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.
Study Note
Study Note
The anguished cry 'my bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace' represents one of the most visceral laments in all prophetic literature, blurring the boundary between the prophet's personal anguish and God's own pain over Judah's destruction. The Hebrew 'me'ay me'ay' (my innards, my innards) represents the seat of deep emotion in Hebrew anthropology, a usage parallel to 'compassion' (from Latin 'compassio,' Hebrew 'rahamim,' 'womb-love'). Scholars debate whether the speaker is Jeremiah, personified Zion, or God — and the ambiguity may be intentional, suggesting a divine-prophet solidarity in grief over the coming catastrophe. Kathleen O'Connor's work on Jeremiah's 'theology of disaster' has highlighted these confessions as resources for communal trauma processing.
Other Translations
My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
My bowels, my bowels! I am pained <FI>at<Fi> the walls of my heart, Make a noise for me doth My heart, I am not silent, For the voice of a trumpet I have heard, O my soul--a shout of battle!
My soul, my soul! I am pained to my inmost heart; my heart is troubled in me; I am not able to be quiet, because the sound of the horn, the note of war, has come to my ears.
Cross References
My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for …
Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir–haresh.
Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that …
Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling …
Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, …
How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night …
For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, …
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye …
Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let …