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Jeremiah 4

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A Call for True Repentance 1–4

1
If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith Jehovah, if thou wilt return unto me, and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight; then shalt thou not be removed; ​
2
and thou shalt swear, As Jehovah liveth, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. ​
3
For thus saith Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. ​
4
Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. ​

The Imminent Threat from the North 5–18

5
Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.
6
Set up a standard toward Zion: flee for safety, stay not; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. ​
7
A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make thy land desolate, that thy cities be laid waste, without inhabitant. ​
8
For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us.
9
And it shall come to pass at that day, saith Jehovah, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
10
Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the life. ​
11
At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse; ​
12
a full wind from these shall come for me: now will I also utter judgments against them.
13
Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are ruined. ​
14
O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thine evil thoughts lodge within thee? ​
15
For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth evil from the hills of Ephraim. ​
16
Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
17
As keepers of a field are they against her round about, because she hath been rebellious against me, saith Jehovah.
18
Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reacheth unto thy heart.

The Prophet's Anguish and Cosmic Judgment 19–31

19
My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. ​
20
Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.
21
How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22
For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are sottish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. ​
23
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. ​
24
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro.
25
I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
26
I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of Jehovah, and before his fierce anger.
27
For thus saith Jehovah, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end. ​
28
For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.
29
Every city fleeth for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they go into the thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwelleth therein.
30
And thou, when thou art made desolate, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou enlargest thine eyes with paint, in vain dost thou make thyself fair; thy lovers despise thee, they seek thy life. ​
31
For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Jeremiah 4

Verse 1

If thou wilt return — Shub, to turn back, stands twice in the line. It answers the cry of 3:22, 'Behold, we come unto thee', by asking for the whole turn: 'put away thine abominations' (shiqqutsim, detestable idols) out of the LORD's sight. The promised result is 'then shalt thou not remove', that is, not wander (nud).

Verse 2

The LORD liveth — The oath is to be sworn by his name (Deut 6:13), and truly, 'in judgment, and in righteousness'. The result reaches past Israel: 'the nations shall bless themselves in him', the promise made to Abraham, 'in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed' (Gen 22:18).

Verse 3

Break up your fallow ground — Nir is ploughed ground, here ground lying unsown, and the verb 'break up' comes from the same root. Hosea gives the call in the same words: 'break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD' (Hos 10:12). Seed 'among thorns' returns in Christ's parable, where 'the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it' (Luke 8:7).

Verse 4

the foreskins of your heart — Circumcision was 'a token of the covenant' (Gen 17:11); the LORD asks here for what it stood for. Moses had said, 'Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart' (Deut 10:16), and had promised that the LORD himself 'will circumcise thine heart' (Deut 30:6). Paul: 'circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit' (Rom 2:29).

Verse 6

the standard — Nes is a pole raised on a height as a signal. It is set 'toward Zion' so that the country people can gather in the 'defenced cities' (v.5). The 'evil from the north' was first shown to Jeremiah at his call: 'Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land' (Jer 1:14). 'Destruction' is sheber, a breaking.

Verse 7

The lion… the destroyer of the Gentiles — The 'thicket' (sobek) occurs only here. Jeremiah later names the lions that devoured Israel: 'first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones' (Jer 50:17). A 'destroyer of the Gentiles' (goyim, nations) has already ruined other peoples.

Verse 10

Ah, Lord GOD — Ahah is a cry of pain, Jeremiah's also in 1:6 and 14:13. In 14:13 he gives the cause: 'the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword… but I will give you assured peace'. The people had been promised 'peace' (shalom), while 'the sword reacheth unto the soul', to the life itself (nephesh).

Verse 11

A dry wind — Tsach means bright, glaring: a wind off the bare 'high places in the wilderness'. Winnowing used a breeze 'to fan' the grain and drive off the chaff (Isa 41:16); this wind is 'not to fan, nor to cleanse'. Hosea has the same weapon: 'the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness' (Hos 13:15).

Verse 13

swifter than eagles — The invader comes 'as clouds', with chariots 'as a whirlwind', as the LORD himself comes in Isa 66:15 'with his chariots like a whirlwind'. The covenant had warned of 'a nation against thee from far… as swift as the eagle flieth' (Deut 28:49). Lamentations looks back: 'Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven' (Lam 4:19).

Verse 14

wash thine heart — Kabas is the fuller's word, to wash cloth by treading it, used of washing clothes (Lev 13:6) and of David's 'Wash me throughly from mine iniquity' (Ps 51:2). Here the washing is of the heart, 'that thou mayest be saved'. 'Vain thoughts' is aven, nothingness or trouble, the word translated 'affliction' in v.15.

Verse 15

from Dan… from mount Ephraim — Dan lay at the northern end of the land ('from Dan even to Beersheba', Judg 20:1), so the report of the invader arrives from the north, then passes through the hills of Ephraim on the way to Jerusalem. Jeremiah hears it again: 'The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan' (Jer 8:16).

Verse 19

My bowels, my bowels! — Me'eh is the inward parts, where the Hebrews placed deep feeling. 'My very heart' is literally the walls (qir) of the heart, which 'maketh a noise' in him. What he hears is the shophar, 'the sound of the trumpet', and the teruah, 'the alarm of war'. Habakkuk reacts to a coming invasion in the same way: 'my belly trembled' (Hab 3:16).

Verse 22

sottish children — Sakal means foolish. The people are 'wise to do evil' (chakam, skilled in it) yet 'have not known' the LORD. The apostle asks for the reverse: 'wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil' (Rom 16:19).

Verse 23

without form, and void — Tohu and bohu are the pair of Gen 1:2, and they stand together only there, here and in Isa 34:11 ('the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness'). The 'heavens… had no light', the opposite of the first day, 'Let there be light' (Gen 1:3). Jeremiah sees the land returned to emptiness.

Verse 27

not make a full end — Kalah means completion. The promise recurs in 5:18, 'I will not make a full end with you', and is given to the exiles in 30:11: 'though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee'. The land is made desolate; the people are not finished.

Verse 30

rentest thy face with painting — Puk is stibium, the black eye-paint, and 'face' is literally 'eyes' (ayin); 'rentest' is qara, to tear. Jezebel did the same when Jehu came to Jezreel (2 Kgs 9:30). Her 'lovers' (agab), the nations she courted, 'will despise thee'; Lamentations says, 'among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her' (Lam 1:2).

Verse 31

a woman in travail — 'Her first child' is from bakar, to bear a firstborn: the pangs of one who has never borne before. The daughter of Zion 'spreadeth her hands' for help; Lamentations repeats the posture, 'Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her' (Lam 1:17). 'Murderers' is from harag, to slay.