King James Version
Jeremiah 4
31 verses with commentary
Disaster from the North
If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:1 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
IV.
(1) **If thou wilt return.**—The “if” implies a return from the hopes with which Jeremiah 3 ended to the language of misgiving, and so, inferentially, of earnest exhortation.
**Abominations.**—Literally, *things of shame, *as in Jeremiah 3:24; the idols which Israel had worshipped.
**Then shalt thou not remove.**—Better, as continuing the conditions of forgiveness, *if thou wilt not wander.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
12. (Is 9:19; Am 2:1). Perhaps alluding to their being about to be burnt on the funeral pyre (Is 30:33).
**thorns--**the wicked (2Sa 23:6, 7).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Exhortations and promises. (Jr 4:1-2) Judah exhorted to repentance. (Jr 4:3-4) Judgements denounced. (Jr 4:5-18) The approaching ruin of Judah. (Jr 4:19-31)
**Verse 1** ,2 The first two verses should be read with the last chapter. Sin must be put away out of the heart, else it is not put away out of God's sight, for the heart is open before him.
And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:2 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **And thou shalt swear.**—The conditions are continued: *If thou wilt swear by the living Jehovah *[“the Lord liveth” being the received formula of adjuration], in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness.
**And the nations shall bless themselves in him.**—This forms the completion of the sentence. If the conditions of a true repentance are fulfilled by Israel, then the outlying heathen nation...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. far off--**distant nations.
**near--**the Jews and adjoining peoples (Is 49:1).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Exhortations and promises. (Jr 4:1-2) Judah exhorted to repentance. (Jr 4:3-4) Judgements denounced. (Jr 4:5-18) The approaching ruin of Judah. (Jr 4:19-31)
**Verse 1** ,2 The first two verses should be read with the last chapter. Sin must be put away out of the heart, else it is not put away out of God's sight, for the heart is open before him.
For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:3 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **For thus saith the Lord . . .**—The words seem the close of one discourse, the opening of another. The parable of Israel is left behind, and the appeal to Judah and Jerusalem is more direct.
**To the men of Judah.**—Literally, *to each man *individually.
**Break up your fallow ground.**—The Hebrew has the force which comes from the verb and noun being from the same root, *Break up for you a ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. sinners in Zion--**false professors of religion among the elect people (Mt 22:12).
**hypocrites--**rather, "the profane"; "the abandoned" [Horsley].
**who, &c.--**If Jehovah's wrath could thus consume such a host in one night, who could abide it, if continued for ever (Mr 9:46-48)? Fire is a common image for the divine judgments (Is 29:6; 30:30).
**among us--**If such awful judgmen...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 3** ,4 An unhumbled heart is like ground untilled. It is ground which may be improved; it is our ground let out to us; but it is fallow; it is over-grown with thorns and weeds, the natural product of the corrupt heart. Let us entreat the Lord to create in us a clean heart, and to renew a right spirit within us; for except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:4 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Circumcise yourselves to the Lord.**—The words show that the prophet had grasped the meaning of the symbol which to so many Jews was merely an outward sign. He saw that the “foreskin of the heart” was the fleshly, unrenewed nature, the “flesh” as contrasted with the “spirit,” the “old man” which St. Paul contrasts with the new (Romans 6:6; Romans 8:7). The verbal coincidence, with Deuteronom...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
15. In contrast to the trembling "sinners in Zion" (Is 33:14), the righteous shall be secure amid all judgments; they are described according to the Old Testament standpoint of righteousness (Psa 15:2; 24:4).
**stoppeth ... ears ... eyes--**"Rejoiceth not in iniquity" (1Co 13:6; contrast Is 29:20; Psa 10:3; Ro 1:32). The senses are avenues for the entrance of sin (Psa 119:37).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Exhortations and promises. (Jr 4:1-2) Judah exhorted to repentance. (Jr 4:3-4) Judgements denounced. (Jr 4:5-18) The approaching ruin of Judah. (Jr 4:19-31)
**Verse 1** ,2 The first two verses should be read with the last chapter. Sin must be put away out of the heart, else it is not put away out of God's sight, for the heart is open before him.
Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:5 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **Declare.**—*i.e., *proclaim as a herald proclaims. The cry is that of an alarm of war. The prophet sees, as it were, the invading army, and calls the people to leave their villages and to take refuge in the fortified cities.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. on high--**heights inaccessible to the foe (Is 26:1).
