1If you will return, O Israel, says Jehovah, return to Me. And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, then you shall not waver. 2And you shall swear, Jehovah lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory. 3For thus says Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. 4Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 5Declare in Judah, and let it be heard in Jerusalem; and say, Blow the shofar in the land; cry out, gather together, and say, Gather yourselves and let us go into the fortified cities. 6Set up the standard toward Zion, take refuge, do not wait around; for I will bring evil from the north, and great destruction. 7The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the nations has set out; he has gone forth from his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will fall into ruins without inhabitant. 8Put on sackcloth for this, wail and howl; for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us. 9And it shall come to pass in that day, says Jehovah, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the rulers; and the priests shall be appalled, and the prophets shall be stunned. 10Then I said, Ah, Lord Jehovah! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; whereas the sword reaches to the soul. 11At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind from the desolate heights in the wilderness blows toward the daughter of My people, not to sift nor to cleanse. 12A full wind from these places shall come unto Me. Now also I will pronounce judgment against them. 13Behold, he shall come up like clouds, and his chariots like a tempest. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are plundered! 14O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil so that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you? 15For a voice declares from Dan, and proclaims affliction from Mount Ephraim. 16Tell it to the nations: Behold! proclaim against Jerusalem! Watchers are going to come from a distant land; and they will utter their voice against the cities of Judah. 17Like keepers of a field, they are against her all around; because she has rebelled against Me, says Jehovah. 18Your way and your doings have procured these things for you; this is your evil, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart. 19My stomach, my stomach! I am convulsed to my heart! My heart groans within me; I cannot be silent because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the shofar, the alarm of war. 20Destruction upon destruction is proclaimed; for the whole land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtains in a moment. 21How long shall I see the standard and hear the sound of the shofar? 22For My people are foolish; they have not known Me; they are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. 23I looked on the earth, and, lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 24I looked on the mountains, and, lo, they quaked; and all the hills moved to and fro. 25I looked, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. 26I looked, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Jehovah, before His fierce anger. 27For thus Jehovah has said, The whole land shall be desolate, yet I will not make a full end. 28The earth shall mourn for this, and the heavens above shall be black, because I have spoken, I have purposed, and will not be moved to pity, nor will I turn back from it. 29Every city shall flee at the sound of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up among the rocks. Every city is abandoned, and not a man shall live in them. 30And you, what will you do when you are ruined? Though you dress with crimson, though you put on ornaments of gold, though you make your eyes large with paint, you shall make yourself beautiful in vain; your lovers will despise you; they will seek your life. 31For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as of one bearing her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, gasping and spreading her hands, saying, Woe to me now! For my soul is weary because of murderers.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 CONTINUATION OF ADDRESS TO THE TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL. (
Jer 4:1-
Jer 4:2). THE PROPHET TURNS AGAIN TO JUDAH, TO WHOM HE HAD ORIGINALLY BEEN SENT (Jer. 4:3-31). (Jer. 4:1-31)
return . . . return--play on words. "If thou wouldest return to thy land (thou must first), return (by conversion and repentance) to Me."
not remove--no longer be an unsettled wanderer in a strange land. So Cain (
Gen 4:12,
Gen 4:14).
2 And thou--rather, "And if (carried on from
Jer 4:1) thou shalt swear, 'Jehovah liveth,' in truth, &c.", that is, if thou shalt worship Him (for we swear by the God whom we worship; compare
Deut 6:13;
Deut 10:20;
Isa 19:18;
Amos 8:14) in sincerity, &c.
and the nations--Rather, this is apodosis to the "if"; then shall the nations bless themselves in (by) Him" (
Isa 65:16). The conversion of the nations will be the consequence of Israel's conversion (
Ps 102:13,
Ps 102:15;
Rom 11:12,
Rom 11:15).
3 Transition to Judah. Supply mentally. All which (the foregoing declaration as to Israel) applies to Judah.
and Jerusalem--that is, and especially the men of Jerusalem, as being the most prominent in Judea.
Break . . . fallow ground--that is, Repent of your idolatry, and so be prepared to serve the Lord in truth (
Hos 10:12;
Matt 13:7). The unhumbled heart is like ground which may be improved, being let out to us for that purpose, but which is as yet fallow, overgrown with weeds, its natural product.
4 Remove your natural corruption of heart (
Deut 10:16;
Deut 30:6;
Rom 2:29;
Col 2:11).
5 cry, gather together--rather, "cry fully" that is, loudly. The Jews are warned to take measures against the impending Chaldean invasion (compare
Jer 8:14).
6 Zion--The standard toward Zion intimated that the people of the surrounding country were to fly to it, as being the strongest of their fortresses.
7 lion--Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans (
Jer 2:15;
Jer 5:6;
Dan 7:14).
his thicket--lair; Babylon.
destroyer of the Gentiles--rather, "the nations" (
Jer 25:9).
8 Nothing is left to the Jews but to bewail their desperate condition.
anger . . . not turned back-- (
Isa 9:12,
Isa 9:17,
Isa 9:21).
