8 For this, gird on sackcloth, lament and howl, For the fierce anger of Jehovah hath not turned back from us.
O daughter of My people, Gird on sackcloth, and roll thyself in ashes, The mourning of an only one make for thee, A lamentation most bitter, For suddenly come doth the spoiler against us.
And call doth the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, In that day, to weeping and to lamentation, And to baldness and to girding on of sackcloth,
Without Me it hath bowed down In the place of a bound one, And in the place of the slain they fall. With all this not turned back hath His anger, And still His hand is stretched out.
Therefore hath the anger of Jehovah burned among His people, And He stretcheth out His hand against it, And smiteth it, and the mountains tremble, And their carcase is as filth in the midst of the out-places. With all this His anger did not turn back, And still His hand is stretched out!
And have turned your festivals to mourning, And all your songs to lamentation, And caused sackcloth to come up on all loins, And on every head -- baldness, And made it as a mourning `of' an only one, And its latter end as a day of bitterness.
And also now -- an affirmation of Jehovah, Turn ye back unto Me with all your heart, And with fasting, and with weeping, And with lamentation. And rend your heart, and not your garments, And turn back unto Jehovah your God, For gracious and merciful `is' He, Slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, And He hath repented concerning the evil.
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them before Jehovah -- over-against the sun; and the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah doth turn back from Israel.'
Put to shame hath been Moab, For it hath been broken down, Howl and cry, declare ye in Arnon, For spoiled is Moab,
He hath gone up to Bajith and Dibon, The high places -- to weep, On Nebo and on Medeba Moab howleth, On all its heads `is' baldness, every beard cut off. In its out-places they girded on sackcloth, On its pinnacles, and in its broad places, Every one howleth -- going down with weeping.
Howl ye, for near `is' the day of Jehovah, As destruction from the Mighty it cometh.
Therefore, over its young men the Lord rejoiceth not, And its orphans, and its widows He pitieth not, For every one `is' profane, and an evil doer, And every mouth is speaking folly. With all this not turned back hath His anger, And still His hand is stretched out.
Aram from before, and Philistia from behind, And they devour Israel with the whole mouth. With all this not turned back hath His anger, And still His hand is stretched out.
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.