Jeremiah 4:29-32

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 4:29

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 4:30

And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do ?.... Or, "O thou spoiled" F11 ואתי שדוד "et tu vastata", Pagninus, Montanus "et tu, res vastata", Cocceius. , wasted, and undone creature, how wilt thou help thyself? by what means dost thou think thou canst be delivered? it suggests that her ruin was inevitable; that she could not be recovered from it by herself, or any other: though thou clothest thyself with crimson ; and so look like some rich and noble person; hoping thereby to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 4:31

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail ,.... So the distress of the Jews, at the time of their destruction, is compared to the sorrows of a woman in travail; and a word, that signifies that is used to express it, Matthew 24:8 , and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child ; whose time is more difficult, her pains sharper, her anguish greater, and, having less experience, the more impatient: the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself ; her... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 4:30

Though thou rentest thy face with painting - This probably refers to the custom of introducing stibium a preparation of antimony, between the eye and the lids, in order to produce a fine lustre, which occasions a distension of the eye-lid in the time of the operation. In order to heighten the effect from this some may have introduced a more than ordinary quantity, so as nearly to rend the eye-lid itself. Though thou make use of every means of address, of cunning, and of solicitation, to... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 4:31

Bringeth forth her first child - In such a case the fear, danger, and pain were naturally the greatest. Spreadeth her hands - The gesture indicated by nature to signify distress, and implore help. We have met with this figure in other parts, and among the classic writers it is frequent. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 4:29

Verse 29 By saying, that at the voice or sound of horsemen and bowmen, there would be an universal flight, he means, that the enemies would come with such impetuosity, that the Jews would not dare to wait for their presence, but would flee here and there before they were attacked: for the word voice or sound, no doubt, is set here in opposition to wounds. They did swell, we know, with amazing pride; hence the Prophet ridicules that false confidence by which they were so inebriated as not to... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 4:30

Verse 30 The Prophet boldly ridicules the Jews, in order to cast down their pride and haughtiness. It was indeed his object to check that pride with which they were elated against God. The Prophet could not have done this without assuming a higher strain than usual, and by rendering his discourse more striking by using metaphorical words. It is indeed the language of derision; he exclaims, What wilt thou do, thou wretched one? The Jews had hitherto been inflated with contempt towards God, and... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 4:31

Verse 31 By these words Jeremiah confirms what the latter part of the preceding verse contains: nor was it for the sake of elucidating his subject that he enlarged on it; but when he saw his own nation so hard and almost like stones, he employed many words and set forth in various ways what he might have expressed in one sentence: and what he taught would have been often coldly received, had he not added exhortations and threatenings. It was on this account that he now expresses in other words... 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

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