Jeremiah4chapter 4

Jeremiah 4:1

“Return - The repentance of Israel described in Jer 3:21-25 was a hope, and not a reality. The return, literally, would be their restoration to their land; spiritually, their abandoning their sins. Jer 4:1-2 should be translated as follows: If thou wouldst return, O Israel, saith Yahweh. Unto Me thou shalt return: And if thou wouldst remove thy abominations from before Me, And not wander to and fro, But wouldst swear truly, uprightly; and justly By the living Yahweh; Then shall the pagan bless themselves ... - In him - In Yahweh.”

Jeremiah 4:2

“The nations - This shall be a means to work upon the Heathen nations, to come into the same way of worship. They shall think themselves happy to be incorporated with thee, that it may be with them according to that promise, Gen. xii, 3. Glory - Whereas before they gloried in their idols, they shall glory in God alone.”

Jeremiah 4:3

The departure from virtue gives place for the entrance of the unclean spirit. There is, moreover, the apostolic injunction, that the grace given us should not be unprofitable. Those things that he wrote particularly to his disciple, he enforces on us through him, saying, "Do not neglect the gift that is in you. For he who tills his land shall be satisfied with bread. But the paths of the slothful are strewn with thorns." The Spirit warns ahead of time not to fall into them, saying, "Break up your fallow ground. Do not sow among thorns."

Jeremiah 4:3

“To the men - To each man “of Judah.” They are summoned individually to repentance. Break up - literally, Fallow for you a fallow ground, i. e., do not sow the seeds of repentance in unfit soil, but just as the farmer prepares the ground, by clearing it of weeds, and exposing it to the sun and air, before entrusting to it the seed, so must you regard repentance as a serious matter, requiring forethought, and anxious labor. To sow in unfallowed ground was practically to sow on land full of thorns.”

Jeremiah 4:4

“What we translate as "be circumcised to the Lord and remove the foreskin of your hearts," Symmacus renders as "be purified to the Lord and remove the malice from your hearts," understanding circumcision as purification and the foreskin as vice.”

Jeremiah 4:4

“Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,.... Or, "be ye circumcised", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it.”

Jeremiah 4:6-7

"Take up your baggage and flee to Zion"; as many of you as are outside Zion, "take up your baggage and flee to Zion; hasten, do not stand still," you who are in progress hasten to the Watchtower, "for I bring evils from the north and great destruction"—of the evils brought "from the north," from the north of the adversary, as has often been said; and whoever is found not to have hastened, nor to have entered "into the walled cities," not having come to be in "the churches of God," but standing outside, he himself, being seized by the enemies, will be destroyed.

Jeremiah 4:7

This is the true Nebuchadnezzar, as we have said before, about whom Peter also said, "Our adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion." He ascended from the depths to which he had been relegated and for fear that he is sent back, the plunderer or destroyer of the nations entreats and arises. He is whom it was said that "he will dominate all his enemies" and those who boast in the face of the Lord: "I have gone around the earth and trampled it."

Jeremiah 4:7

“Rather, A “lion”... a “destroyer” of nations: a metaphor descriptive of the impending calamity. A lion is just rousing himself from his lair, but no common one. It is destroyer, not of men, but of nations. Is on his way - literally, “has broken up his encampment.” Jeremiah uses a military term strictly referring to the striking of tents in preparation for the march. Without an inhabitant - The final stage of destruction, actually reached in the utter depopulation of Judaea consequent upon Gedaliah’s murder.”

Jeremiah 4:8

“For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl,.... That is, because of this destruction threatened, which was so near at hand, and so sure and certain: for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it "from you" and some render it "from it" (u); from his purpose and design to destroy the Jews.”

Jeremiah 4:10

“Ah, Lord God! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people - The Targum paraphrases this verse thus: “And I said, Receive my supplication, O Lord God; for, behold, the false prophets deceive this people and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace.” The prophet could not reconcile this devastation of the country with the promises already made; and he appears to ask the question, Hast thou not then deceived this people in saying there shall be peace, i.e., prosperity? Whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul - That is, the life; the people being generally destroyed.”