**bread ... waters--**image from the expected siege by Sennacherib; however besieged by trials without, the godly shall have literal and spiritual food, as God sees good for them (Is 41:17; Psa 37:25; 34:10; 132:15).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. retire: or, strengthen destruction: Heb. breaking
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:6 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Set up the standard toward Zion.**—Still the language of alarm. The words are as a command, “Raise the signal which shall point to Zion as a place of refuge from the foe, by whom the rest of the country is laid waste.”**
Retire.**—*Withdraw, *in the transitive sense, “gather, with a view to removing” (as in Exodus 9:19), and this is followed by “stay not,” *linger not, *be quick. The call to...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. Thine--**the saints'.
**king in ... beauty--**not as now, Hezekiah in sackcloth, oppressed by the enemy, but King Messiah (Is 32:1) "in His beauty" (So 5:10, 16; Re 4:3).
**land ... very far off--**rather, "the land in its remotest extent" (no longer pent up as Hezekiah was with the siege); see Margin. For Jerusalem is made the scene of the king's glory (Is 33:20, &c.), and it could ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:7 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **The lion is come up . . .**—The “lion” is, of course, the Chaldæan invader, the destroyer, not of men only, but of nations. So in Daniel 7:4 the lion is the symbol of the Assyrian monarchy. The winged lions that are seen in the palaces of Mosul and Nimroud gave a special character to what was in any case a natural metaphor. The word “Gentiles” answers to the meaning, but there is no special ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**18. meditate--**on the "terror" caused by the enemy, but now past.
**where, &c.--**the language of the Jews exulting over their escape from danger.
**scribe--**who enrolled the army [Maurer]; or, who prescribed the tribute to be paid [Rosenmuller]; or, who kept an account of the spoil. "The principal scribe of the host" (2Ki 25:19; Jr 52:25). The Assyrian records are free from the exagge...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:8 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Gird you with sackcloth.**—From the earliest times the outward sign of mourning, and therefore of repentance (Joel 1:8; Isaiah 22:12).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**19. fierce people--**The Assyrians shall not be allowed to enter Jerusalem (2Ki 19:32). Or, thou shalt not any longer see fierce enemies threatening thee as previously; such as the Assyrians, Romans, and the last Antichristian host that is yet to assail Jerusalem (De 28:49, 50; Jr 5:15; Zec 14:2).
**stammering--**barbarous; so "deeper," &c., that is, unintelligible. The Assyrian tongue dif...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →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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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:9 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **The heart of the king shall perish.**—The heart, as representing the mind generally. Judgment and wisdom were to give way to panic and fear.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**20. solemnities--**solemn assemblies at the great feasts (see on Is 30:29; Psa 42:4; Psa 48:12).
**not ... taken down ... removed--**image from captives "removed" from their land (Is 36:17). There shall be no more "taking away" to an enemy's land. Or else, from nomads living in shifting tents. The saints, who sojourned once in tabernacles as pilgrims, shall have a "building of God--eternal in ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:10 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Ah, Lord God! **(literally, *my Lord Jehovah!*) **surely thou hast greatly deceived this people.**—The words are startling, but are eminently characteristic. Jeremiah had been led to utter words that told of desolation and destruction. But if these were true, what was he to think of the words of the other prophets, who, speaking in the name of the Lord, had promised peace through the reign ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**21. there--**namely, in Jerusalem.
**will be ... rivers--**Jehovah will be as a broad river surrounding our city (compare Is 19:6; Na 3:8), and this, too, a river of such a kind as no ship of war can pass (compare Is 26:1). Jerusalem had not the advantage of a river; Jehovah will be as one to it, affording all the advantages, without any of the disadvantages of one.
**galley with oars--**war...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:11 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **At that time.**—i.e., when the lion and destroyer of Jeremiah 4:7 should begin his work of destruction.
**A dry wind.**—Literally, *a clear wind, *the simoom, the scorching blast from the desert, coming clear and without clouds. Other winds might be utilised for the threshing-floor, but this made all such work impossible, and was simply devastating, and was therefore a fit symbol of the ter...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**22. Lord--**thrice repeated, as often: the Trinity (Nu 6:24-26).