9 heart--The wisdom of the most leading men will be utterly at a loss to devise means of relief.
10 thou hast . . . deceived--God, having even the false prophets in His hands, is here said to do that which for inscrutable purposes He permits them to do (
Exod 9:12;
2Thess 2:11; compare
Jer 8:15; which passage shows that the dupes of error were self-prepared for it, and that God's predestination did not destroy their moral freedom as voluntary agents). The false prophets foretold "peace," and the Jews believed them; God overruled this to His purposes (
Jer 5:12;
Jer 14:13;
Ezek 14:9).
soul--rather, "reacheth to the life."
11 dry wind--the simoom, terrific and destructive, blowing from the southeast across the sandy deserts east of Palestine. Image of the invading Babylonian army (
Hos 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.
12 full . . . from those places--rather, "a wind fuller (that is, more impetuous) than those winds" (which fan the corn) (
Jer 4:11) [ROSENMULLER].
unto me--"for Me," as My instrument for executing My purpose.
sentence--judgments against them (
Jer 1:16).
13 clouds--continuing the metaphor in
Jer 4:11-
Jer 4:12. Clouds of sand and dust accompany the simoom, and after rapid gyrations ascend like a pillar.
eagles-- (
Deut 28:49;
Hab 1:8).
Woe unto us--The people are graphically presented before us, without it being formally so stated, bursting out in these exclamations.
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?"
15 For . . . from Dan--The connection is: There is danger in delay; for the voice of a messenger announces the approach of the Chaldean enemy from Dan, the northern frontier of Palestine (
Jer 8:16; compare
Jer 4:6;
Jer 1:14).
Mount Ephraim--which borders closely on Judah; so that the foe is coming nearer and nearer. Dan and Beth-el in Ephraim were the two places where Jeroboam set up the idolatrous calves (
1Kgs 12:29); just retribution.
16 The neighboring foreign "nations" are summoned to witness Jehovah's judgments on His rebel people (
Jer 6:18-
Jer 6:19).
watchers--that is, besiegers (compare
2Sam 11:16); observed or watched, that is, besieged.
their voice--the war shout.
17 keepers of a field--metaphor from those who watch a field, to frighten away the wild beasts.
18 (
Jer 2:17,
Jer 2:19;
Ps 107:17).
this is thy wickedness--that is, the fruit of thy wickedness.
19 The prophet suddenly assumes the language of the Jewish state personified, lamenting its affliction (
Jer 10:19-
Jer 10:20;
Jer 9:1,
Jer 9:10;
Isa 15:5; compare
Luke 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.
20 Destruction . . . cried--Breach upon breach is announced (
Ps 42:7;
Ezek 7:26). The war "trumpet" . . . the battle shout . . . the "destructions" . . . the havoc throughout "the whole land" . . . the spoiling of the shepherds "tents" (
Jer 10:20; or, "tents" means cities, which should be overthrown as easily as tents [CALVIN]), form a gradation.
21 Judah in perplexity asks, How long is this state of things to continue?
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 (
Rom 16:19) "wise unto . . . good, simple concerning evil."
23 Graphic picture of the utter desolation about to visit Palestine. "I beheld, and lo!" four times solemnly repeated, heightens the awful effect of the scene (compare
Isa 24:19;
Isa 34:11).
without form and void--reduced to the primeval chaos (
Gen 1:2).
24 mountains-- (
Isa 5:25).
moved lightly--shook vehemently.
25 no man . . . birds--No vestige of the human, or of the feathered creation, is to be seen (
Ezek 38:20;
Zeph 1:3).
26 fruitful place--Hebrew, Carmel.
a wilderness--Hebrew, "the wilderness," in contrast to "the fruitful place"; the great desert, where Carmel was, there is now the desert of Arabia [MAURER].
cities--in contrast to the fruitful place or field.
27 full end--utter destruction: I will leave some hope of restoration (
Jer 5:10,
Jer 5:18;
Jer 30:11;
Jer 46:28; compare
Lev 26:44).
28 For this--on account of the desolations just described (
Isa 5:30;
Hos 4:3).
not repent-- (
Num 23:19).
29 whole city--Jerusalem: to it the inhabitants of the country had fled for refuge; but when it, too, is likely to fall, they flee out of it to hide in the "thickets." HENDERSON translates, "every city."
noise--The mere noise of the hostile horsemen shall put you to flight.
30 when thou art spoiled--rather, "thou, O destroyed one" [MAURER].
rentest . . . face with painting--Oriental women paint their eyes with stibium, or antimony, to make them look full and sparkling, the black margin causing the white of the eyes to appear the brighter by contrast (
2Kgs 9:30). 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]. So the Jews use every artifice to secure the aid of Egypt against Babylon.
face--rather, thy eyes (
Ezek 23:40).
31 anguish--namely, occasioned by the attack of the enemy.
daughter of Zion--There is peculiar beauty in suppressing the name of the person in trouble, until that trouble had been fully described [HENDERSON].
bewaileth herself--rather, "draweth her breath short" [HORSLEY]; "panteth."
spreadeth . . . hands-- (
Lam 1:17).
