3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, in all the places whither I have driven those that remain, saith Jehovah of hosts.
And in those days shall men seek death, and shall in no way find it; and shall desire to die, and death flees from them.
So that my soul chooseth strangling, death, rather than my bones. I loathe it; I shall not live always: let me alone, for my days are a breath.
but, [As] Jehovah liveth, who brought up and who led back the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them. And they shall dwell in their own land.
and I will be found of you, saith Jehovah. And I will turn your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith Jehovah; and I will bring you again into the place whence I have caused you to be carried away captive.
Though there were of you driven out unto the end of the heavens, from thence will Jehovah thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee;
Thine, O Lord, is the righteousness, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day, to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, in all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their unfaithfulness in which they have been unfaithful against thee.
And he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a certain broom-bush, and requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough: now, Jehovah, take my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
Wherefore is light given to him that is in trouble, and life to those bitter of soul, Who long for death, and it [cometh] not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures; Who rejoice even exultingly and are glad when they find the grave? --
Cursed be the day wherein I was born; let not the day wherein my mother bore me be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad! And let that man be as the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and repented not; and let him hear a cry in the morning, and a shouting at noonday, because he slew me not from the womb. Or would that my mother had been my grave, and her womb always great [with me]! Wherefore came I forth from the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed in shame?
Forasmuch as he hath sent unto us in Babylon, saying, It will be long; build houses, and dwell [in them], and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
And now therefore Jehovah, the God of Israel, saith thus concerning this city, whereof ye say, It hath been given over into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries whither I have driven them, in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 8
Commentary on Jeremiah 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
The prophet proceeds, in this chapter, both to magnify and to justify the destruction that God was bringing upon this people, to show how grievous it would be and yet how righteous.
Jer 8:1-3
These verses might fitly have been joined to the close of the foregoing chapter, as giving a further description of the dreadful desolation which the army of the Chaldeans should make in the land. It shall strangely alter the property of death itself, and for the worse too.
Jer 8:4-12
The prophet here is instructed to set before this people the folly of their impenitence, which was it that brought this ruin upon them. They are here represented as the most stupid senseless people in the world, that would not be made wise by all the methods that Infinite Wisdom took to bring them to themselves and their right mind, and so to prevent the ruin that was coming upon them.
Jer 8:13-22
In these verses we have,