24 `We have heard its sound, feeble have been our hands, Distress hath seized us, pain as of a travailing woman.
For a voice as of a sick woman I have heard, Distress, as of one bringing forth a first-born, The voice of the daughter of Zion, She bewaileth herself, she spreadeth out her hands, `Wo to me now, for weary is my soul of slayers!'
Feeble hath been Damascus, She turned to flee, and fear strengthened her, Distress and pangs have seized her, as a travailing woman.
Therefore filled have been my loins `with' great pain, Pangs have seized me as pangs of a travailing woman, I have been bent down by hearing, I have been troubled by seeing.
From the fulness of its passing over it taketh you, For morning by morning it passeth over, By day and by night, And it hath been only a trembling to consider the report.
My bowels, my bowels! I am pained `at' the walls of my heart, Make a noise for me doth My heart, I am not silent, For the voice of a trumpet I have heard, O my soul -- a shout of battle! Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, For spoiled hath been all the land, Suddenly spoiled have been my tents, In a moment -- my curtains. Till when do I see an ensign? Do I hear the voice of a trumpet?
What dost thou say, when He looketh after thee? And thou -- thou hast taught them `to be' over thee -- leaders for head? Do not pangs seize thee as a travailing woman?
Ask, I pray you, and see, is a male bringing forth? Wherefore have I seen every man, His hands on his loins, as a travailing woman, And all faces have been turned to paleness?
When your fear cometh as destruction, And your calamity as a hurricane doth come, When on you come adversity and distress. Then they call me, and I do not answer, They seek me earnestly, and find me not.
Lift up an ensign Zionward, Strengthen yourselves, stand not still, For evil I am bringing in from the north, And a great destruction. Gone up hath a lion from his thicket, And a destroyer of nations hath journeyed, He hath come forth from his place To make thy land become a desolation, Thy cities are laid waste, without inhabitant. For this, gird on sackcloth, lament and howl, For the fierce anger of Jehovah hath not turned back from us. And it hath come to pass, in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah: `Perish doth the heart of the king, And the heart of the princes, And astonished have been the priests, And the prophets do wonder.'
And thou, son of man, sigh with breaking of loins, yea, with bitterness thou dost sigh before their eyes, and it hath come to pass, when they say unto thee, For what art thou sighing? that thou hast said: Because of the report, for it is coming, And melted hath every heart, And feeble hath been all hands, And weak is every spirit, And all knees go -- waters, Lo, it is coming, yea, it hath been, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.'
Now, why dost thou shout aloud? A king -- is there none in thee? Hath thy counsellor perished, That taken hold of thee hath pain as a travailing woman? Be pained, and bring forth, O daughter of Zion, As a travailing woman, For now, thou goest forth from the city, And thou hast dwelt in the field, And thou hast gone unto Babylon, There thou art delivered, There redeem thee doth Jehovah from the hand of thine enemies.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 6
Commentary on Jeremiah 6 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 6
In this chapter, as before, we have,
Jer 6:1-8
Here is
Jer 6:9-17
The heads of this paragraph are the very same with those of the last; for precept must be upon precept and line upon line.
Jer 6:18-30
Here,