**judge ... lawgiver ... king--**perfect ideal of the theocracy, to be realized under Messiah alone; the judicial, legislative, and administrative functions as king to be exercised by Him in person (Is 11:4; 32:1; Jas 4:12).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them. a full: or, a fuller wind than those give: Heb. utter judgments
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:12 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **A full wind from those places.**—Better, *a wind fuller than those, *or, *fuller than for this** . . .*** *i.e., *more tempestuous than those which serve for the work of the thresher, and blowing away both grain and chaff together.
**Shall come unto me.**—Better, *for me, as doing my pleasure.*
**Give sentence against them.**—*sc*., against the sinful people of Judah and Jerusalem.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**23. tacklings--**Continuing the allegory in Is 33:21, he compares the enemies' host to a war galley which is deprived of the tacklings or cords by which the mast is sustained and the sail is spread; and which therefore is sure to be wrecked on "the broad river" (Is 33:21), and become the prey of Israel.
**they--**the tacklings, "hold not firm the base of the mast."
**then--**when the Assyria...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →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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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:13 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **He shall come up as clouds.**—He, the destroyer of nations, with armies that sweep like storm-clouds over the land they are going to destroy. (Comp. Ezekiel 38:16.)
**Swifter than eagles.**—A possible quotation from David’s lament over Saul and Jonathan (2Samuel 1:23). The fact that another phrase is quoted in Jeremiah 4:30 (“clothest thyself with crimson,” where the Hebrew is the same as t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**24. sick--**Smith thinks the allusion is to the beginning of the pestilence by which the Assyrians were destroyed, and which, while sparing the righteous, affected some within the city ("sinners in Zion"); it may have been the sickness that visited Hezekiah (Is 38:1-22). In the Jerusalem to come there shall be no "sickness," because there will be no "iniquity," it being forgiven (Psa 103:3). The...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:14 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **O Jerusalem.**—The prophet’s answer to the cry that comes from the city. In that “washing of the heart” which had seemed impossible before (Jeremiah 2:22), but is thought of now as “possible with God,” is the one hope of salvation. (Comp. Isaiah 1:16.)
**Vain thoughts.**—The Hebrew has a force which the English does not reproduce, *thoughts of vanity, thoughts of aven, i.e., *of the word wh...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:15 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Dan . . .** **Mount Ephraim.**—The two places are chosen, not like Dan and Beer-sheba, as extreme limits, but as stages in the march of the invader: first Dan (as in Jeremiah 8:16), the northernmost point (Deuteronomy 34:1; Judges 20:1) of the whole land of Israel, then Mount Ephraim, as the northern boundary of Judaea. The verbs grow in strength with the imagined nearness, first *announce,...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 34 Is 34:1-17. Judgment on Idumea.
The thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth chapters form one prophecy, the former part of which denounces God's judgment against His people's enemies, of whom Edom is the representative; the second part, of the flourishing state of the Church consequent on those judgments. This forms the termination of the prophecies of the first part of Isaiah (the thirty-sixt...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:16 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Make ye mention.**—Better, *Proclaim ye to the nations; behold. *Call them to gaze on the ruin of Jerusalem, then, *Cry aloud as for Jerusalem, that watchers *(*i.e., *the besieging armies) *are coming from a far country, and that they will give out their voice *(*i.e. *raise the cry of war) *against the cities of Judah.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. utterly destroyed--**rather, "doomed them to an utter curse" [Horsley].
**delivered--**rather, "appointed."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:17 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Field.**—With the meaning, as in all early English, of “open,” not “enclosed,” country (Leviticus 14:7; Leviticus 17:5). The image is that of a nomadic tribe encamped in the open country, or of men watching their flocks (Luke 2:8) or crops (Job 27:18). So shall be the tents of the invaders round Jerusalem—keeping, or (as in 2Samuel 11:16) “observing,” *i.e., *“blockading” the city.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. cast out--**unburied (Is 14:19).
**melted--**washed away as with a descending torrent.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:18 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **This is thy wickedness.**—Better, *this is thy evil. *She was reaping the fruit of her own doing, and this gave her sorrows a fresh bitterness. The Hebrew word, like the English “evil,” includes both guilt and its punishment.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
4. (Psa 102:26; Joe 2:31; 3:15; Mt 24:29).
**dissolved--**(2Pe 3:10-12). Violent convulsions of nature are in Scripture made the images of great changes in the human world (Is 24:19-21), and shall literally accompany them at the winding up of the present dispensation.
**scroll--**Books were in those days sheets of parchment rolled together (Re 6:14).
**fall down--**The stars shall fall when ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-18** The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and p...
