Jeremiah 4:13
in Jeremiah 4Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are ruined.
KJV
Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
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This verse in Jeremiah 4
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
This site's exposition
his chariots like the whirlwind
on Jeremiah 4:13-18
The invader is pictured by speed alone, clouds, whirlwind and horses “swifter than eagles”. The call “Wash the evil from your heart” answers verse 4. The besiegers “surround her like men guarding a field”, and the Hebrew verb for guarding is the one used of shepherds keeping a flock.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 13.) Behold, like a cloud it will ascend, and like a storm its chariots: swifter than eagles are its horses. Woe to us, for we are devastated. It sees what is coming: it describes the army of Babylon, the noise of its chariots and wheels is compared to the fiercest storm, and the swiftness of its horses is joined to that of eagles. When the Prophet had said this and pointed as if to approaching enemies, the people groan, and not foreseeing but already experiencing, they say: Woe to us, for we are devastated.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
We are all undone, the spoilers will certainly carry the day, and it is in vain to make head against them." Judah and Jerusalem had been famed for valiant men; but see what is the effect of sin: by depriving men of their confidence towards God, it deprives them of their courage towards men.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
As clouds - Denoting the suddenness of them, when not expected, clouds often rising on a sudden, and overspread the whole face of the heavens; or the great swiftness with which Nebuchadnezzar should march against them. As a whirlwind - Which, besides the swiftness, denotes also the confusion and amazement that they will cause.
Behold, he shall come up as clouds,....
The horses are swifter than eagles when they fly upon their prey; it is in vain to think either of opposing them or of outrunning them. To watchers and the keepers of a field,
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
To affect them the more with the greatness of the desolation that was coming, the prophet does himself bitterly lament it, and sympathize with his people in the calamities it brought upon them, and the plunge it brought them to, representing it as a reduction of the world to its first chaos,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
clouds--continuing the metaphor in Jer 4:11:12. Clouds of sand and dust accompany the simoom, and after rapid gyrations ascend like a pillar. eagles-- (De 28:49; Woe unto us--The people are graphically presented before us, without it being formally so stated, bursting out in these exclamations.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
Wo unto us! - The people, deeply affected with these threatened judgments, interrupt the prophet with the lamentation - Wo unto us, for we are spoiled! The prophet then resumes: -
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
A full spirit of these retributions shall come to me. A full spirit A full spirit, that I will not retract and not repent. spirit (talant in O.F.)
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הִנֵּ֣ה׀ | hineh | there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| כַּעֲנָנִ֣ים | kaananim | like clouds | H6051 → | |
| יַעֲלֶ֗ה | yaaleh | he is going up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| וְכַסּוּפָה֙ | vekhasufah | and like the storm-wind | H5492 → | |
| מַרְכְּבוֹתָ֔יו | markevotav | chariots his | H4818 → | |
| קַלּ֥וּ | kalu | they are swift | H7043 → | 82 times |
| מִנְּשָׁרִ֖ים | minesharim | more than eagles | H5404 → | 26 times |
| סוּסָ֑יו | susav | horses his | H5483 → | 140 times |
| א֥וֹי | ʾo | woe! | H188 → | 24 times |
| לָ֖נוּ | lanu | to <the> us | ||
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| שֻׁדָּֽדְנוּ׃ | shudadenu | we are devastated | H7703 → | 57 times |
הִנֵּ֣ה׀there!
hinehH2009 →843 times
כַּעֲנָנִ֣יםlike clouds
kaananimH6051 →
יַעֲלֶ֗הhe is going up
yaalehH5927 →890 times
וְכַסּוּפָה֙and like the storm-wind
vekhasufahH5492 →
מַרְכְּבוֹתָ֔יוchariots his
markevotavH4818 →
קַלּ֥וּthey are swift
kaluH7043 →82 times
מִנְּשָׁרִ֖יםmore than eagles
minesharimH5404 →26 times
סוּסָ֑יוhorses his
susavH5483 →140 times
א֥וֹיwoe!
ʾoH188 →24 times
לָ֖נוּto <the> us
lanu
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
שֻׁדָּֽדְנוּ׃we are devastated
shudadenuH7703 →57 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 66:15For behold, the LORD will come with fire—His chariots are like a whirlwind—to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.
it leads to
- Isaiah 30:33
For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a…
- 2 Peter 3:10–12
But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid…
- 2 Thessalonians 1:6–9
After all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
- Matthew 22:7
The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city.
- Psalms 68:17
The chariots of God are tens of thousands— thousands of thousands are they; the Lord is in His sanctuary as He was at Sinai.
- Isaiah 30:33
Through
Habakkuk 1:8Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead, and their cavalry comes from afar. They fly like a vulture, swooping down to devour.
it leads to
- Hosea 8:1
Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 28:49
The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hosea 8:1
Through
Lamentations 4:19Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.
it leads to
- Habakkuk 1:8
Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead, and their cavalry comes from afar. They fly like a vulture, swooping down to devour.
- Habakkuk 1:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.