7月30日
耶利米書9章17-21節
現代中文譯本2019
9:17 上主—萬軍的統帥這樣說：你們要思想所發生的事：要雇用陪哭的婦女來哀號，雇專唱輓歌的女子來哀悼。
9:18 人民說：要催她們快來為我們唱輓歌，唱到我們痛哭流涕，淚如雨下！
9:19 聽聽錫安城裡哀號的聲音：我們被摧毀了！我們大大地受辱！我們必須離鄉背井；我們的家被拆毀了。
9:20 我說：婦女們哪，要聽上主的話；你們要留心聽他的話。要教你們的女兒哀號，教你們的朋友唱輓歌。
9:21 死亡從窗口進來，侵入了我們的宮殿；死亡擊倒街上的孩童，消滅廣場上的年輕人。
ESV
9:17 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider, and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skillful women to come;
9:18 let them make haste and raise a wailing over us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids flow with water.
9:19 For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How we are ruined! We are utterly shamed, because we have left the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.’”
9:20 Hear, O women, the word of the LORD, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; teach to your daughters a lament, and each to her neighbor a dirge.
9:21 For death has come up into our windows; it has entered our palaces, cutting off the children from the streets and the young men from the squares.
今天的經文中，說明了上帝命令唱哀歌的婦人們要教大家哀悼，因為不久就要用很多這種技巧了。而善唱哀歌的婦女是指「職業輓歌歌手」。專業哭喪是古代近東流傳甚廣的習俗，埃及古墓也有很多專業哭喪者（幾乎一定是女性）的壁畫浮雕圖畫。美索不達米亞和敘利亞的文獻不但描述她們哀悼死人，更為死而又起的神祇（如：杜穆齊或搭模斯）哀哭。這習俗在地中海東部也很流行，古典時代之希臘尤然，並且繼續在今日中東某些地方存在。
參考資料: https://bible.fhl.net/new/com.php?book=3&engs=Jer&chap=9&sec=17
