Jeremiah 4:19

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 4:19-31

The prophet is here in an agony, and cries out like one upon the rack of pain with some acute distemper, or as a woman in travail. The expressions are very pathetic and moving, enough to melt a heart of stone into compassion: My bowels! my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; and yet well, and in health himself, and nothing ails him. Note, A good man, in such a bad world as this is, cannot but be a man of sorrows. My heart makes a noise in me, through the tumult of my spirits, and I cannot... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 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", 2 Kings 4:19 , I am pained at my very... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 4:19

My bowels - From this to the twenty-ninth verse the prophet describes the ruin of Jerusalem and the desolation of Judea by the Chaldeans in language and imagery scarcely paralleled in the whole Bible. At the sight of misery the bowels are first affected; pain is next felt by a sort of stricture in the pericardium; and then, the heart becoming strongly affected by irregular palpitations, a gush of tears, accompanied with wailings, is the issue. - "My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 4:19

Verse 19 Some interpreters think that the Prophet is here affected with grief, because he saw that his own nation would soon perish; but I know not whether this is a right view. It is indeed true, that the prophets, though severe when denouncing God’s vengeance, did not yet put off the feelings of humanity. Hence they often bewailed the evils which they predicted; and this we shall see more clearly in its proper place. The prophets then had two feelings: when they were the heralds of God’s... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 4:5-31

A revelation of grievous purport has suddenly reached the prophet. See how the foe draws nearer and nearer, and how alarm drives the scattered population to seek for refuge in the fortified cities. Can such be the issue of the promises of peace with which Jehovah has encouraged his people? Such are the contents of the first paragraph ( Jeremiah 4:5-10 ). Next,-in short, detached figures the prophet sets forth the sin of the people and its punishment. Like a scorching simoom is the former;... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 4:5-31

The proclamation of woe. Such is the character of this entire section, and we observe upon this proclamation— I. THAT , LIKE ALL SUCH , IT IS PROMPTED BY DIVINE LOVE . The most fearful judgments contained in the whole Bible are those denounced by our Lord Jesus Christ. The most awful words ever spoken are those which proceeded out of the mouth of him at whose graciousness all-men wondered. It is evident, therefore, that they were the utterances, as is this one here,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 4:19

My bowels . It is doubted whether the speaker in Jeremiah 4:19-21 is the prophet or the whole nation. Jeremiah 4:19 reminds us of Isaiah 15:5 ; Isaiah 16:11 and Isaiah 21:3 , Isaiah 21:4 , and would be quite in harmony with the elegiac tone of our prophet elsewhere; the Targum too already regards the passage as an exclamation of the prophet. On the other hand, the phrase "my tents" (verse 20) certainly implies that the people, or the pious section of the people, is the speaker.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 4:19-30

The fellowship of Christ's sufferings. The extreme anguish of the prophet which is revealed in these verses justifies the affirmation that, like St. Paul, Jeremiah also knew "the fellowship of Christ's sufferings." Consider— I. THEIR NATURE . 1. The sight of the constant dishonor done to God. This was part of our Lord's suffering. Living amongst men at all involved it. It has been said truly that, if the Son of God became incarnate, he must be a "man of sorrows." But if it be a... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Jeremiah 4:19

The verse is best translated as a series of ejaculations, in which the people express their grief at the ravages committed by the enemy:“My bowels! My bowels!” I writhe in pain!The walls of my heart! “My heart” moans for me!I cannot keep silence!For “thou hast heard, O my soul,” the trumpet’s voice!“The alarm of war!” read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Jeremiah 4:19-20

Jeremiah 4:19-20. My bowels, &c. Or, as Dr. Waterland renders it, My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at the centre, or in the midst, of my heart; my heart is tumultuous within me! It is an exclamation of the prophet, moved beyond measure at the calamities coming on his country, in being made the seat of war, and utterly ruined by a hostile invasion: which was so strongly represented to him in his vision, that he, as it were, saw the army of Nebuchadnezzar before his eyes, and the... read more

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