Jeremiah 4:11

“At that time - See Jer 4:7. Though the revelation of the certainty of Judah’s ruin wrings from Jeremiah a cry of despair, yet it is but for a moment; he immediately returns to the delivery of God’s message. A dry wind - literally, A clear wind. The Samum is probably meant, a dry parching east wind blowing from the Arabian desert, before which vegetation withers, and human life becomes intolerable. Not to fan ... - The Syrian farmers make great use of the wind for separating the chaff from the grain: but when the Samum blows labor becomes impossible.”

Jeremiah 4:11

“Image of the invading Babylonian army (Ho 13:15). Babylon in its turn shall be visited by a similar "destroying wind" (Jer 51:1). of . . . high places--that is, that sweeps over the high places. daughter--that is, the children of my people. not to fan--a very different wind from those ordinary winds employed for fanning the grain in the open air.”

Jeremiah 4:12

“Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me,.... That is, a strong one, very vehement; or, "a wind which is fuller than these", as the Syriac version renders it; which is stronger than those winds which are fit for fanning and winnowing the chaff from the wheat.”

Jeremiah 4:13

“His troops move on in large masses like dark threatening clouds Joe 2:2. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled - Jeremiah’s own cry of grief.”

Jeremiah 4:14

“ONE notices, in reading such a chapter as this fourth of Jeremiah, that the change which God required in the Jewish people was a very deep and thorough one. It was not only the washing of their hands, nor the cleansing of their outward lives, but the washing of their hearts from wickedness—and the Lord did not only require of them that they should cease from wicked actions, but even from vain thoughts.”

Jeremiah 4:14

Only one means of deliverance is left to the Jews--a thorough repentance. vain thoughts--namely, projects for deliverance, such as enlisting the Egyptians on their side. GESENIUS translates, "How long wilt thou harbor vain thoughts?"

Jeremiah 4:15

“Dan - The border-town of Palestine on the north Deu 34:1. Mount Ephraim - The northern boundary of Judaea itself. The invading army presses on so rapidly, that scarcely have the news arrived of its appearance at Dan, before fresh messengers announce that it has traversed the whole length of Galilee, and is now defiling through the mountains of Samaria. Affliction - The same word, aven, occurs in Jer 4:14, and apparently there is a play upon its double meaning: for from a root signifying worthlessness, it is used both for wickedness and for misery.”

Jeremiah 4:15

“It was well if their sufferings put them in mind of their sins, the murders committed upon them of the murders committed by them; for God was now making inquisition for the innocent blood shed in Jerusalem, which the Lord would not pardon, 2 Kings xxiv. Note, As sin will find out the sinner, so sorrow will, sooner or later, find out the secure.”

Jeremiah 4:16

“The neighboring foreign "nations" are summoned to witness Jehovah's judgments on His rebel people (Jer 6:18, 19). watchers--that is, besiegers (compare 2Sa 11:16); observed or watched, that is, besieged. their voice--the war shout.”

Jeremiah 4:17

“Jeremiah compares the tents of the besiegers on guard round Jerusalem to the booths erected by shepherds or farmers for the protection of their flocks or produce.”

Jeremiah 4:19

“My bowels, my bowels,.... These are either the words of the people, unto whose heart the calamity reached, as in the preceding verse; or rather of the prophet, who either, from a sympathizing heart, expresses himself in this manner; or puts on an appearance of mourning and distress, in order to awaken his people to a sense of their condition. The repetition of the word is after the manner of persons in pain and uneasiness, as, "my head, my head", 2Ki 4:19, I am pained at my very heart; as a woman in labour.”

Jeremiah 4:19

“The prophet suddenly assumes the language of the Jewish state personified, lamenting its affliction (Jer 10:19, 20; Isa 15:5; compare Lu 19:41). at my very heart--Hebrew, "at the walls of my heart"; the muscles round the heart. There is a climax, the "bowels," the pericardium, the "heart" itself. maketh . . . noise--moaneth [HENDERSON]. alarm--the battle shout.”

Jeremiah 4:20

“Destruction upon destruction is cried;.... Or, "breach upon breach" (g); as soon as one affliction is over, another comes on; and upon the news of one calamity, tidings are brought of another, as in Job's case: it signifies, that distress and troubles would come thick and fast, and that there would be no end of them, until there was an utter destruction, as this phrase signifies, and the following words show. Kimchi interprets it of the destruction of the ten tribes which came first, and of the destruction of Judah that came now.”

