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Jeremiah 4:9

in Jeremiah 4

“In that day,” declares the LORD, “the king and officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be astounded.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And it shall come to pass at that day, saith Jehovah, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

KJV

And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the Lord, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

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This verse in Jeremiah 4

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

Announce in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem

on Jeremiah 4:5-9

The alarm sounds, and the enemy in a figure: “A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out”. Panic reaches every office that should steady the people, as “the king and officials will lose their courage”, and priests and prophets tremble.

This site's exposition

the prophets will be astounded

The prophets astounded in that day are the ones who had promised Jerusalem peace. The Targum, quoted by Clarke on the next verse, names them false prophets deceiving the people. Their word fails on the day it is tested.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Jeremiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 9.) And it shall be on that day, says the Lord: the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes, and the priests shall be amazed, and the prophets shall be confounded. While the Church of the Lord is being devastated by the plunderer, and the anger of the Lord remains against us, all help will be useless. The heart of the king, whose heart should be in the hand of God, will perish, and the hearts of the princes, who were thought to be wise.

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the Lord,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

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,

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The prophets too, the false prophets, who had cried peace to them, shall be put into the greatest amazement imaginable, seeing their own guilty blood ready to be shed by that sword which they had often told the people there was no danger of. Note, God's judgments come with the greatest terror upon those that have been most secure.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

The heart of the king shall perish - Shall lose all courage.

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְהָיָ֤הand it will be

    vehayahH1961 →3559 times

  • בַיּוֹם־on the day

    vaiyom-H3117 →2304 times

  • הַהוּא֙<the> that

    hahu'H1931 →1879 times

  • נְאֻם־[the] utterance of

    neum-H5002 →376 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • יֹאבַ֥דit will perish

    yovadH6 →184 times

  • לֵב־[the] heart of

    lev-H3820 →595 times

  • הַמֶּ֖לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • וְלֵ֣בand [the] heart of

    velevH3820 →595 times

  • הַשָּׂרִ֑יםthe officials

    hasarimH8269 →421 times

  • וְנָשַׁ֙מּוּ֙and they will be appalled

    venashamuH8074 →86 times

  • הַכֹּ֣הֲנִ֔יםthe priests

    hakohanimH3548 →750 times

  • וְהַנְּבִיאִ֖יםand the prophets

    vehaneviimH5030 →314 times

  • יִתְמָֽהוּ׃they will be astounded

    yitmahuH8539 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

17 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Isaiah 29:9–10Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not from strong drink.3 worksEzekiel 13:9–16My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and speak lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of My people or be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.3 worksIsaiah 22:3–5All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together, having fled to a distant place.3 worksDeuteronomy 28:28The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind,3 worksJeremiah 39:4–5When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and they went out along the route to the Arabah.2 works1 Samuel 25:37–38In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him and he became like a stone.2 works
The other 11 cross-references, with their words ▾
Jeremiah 52:7Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,2 works2 Kings 25:4Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,2 worksIsaiah 19:3Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them, and I will frustrate their plans, so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead, to mediums and spiritists.2 worksIsaiah 21:3–4Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see.2 worksActs 13:41‘Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.’”2 worksJeremiah 37:19Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, claiming, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or this land’?2 worksPsalms 102:4My heart is afflicted, and withered like grass; I even forget to eat my bread.2 worksJeremiah 5:31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?2 worksIsaiah 19:16In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear beneath the uplifted hand of the LORD of Hosts, when He brandishes it against them.2 worksIsaiah 19:11–12The princes of Zoan are mere fools; Pharaoh’s wise counselors give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the wise, a son of eastern kings”?2 worksJeremiah 6:13–14“For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.2 works

Where this verse is studied

About Jeremiah

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.
Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.
Jeremiah: the study guide →Read Jeremiah 4 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Jeremiah 4 →