19 My soul, my soul! I am pained to my inmost heart; my heart is troubled in me; I am not able to be quiet, because the sound of the horn, the note of war, has come to my ears.
For this cause I have said, Let your eyes be turned away from me in my bitter weeping; I will not be comforted for the wasting of the daughter of my people.
For this cause the cords of my heart are sounding for Moab, and I am full of sorrow for Kir-heres.
Give yourselves to weeping, crying out in sorrow for the mountains; and for the fields of the waste land send up a song of grief, because they are burned up, so that no one goes through; there is no sound of cattle; the bird of the heavens and the beast are in flight and are gone.
If only my head was a stream of waters and my eyes fountains of weeping, so that I might go on weeping day and night for the dead of the daughter of my people!
Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest, Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven. The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town.
For this cause I am full of bitter grief; pains like the pains of a woman in childbirth have come on me: I am bent down with sorrow at what comes to my ears; I am shocked by what I see.
My heart is crying out for Moab; her people go in flight to Zoar, and to Eglath-shelishiyah: for they go up with weeping by the slope of Luhith; on the way to Horonaim they send up a cry of destruction.
My eyes are wasted with weeping, the inmost parts of my body are deeply moved, my inner parts are drained out on the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because of the young children and babies at the breast who are falling without strength in the open squares of the town.
Here is the end of the account. As for me, Daniel, I was greatly troubled by my thoughts, and the colour went from my face: but I kept the thing in my heart.
If the horn is sounded in the town will the people not be full of fear? will evil come on a town if the Lord has not done it?
That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and sorrow, a day of wasting and destruction, a day of dark night and deep shade, a day of cloud and thick dark. A day of sounding the horn and the war-cry against the walled towns and the high towers.
That I am full of sorrow and pain without end. For I have a desire to take on myself the curse for my brothers, my family in the flesh:
Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is, that they may get salvation.
Let the Lord be praised. Give praise to the Lord, O my soul.
And if you go to war in your land against any who do you wrong, then let the loud note of the horn be sounded; and the Lord your God will keep you in mind and give you salvation from those who are against you.
O my soul, you have said to the Lord, You are my Lord: I have no good but you.
Why are you crushed down, O my soul? and why are you troubled in me? put your hope in God; for I will again give him praise who is my help and my God. My soul is crushed down in me, so I will keep you in mind; from the land of Jordan and of the Hermons, from the hill Mizar.
Come back to your rest, O my soul; for the Lord has given you your reward.
I am burning with wrath, because of the sinners who have given up your law.
Take no part in their secrets, O my soul; keep far away, O my heart, from their meetings; for in their wrath they put men to death, and for their pleasure even oxen were wounded.
Say openly in Judah, give it out in Jerusalem, and say, Let the horn be sounded in the land: crying out in a loud voice, Come together, and let us go into the walled towns.
But if you do not give ear to it, my soul will be weeping in secret for your pride; my eye will be weeping bitterly, streaming with water, because the Lord's flock has been taken away as prisoners.
And you are to say this word to them, Let my eyes be streaming with water night and day, and let it not be stopped; for the virgin daughter of my people is wounded with a great wound, with a very bitter blow. If I go out into the open country, there are those put to death by the sword! and if I go into the town, there are those who are diseased from need of food! for the prophet and the priest go about in the land and have no knowledge.
About the prophets. My heart is broken in me, all my bones are shaking; I am like a man full of strong drink, like a man overcome by wine; because of the Lord, and because of his holy words.
For this cause I will give cries of grief for Moab, crying out for Moab, even for all of it; I will be sorrowing for the men of Kir-heres. My weeping for you, O vine of Sibmah, will be more than the weeping of Jazer: your branches have gone over the sea, stretching even to Jazer: destruction has come down on your summer fruits and your cut grapes.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 4
Commentary on Jeremiah 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 4
It should seem that the first two verses of this chapter might better have been joined to the close of the foregoing chapter, for they are directed to Israel, the ten tribes, by way of reply to their compliance with God's call, directing and encouraging them to hold their resolution (v. 1, 2). The rest of the chapter concerns Judah and Jerusalem.
Jer 4:1-2
When God called to backsliding Israel to return (ch. 3:22) they immediately answered, Lord, we return; now God here takes notice of their answer, and, by way of reply to it,
Jer 4:3-4
The prophet here turns his speech, in God's name, to the men of the place where he lived. We have heard what words he proclaimed towards the north (ch. 3:12), for the comfort of those that were now in captivity and were humbled under the hand of God; let us now see what he says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, who were now in prosperity, for their conviction and awakening. In these two verses he exhorts them to repentance and reformation, as the only way left them to prevent the desolating judgments that were ready to break in upon them. Observe,
Jer 4:5-18
God's usual method is to warn before he wounds. In these verses, accordingly, God gives notice to the Jews of the general desolation that would shortly be brought upon them by a foreign invasion. This must be declared and published in all the cities of Judah and streets of Jerusalem, that all might hear and fear, and by this loud alarm be either brought to repentance or left inexcusable. The prediction of this calamity is here given very largely, and in lively expressions, which one would think should have awakened and affected the most stupid. Observe,
Jer 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 hold my peace. Note, The grievance and the grief sometimes may be such that the most prudent patient man cannot forbear complaining.
Now, what is the matter? What is it that puts the good man into such agitation? It is not for himself, or any affliction in his family that he grieves thus; but it is purely upon the public account, it is his people's case that he lays to heart thus.