Read full commentary →My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. my very: Heb. the walls of my heart
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:19 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **My bowels, my bowels!**—As with Jeremiah 4:13, the words may be Jeremiah’s own cry of anguish, or that of the despairing people with whom he identifies himself. The latter gives more dramatic vividness, as we thus have the utterances of three of the great actors in the tragedy: here of the people, in Jeremiah 4:22 of Jehovah, in Jeremiah 4:23 of the prophet. The “bowels” were with the Hebre...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. sword--**(Jr 46:10). Or else, knife for sacrifice for God does not here appear as a warrior with His sword, but as one about to sacrifice victims doomed to slaughter [Vitringa]. (Eze 39:17).
**bathed--**rather "intoxicated," namely, with anger (so De 32:42). "In heaven" implies the place where God's purpose of wrath is formed in antithesis to its "coming down" in the next clause.
**Idumea...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring...
Read full commentary →Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:20 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Destruction upon destruction is cried.**—Literally, *Breaking upon breaking, *or *crash upon crash, is reported.*
**Suddenly are my tents spoiled.**—The tent dwelling retained its position even amid the cities and villages of Israel (2Samuel 18:17; 1Kings 8:66). The “curtains” are, of course, those of the tent (Isaiah 54:2). Conspicuous among such survivals of the nomad form of life we find...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. filled--**glutted. The image of a sacrifice is continued.
**blood ... fat--**the parts especially devoted to God in a sacrifice (2Sa 1:22).
**lambs ... goats--**sacrificial animals: the Idumeans, of all classes, doomed to slaughter, are meant (Zep 1:7).
**Bozrah--**called Bostra by the Romans, &c., assigned in Jr 48:24 to Moab, so that it seems to have been at one time in the domini...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring...
Read full commentary →How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:21 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **How long shall I see . . .**—The “standard,” as in Jeremiah 4:6, is the alarm signal given to the fugitives. The “trumpet” sounds to give the alarm, and quicken their flight to the defenced city. The prophet sees no end to the miseries of the coming war.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. unicorns--**Hebrew, reem: conveying the idea of loftiness, power, and pre-eminence (see on Job 39:9), in the Bible. At one time the image in the term answers to a reality in nature; at another it symbolizes an abstraction. The rhinoceros was the original type. The Arab rim is two-horned: it was the oryx (the leucoryx, antelope, bold and pugnacious); but when accident or artifice deprived it o...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring...
Read full commentary →For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:22 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **For my people is foolish.**—Jehovah answers the prophet’s question. The misery comes to punish the folly and sottishness of the people. It shall last as long as they last, or till it has accomplished its work of chastisement.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. recompenses for the controversy of Zion--**that is, the year when God will retaliate on those who have contended with Zion. Her controversy is His. Edom had thought to extend its borders by laying hold of its neighbor's lands and has instigated Babylon to cruelty towards fallen Judah (Psa 137:7; Eze 36:5); therefore Edom shall suffer the same herself (La 4:21, 22). The final winding up of the...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring...
Read full commentary →I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:23 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **I beheld the earth.**—In words of terrible grandeur the prophet speaks, as if he had already seen the consummated destruction; and repeating the words “I beheld,” as if he had passed through four distinct visions, describes its completeness.
**Without form, and void.**—An obvious quotation from the *tohu va-bohu *of Genesis 1:2. The goodly land of Israel was thrown back, as it were, into a ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9. Images from the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (Ge 19:24-28; so De 29:23; Jr 49:17, 18).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring...
Read full commentary →I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:24 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) **The mountains, and, lo, they trembled.—**The great earthquake in the days of Uzziah (Amos 1:1), of which we find traces in Isaiah (Isaiah 24:19-20), had probably made imagery of this kind familiar.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. It--**The burning pitch, &c. (Is 34:9).
**smoke ... for ever--**(Re 14:11; 18:18; 19:3).
**generation to generation--**(Mal 1:4).
**none ... pass through--**Edom's original offense was: they would not let Israel pass through their land in peace to Canaan: God recompenses them in kind, no traveller shall pass through Edom. Volney, the infidel, was forced to confirm the truth of this...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring...
