Jeremiah 9:18

Let them, he says, take up for us a wailing, and let our eyes come down to tears, and let our eyelids flow down into waters These are hyperbolical words, and yet they do not exceed the intensehess of the coming vengeance: for it was not in vain that he said at the begSnning of the chapter, “Who will make my head waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears?” As then the greatness of the calamity could be expressed by no words, the Prophet was constrained to adopt these hyperbolical expressions: Let them then take up for us a wailing, that our eyes may come down to tears: and this he said, because he saw that he was heard with dry eyes, and that the people disregarded what had been denounced:, when yet all ought to have been smitten with fear, from the least to the greatest. As then the Prophet saw that their contempt was so brutal, he says, that when lainenters came, there would then be the time for wailing, not indeed the seasonable time; but it is the same as though he had said, that the Jews would then find out how insensible they had been, in not having in due time considered the judgment of God. (251) It follows —

17.Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, bethink yourselves; And call for mourning women, that they may come; Yea, for the skillful send, that they may come,

18.And hasten, and raise for us a wailing, That our eyes may pour forth tears, And our eyelids drop down waters.

— Ed.