Jeremiah 4:20

THE sorrow of the weeping prophet was exceeding heavy when he uttered these words of bitter lamentation. A great and present burden from the Lord is weighing so heavily upon our hearts this morning, that we cannot spare so much as a moment for sympathy with the griefs of past ages. God has visited our land, and his strokes have been exceeding hard. We are constrained to take up a wailing, and cry aloud, “Suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.”

Jeremiah 4:20

“Though the cities held out for some time, the country was laid waste at the very first. The shepherds and all that lived in tents were plundered immediately; they and their effects fell into the enemies' hands; therefore we find the Rechabites, who dwelt in tents, upon the first coming of the army of the Chaldees into the land retiring to Jerusalem, Jer. xxxv.”

Jeremiah 4:22

Jehovah's reply; they cannot be otherwise than miserable, since they persevere in sin. The repetition of clauses gives greater force to the sentiment. wise . . . evil . . . to do good . . . no knowledge--reversing the rule (Ro 16:19) "wise unto . . . good, simple concerning evil."

Jeremiah 4:23

“In four verses each beginning with “I beheld,” the prophet sees in vision the desolate condition of Judaea during the Babylonian captivity. Jer 4:23 Without form, and void - Desolate and void (see Gen 1:2 note). The land has returned to a state of chaos (marginal reference note). And the heavens - And upward to the heavens. The imagery is that of the last day of judgment. To Jeremiah’s vision all was as though the day of the Lord had come, and earth returned to the state in which it was before the first creative word (see 2Pe 3:10).”

Jeremiah 4:23

“It is Tohu and Bohu, the words there used, as far as the land of Judea goes. It is confusion and emptiness, stripped of all its beauty, void of all its wealth, and, compared with what it was, every thing out of place and out of shape.”

Jeremiah 4:24

“I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled,.... At the presence of God, at the tokens of his displeasure, and at his awful vengeance in the destruction of the Jews, as they are sometimes said to do, Psa 68:8, and all the hills moved lightly; so Kimchi's father says the word used has the signification of lightness; though Jarchi, from Menachem, explains it, they were plucked up, and thrown out of their place; and some render it, were pulled down and destroyed, so the Targum.”

Jeremiah 4:25

“The birds of the heavens were fled - The land was so desolated that even the fowls of heaven could not find meat, and therefore fled away to another region. How powerfully energetic is this description! See Zep 1:3.”

Jeremiah 4:27

“Desolate - a waste. One of the most striking points of prophecy is, that however severe. may be the judgment pronounced against Judah, there is always the reservation, that the ruin shall not be complete Jer 3:14.”

Jeremiah 4:27

“It also intimates the unchangeableness of God's covenant, which stands so firmly, that, though he may correct his people severely, yet he will not cast them off, ch. xxx. (4.) Their case was helpless and without remedy. [1.] God would not help them; so he tells them plainly,”

Jeremiah 4:28

“For ... - Because of this doom upon Judah. I have purposed it - The Septuagint arrangement restores the parallelism: For I have spoken, and will not repent, I have purposed, and will not turn back from it.”

Jeremiah 4:29

“The whole city ... - Rather, Every city is fleeing. All the inhabitants of the tokens flee to Jerusalem for protection, or seek refuge in the woods and rocks. The horsemen and bowmen - The cavalry Jer 4:13 and bowmen formed the chief strength of the Assyrian armies. They shall go - They have gone.”

Jeremiah 4:30

“Though thou rentest thy face with painting - This probably refers to the custom of introducing stibium a preparation of antimony, between the eye and the lids, in order to produce a fine lustre, which occasions a distension of the eye-lid in the time of the operation. In order to heighten the effect from this some may have introduced a more than ordinary quantity, so as nearly to rend the eye-lid itself. Though thou make use of every means of address, of cunning, and of solicitation, to get assistance from the neighboring states, it will be all in vain.”

Jeremiah 4:30

“He uses the term "distendest" in derision of their effort to make their eyes look large [MAURER]; or else, "rentest," that is, dost lacerate by puncturing the eyelid in order to make the antimony adhere [ROSENMULLER].”