20 Go up to Lebanon and give a cry; let your voice be loud in Bashan, crying out from Abarim; for all your lovers have come to destruction
And the Lord said to Moses, Go up into this mountain of Abarim so that you may see the land which I have given to the children of Israel.
She is sorrowing bitterly in the night, and her face is wet with weeping; among all her lovers she has no comforter: all her friends have been false to her, they have become her haters.
Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo in the land of Moab opposite Jericho; there you may see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel for their heritage:
And the king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, for the king of Babylon had taken all his country, from the stream of Egypt to the river Euphrates.
And they will be full of fear, and will no longer have faith in Ethiopia which was their hope, or in Egypt which was their glory. And those living by the sea will say in that day, See the fate of our hope to whom we went for help and salvation from the king of Assyria: what hope have we then of salvation?
Ho! uncontrolled children, says the Lord, who give effect to a purpose which is not mine, and who make an agreement, but not by my spirit, increasing their sin: Who make a move to go down into Egypt, without authority from me; who are looking to the strength of Pharaoh for help, and whose hope is in the shade of Egypt. And the strength of Pharaoh will be your shame, and your hope in the shade of Egypt will come to nothing. For his chiefs are at Zoan, and his representatives have come to Hanes. For they have all come with offerings to a people of no use to them, in whom is no help or profit, but only shame and a bad name. The word about the Beasts of the South. Through the land of trouble and grief, the land of the she-lion and the voice of the lion, of the snake and the burning winged snake, they take their wealth on the backs of young asses, and their stores on camels, to a people in whom is no profit. For there is no use or purpose in the help of Egypt: so I have said about her, She is Rahab, who has come to an end.
Cursed are those who go down to Egypt for help, and who put their faith in horses; looking to war-carriages for salvation, because of their numbers; and to horsemen, because they are very strong; but they are not looking to the Holy One of Israel, or turning their hearts to the Lord; Though he is wise, and able to send evil, and his purpose will not be changed; but he will go against the house of the evil-doers, and against those to whom they are looking for help. For the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit: and when the Lord's hand is stretched out, the helper and he who is helped will come down together.
And you, when you are made waste, what will you do? Though you are clothed in red, though you make yourself beautiful with ornaments of gold, though you make your eyes wide with paint, it is for nothing that you make yourself fair; your lovers have no more desire for you, they have designs on your life.
All the keepers of your sheep will be food for the wind, and your lovers will be taken away prisoners: truly, then you will be shamed and unhonoured because of all your evil-doing.
See, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, my servant, and make them come against this land, and against its people, and against all these nations on every side; and I will give them up to complete destruction, and make them a cause of fear and surprise and a waste place for ever.
Then I took the cup from the Lord's hand, and gave a drink from it to all the nations to whom the Lord sent me; Jerusalem and the towns of Judah and their kings and their princes, to make them a waste place, a cause of fear and surprise and a curse, as it is this day; Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants and his princes and all his people; And all the mixed people and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon and Gaza and Ekron and the rest of Ashdod; Edom and Moab and the children of Ammon, And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the lands across the sea; Dedan and Tema and Buz, and all who have the ends of their hair cut; And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people living in the waste land; And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. And you are to say to them, This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Take of this cup and be overcome, and let it come out again from your lips, and from your fall you will never be lifted up again, because of the sword which I will send among you.
There is no help for your wound, there is nothing to make you well. Your lovers have no more thought for you, they go after you no longer; for I have given you the wound of a hater, even cruel punishment; Why are you crying for help because of your wound? for your pain may never be taken away: because your evil-doing was so great and because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you.
I sent for my lovers, but they were false to me: my priests and my responsible men were breathing their last breath in the town, while they were looking for food to give them new life.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 22
Commentary on Jeremiah 22 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 22
Upon occasion of the message sent in the foregoing chapter to the house of the king, we have here recorded some sermons which Jeremiah preached at court, in some preceding reigns, that it might appear they had had fair warning long before that fatal sentence was pronounced upon them, and were put in a way to prevent it. Here is,
Jer 22:1-9
Here we have,
Jer 22:10-19
Kings, though they are gods to us, are men to God, and shall die like men; so it appears in these verses, where we have a sentence of death passed upon two kings who reigned successively in Jerusalem, two brothers, and both the ungracious sons of a very pious father.
Jer 22:20-30
This prophecy seems to have been calculated for the ungracious inglorious reign of Jeconiah, or Jehoiachin, the son of Jehoiakim, who succeeded him in the government, reigned but three months, and was then carried captive to Babylon, where he lived many years, ch. 52:31. We have, in these verses, a prophecy,