Jeremiah 4:23-29

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 4:24

I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled ,.... At the presence of God, at the tokens of his displeasure, and at his awful vengeance in the destruction of the Jews, as they are sometimes said to do, Psalm 68:8 , and all the hills moved lightly ; so Kimchi's father says the word used has the signification of lightness; though Jarchi, from Menachem, explains it, they were plucked up, and thrown out of their place; and some render it, were pulled down and destroyed, so the Targum.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 4:25

And I beheld, and, lo, there was no man ,.... No people dwelling in it, as the Targum; the land was without inhabitants, they were either killed with the sword, or taken and carried captive into Babylon, or fled into Egypt and other countries: and all the birds of the heavens were fled ; at the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war; at the blackness of the heavens, filled with smoke; at the barrenness of the earth, there being no seed sown; and the earth, as at the first creation,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 4:26

I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness ,.... Or, "I beheld, and, lo, Carmel was a wilderness"; which was a particular part of the land of Israel, and was very fertile, and abounded in pastures and fruit trees, and yet this, as the rest, became desolate as a wilderness; see Isaiah 32:15 though it may be put for the whole land, which was very fruitful; and so the Targum, "I saw, and, lo, the land of Israel, which was planted as Carmel, was turned to be as a wilderness:' ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 4:27

For thus hath the Lord said ,.... What follows is an explanation and confirmation of the above vision the prophet had: the whole land shall be desolate ; as he had seen; it should not be manured, ploughed, and sown, or bring forth fruit; and should be without inhabitants, at least have very few: yet I will not make a full end ; there should be some inhabitants, who, with those that should hereafter return from captivity, would repeople it, rebuild the temple, and restore it to its... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 4:28

For this shall the earth mourn ,.... That is, for the full end that will be made hereafter, though not now; the earth may be said to mourn when the inhabitants of it do; or when it is destroyed, and is become desolate, as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, explain it; when it is uncultivated and uninhabited: and the heavens above be black ; with thick clouds, and storms, and tempests; in allusion to mourners, that are clothed with black: these figures, of the earth's mourning, and the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 4:29

The whole city shall flee ,.... Or, "every city"; for not Jerusalem only is meant, but every city, or the inhabitants of every city; and so the Targum paraphrases it, "all the inhabitants of the land,' who would be put into a panic, and flee: "for" or at the noise of the horsemen and bowmen ; of which the army of the enemy would greatly consist: it intimates that the inhabitants of Judea would not stand a battle; but at hearing the sound of the trampling of the horses, and the... 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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 4:24

The mountains - hills - Princes, rulers, etc., were astonished and fled. read more

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