Jeremiah 4:23 NIV

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 4:23

I beheld the earth ,.... The land of Judea, not the whole world; and this the prophet says, either in spirit, as Jerom; or in prophecy, as Kimchi; or in a visionary way; for these are not the words of God continued, as Cocceius, but of the prophet; who, by a prophetic spirit, describes the dreadful destruction of the Jewish nation, as follows: and, lo, it was without form, and void ; as the first earth or chaos was, before it was brought into form and order; the same words, "tohu" and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 4:23

I beheld the earth, (the land), and lo it was without form and void - ובהו תהו tohu vabohu ; the very words used in Genesis to denote the formless state of the chaotic mass before God had brought it into order. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 4:23

Verse 23 The Prophet in this passage enlarges in a language highly metaphorical on the terror of God’s vengeance, that he might rouse the Jews, who were stupid and careless: nor is the repetition in vain, when he says four times, that he looked. He might have spoken of the earth, heaven, men, and fertile places in one sentence: but it is the same as though he had turned his eyes to four different quarters, and said, that wherever he looked, there appeared to him dreadful tokens of God’s wrath,... 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 4:19-30

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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 4:20-30

"Suddenly are my tents spoiled." "When thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do?" A surely coming confession compelling a present serious question. Note the historic reference of the words to the people to whom the prophet spoke. Applying them in more general sense, let us observe— I. THE CONFESSION . "Suddenly," etc. This confession. 1. Not that of the child of God , for his tents cannot be spoiled. 2. The confession of the worldling and all those who are living without... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 4:23

I beheld . The prophet is again the speaker, but in a calmer mood. God's judgment has been pronounced, and it is not for him to rebel. He has now simply to record the vision of woe which has been granted him. He foresees the utter desolation into which not only the land of Judah, but the earth in general, will be brought, and which reminds him of nothing so much as the "waste and wild" condition of the earth previous to the first creative word. But why is "the earth" mentioned in this... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 4:23-26

Chaos the result of sin. I. SIN HAS A RETROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT . In his vision of the earth desolated by a Divine judgment on sin, Jeremiah sees a relapse to the primeval condition before the dawn of creation, and in his graphic description uses the very words of the narrative in Genesis. He describes the earth as "waste and wild." Every step in sin is a step downward, backward. It is backsliding. How rapid this is! One generation sees the fall back to the condition from which it... read more

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

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 4:23

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 4:23

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 4:23

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 4:5-31

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 4:5-31

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 4:19-30

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 4:20-30

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 4:23

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 4:23-26

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