Jeremiah 6:11 - Exposition

Therefore I am full ; rather, But I am full . I will pour it out . The text has "pour it out." The sudden transition to the imperative is certainly harsh, and excuses the conjectural emendation which underlies the rendering of the Authorized Version. If we retain the imperative, we must explain it with reference to Jeremiah's inner experience. There are, we must remember, two selves in the prophet (comp. Isaiah 21:6 ), and the higher prophetic self here addresses the lower or human self, and calls upon it no longer to withhold the divinely communicated burden. All classes, as the sequel announces, are to share in the dread calamity. Upon the children abroad ; literally, upon the child in the street (comp. Zechariah 8:5 ). The assembly of young men . It is a social assembly which is meant (comp. Jeremiah 15:17 , "the assembly of the laughers").