Read full commentary →I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:25 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(25) **There was no man.**—To chaos and darkness and the earthquake was added the horrible sense of solitude. Not man only, but the creatures that seemed least open to man’s attack, were fled. (Comp. Jeremiah 2:6.) The same thought re-appears in Jeremiah 9:10.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. cormorant--**The Hebrew is rendered, in Psa 102:6, "pelican," which is a seafowl, and cannot be meant here: some waterfowl (katta, according to Burckhardt) that tenants desert places is intended.
**bittern--**rather, "the hedgehog," or "porcupine" [Gesenius] (Is 14:23).
**owl--**from its being enumerated among water birds in Le 11:17; De 14:16. Maurer thinks rather the heron or crane is ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring...
Read full commentary →I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:26 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(26) **The fruitful place.**—The Carmel, or vine-land, became as *“the *wilderness.” The Hebrew article points probably to the well-known desert of the wanderings.
**At the presence of the Lord.**—Literally, *from before Jehovah, from before the heat of his anger. *The original has the emphasis of repeating the preposition.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
12. Rather, "As to her nobles, there shall be none there who shall declare a kingdom," that is, a king [Maurer]; or else, "There shall be no one there whom they shall call to the kingdom" [Rosenmuller] (Is 3:6, &c.). Idumea was at first governed by dukes (Ge 36:15); out of them the king wan chosen when the constitution became a monarchy.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring...
Read full commentary →For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:27 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(27) **Yet will I not make a full end.**—The thought is echoed from Amos 9:8; Isaiah 6:13; Isaiah 10:21, and repeated in Jeremiah 5:18. There was then hope in the distance. The destruction, terrible as it seemed, was not final. The penalty was a discipline. (Comp. Leviticus 26:44.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. dragons--**(See on Is 13:21; Is 13:22).
**court for owls--**rather, "a dwelling for ostriches."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring...
Read full commentary →For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:28 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(28) **For this shall the earth mourn . . .**—As with all true poets, the face of nature seems to the prophet to sympathise with human suffering. (Comp. Amos 8:9; Matthew 24:29.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. wild beasts of the desert ... island--**rather, "wild cats ... jackals" (Is 13:21).
**screech owl--**rather, "the night specter"; in Jewish superstition a female, elegantly dressed, that carried off children by night. The text does not assert the existence of such objects of superstition, but describes the place as one which superstition would people with such beings.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring...
Read full commentary →The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen ; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:29 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(29) **The horsemen and bowmen.**—A specially characteristic picture, as we see from the Nineveh sculptures, of Assyrian and Chaldæan armies.
**Thickets . . . rocks.**—Both words are Aramaic in the original. The former, elsewhere rendered “clouds,” is here used for the dark shadowy coverts in which men sought for shelter; the latter is the root of the name Cephas (= Peter). On the caves of Palesti...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. great owl--**rather, "the arrow snake," so called from its darting on its prey [Gesenius].
**lay--**namely, eggs.
**gather under her shadow--**rather, "cherishes" her young under, &c. (Jr 17:11).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring...
Read full commentary →And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life. face: Heb. eyes
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:30 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(30) **And when thou art spoiled . . .**—The sentence is clearer without the insertion of the words in italics: *Thou spoiled one, what dost thou work, that thou clothest** . . .*** *that thou deckest** . . .*** *that thou rentest *. . .? *In vain dost thou beautify thyself. *The “clothing with crimson “and “ornaments of gold” are, as before noticed (Note on Jeremiah 4:13), an echo from 2Samuel 1:...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. book of the Lord--**the volume in which the various prophecies and other parts of Scripture began henceforward to be collected together (Is 30:8; Da 9:2).
**Seek--**(so Is 8:16, 20; Joh 5:39; 7:52).
**no one ... fail--**of these prophecies (Mt 5:18).
**none shall want ... mate--**image from pairing of animals mentioned, Is 34:15 ("mate"); no prediction shall want a fulfilment as its co...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring...
Read full commentary →For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 4:31 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(31) **A woman in travail.**—Literally, *writhing in pain, *as in Jeremiah 4:19.
**Bewaileth herself.**—Literally, *pants for breath. *The prophet draws his pictures with a terrible intensity. On the one side is Zion as the harlot, in her gold and crimson and cosmetics; on the other we see the forlorn and desperate castaway, in the hour of a woman’s utter helplessness, outraged and abandoned, stre...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. cast ... lot--**As conquerors apportion lands by lot, so Jehovah has appointed and marked out ("divided") Edom for the wild beasts (Nu 26:55, 56; Jos 18:4-6).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring...
Read full commentary →