dear people.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
If my head were a spring of water, my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night over the slain of my dear people.

American Standard Version
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
But who gave my head waters and my eyes a fountain of tears? Moreover I have wept by day and by night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? then would I weep for this my people day and night, even for the slain of the daughter of my people.

Contemporary English Version
I wish that my eyes were fountains of tears, so I could cry day and night for my people who were killed.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? and I will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.

English Revised Version
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"I wish that my head were [filled with] water and my eyes were a fountain of tears so that I could cry day and night for my dear people who have been killed.

Good News Translation
I wish my head were a well of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I could cry day and night for my people who have been killed.

International Standard Version
"Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, for then I would cry day and night for those of my people who have been killed.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Oh that my head were waters, And mine eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!

Literal Standard Version
Who makes my head waters, | And my eye a fountain of tears? And I weep by day and by night, | For the wounded of the daughter of my people.

Majority Standard Bible
Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.

New American Bible
Oh, that my head were a spring of water, my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night over the slain from the daughter of my people!

NET Bible
I wish that my head were a well full of water and my eyes were a fountain full of tears! If they were, I could cry day and night for those of my dear people who have been killed.

New Revised Standard Version
O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!

New Heart English Bible
Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.

Webster's Bible Translation
Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

World English Bible
Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

Young's Literal Translation
Who doth make my head waters, And mine eye a fountain of tears? And I weep by day and by night, For the wounded of the daughter of my people.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
A Lament over Zion
1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people. 2If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people.…

Cross References
Psalm 119:136
My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.

Isaiah 22:4
Therefore I said, "Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people."

Jeremiah 4:19
My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.

Jeremiah 6:26
O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

Jeremiah 8:18
My sorrow is beyond healing; my heart is faint within me.

Jeremiah 8:21
For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am crushed. I mourn; horror has gripped me.

Jeremiah 8:22
Is there no balm in Gilead? Is no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?


Treasury of Scripture

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

O that.

Jeremiah 4:19
My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

Jeremiah 13:17
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD'S flock is carried away captive.

Jeremiah 14:17
Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.

weep.

Psalm 42:3
My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

the daughter.

Jeremiah 6:26
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.

Jeremiah 8:21,22
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me…

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Jeremiah 9
1. Jeremiah laments the people for their manifold sins;
9. and for their judgment.
12. Disobedience is the cause of their bitter calamity.
17. He exhorts to mourn for their destruction;
23. and to trust not in themselves, but in God.
25. He threatens both Jews and Gentiles.














IX.

(1) Oh, that my head were waters . . .!--Literally, Who will give my head waters . . .? The form of a question was, in Hebrew idiom as in Latin, the natural utterance of desire. In the Hebrew text this verse comes as the last in Jeremiah 8. It is, of course, very closely connected with what precedes; but, on the other hand, it is even more closely connected with what follows. Strictly speaking, there ought to be no break at all, and the discourse should flow on continuously.

A fountain.--Here, as in Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 17:13, and elsewhere, the Hebrew word makor is a tank or reservoir rather than a spring.

Verse 1. - The Hebrew more correctly attaches this verse to Jeremiah 8. Oh that my head were waters, etc.! A quaint conceit, it may be said. But "if we have been going on pace for pace with the passion before, this sudden conversion of a strong-felt metaphor into something to be actually realized in nature, is strictly and strikingly natural." So Bishop Dearie, quoting, by way of illustration, Shakespeare's 'Richard II.,' "meditating on his own utter annihilation as to royalty:"

"Oh that I were a mockery king of snow,
To melt before the sun of Bolingbroke!"
The tone of complaint continues in the following verse, though the subject is different.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Oh, that
יִתֵּ֤ן (yit·tên)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

my head
רֹאשִׁי֙ (rō·šî)
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 7218: The head

were a spring of water,
מַ֔יִם (ma·yim)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4325: Water, juice, urine, semen

and my eyes
וְעֵינִ֖י (wə·‘ê·nî)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - common singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 5869: An eye, a fountain

a fountain
מְק֣וֹר (mə·qō·wr)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4726: Something dug, a, source, of happiness, wisdom, progeny)

of tears,
דִּמְעָ֑ה (dim·‘āh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 1832: Tears (of one weeping)

I would weep
וְאֶבְכֶּה֙ (wə·’eḇ·keh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect Cohortative if contextual - first person common singular
Strong's 1058: To weep, to bemoan

day
יוֹמָ֣ם (yō·w·mām)
Adverb
Strong's 3119: Daytime, by day

and night
וָלַ֔יְלָה (wā·lay·lāh)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3915: A twist, night, adversity

over the slain
חַֽלְלֵ֥י (ḥal·lê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 2491: Pierced, polluted

daughter
בַת־ (ḇaṯ-)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 1323: A daughter

of my people.
עַמִּֽי׃ (‘am·mî)
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 9:1 Oh that my head were waters (Jer.)
Jeremiah 8:22
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