1The prophet bewaileth the manifold sins of his people, 9and the judgments coming upon them: 12he sheweth that disobedience is the cause of their calamity: 17he exhorteth them to lament over their desolation; 23and not to trust in human abilities, but in knowing God: 25he threateneth the Jews and their neighbours.
1OH1 thata my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
1 Hebr. Who will give, etc. A manner of wishing in use among the Hebrews; also in the sequel. See Deut. 5 on verse 29.
a Isa. 22:4; Jer. 4:19.
2Oh that I had in the wilderness a 2lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers,b an assembly of 3treacherous men.
2 See Isa. 24 on verse 20.
b Jer. 5:7, 8.
3 Hebr. heap or assembly of treacherous ones. Other, Hebr. on the day of restraint (that is, even on the most important feast day) do they deal treacherously. See Lev. 23 on verse 36.
3And they 4bend their tongues like their bow for lies:c but they are not valiant 5for the truth upon the earth; for they 6proceed from evild to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
4 Hebr. tread; as they do the foot-bow when they bend it. Or, thus: they bend their tongue, their bow is lies.
c Isa. 59:4, 13, 15.
5 Or, in the truth, or, faith, faithfulness.
6 Compare Deut. 29:19 with the annotation.
d Jer. 6:7.
4Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother 7will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walke with slanders.
7 Hebr. treading down treadeth down, that is, oppresses, and deceives in all manner of ways. See Gen. 27 on verse 36; Jer. 17 on verse 9.
e Jer. 6:28
5And they will 8deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
8 Other, mock, deride. See the use of the Hebrew word Gen. 31:7; 1 Kings 18:27; Job 31:9.
69Thine habitation is in the midst of 10deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.
9 These are the words of God to Jeremiah.
10 That is, of men who deal most deceitfully; wherefore all thine admonitions used among them are altogether in vain. Deceit for deceivers. See Job 35 on verse 13.
7Therefore thus saith the LORD of 11hosts, Behold, I will 12melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
11 See 1 Kings 18 on verse 15.
12 By the fire of calamity, plagues and punishments; for, they cannot otherwise be brought to any sense and feeling of their wickedness.
8Their tonguefis as an 13arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: 14one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth,g but in 15heart he layeth his 16wait.
f Psalm 120:4; Prov. 30:14.
13 Other, arrow stretched out, shot out.
14 Hebr. he speaketh, that is, everyone, or, one speaks.
g Psalm 12:2; 28:3.
15 Or, in his inmost parts, that is, in his heart.
16 Or, he layeth snares for him. Hebr. snare.
9¶Shallh I not 17visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
h Jer. 5:9, 29.
17 With punishments. See Gen. 21 on verse 1.
10For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the 18habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are 19burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast 20are fled; they are gone.
18 Or, pastures, where the shepherds have their habitations or huts.
19 That is, it shall surely also come to pass, thus in the sequel.
20 As Jer. 50:3.
11And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons;i and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
i Jer. 10:22.
12¶Who is the 21wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may 22declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?
21 As if he said: There are but very few such to be found among all the people, notwithstanding that I, with the other servants of the Lord, do continually proclaim this by God’s command, against the temptations of false prophets, who speak of nothing but peace. See Jer. 8:11, 15.
22 Or, proclaim.
13And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;
14But have walked after 23the imagination of their own heart, and after 24Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
23 As Jer. 3:17.
24 See Judges 2 on verse 11.
15Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, 25I will feed them, even this people, with 26wormwood,j and give them waterk of gall to drink.
25 Hebr. I will feed them, this people.
26 That is, send them bitter and destroying calamities and plagues. See Deut. 29 on verse 18; Psalm 69 on verse 21; Jer. 8:14.
j Jer. 23:15.
k Jer. 8:14
16I will scatterl them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, 27till I have consumed them.
l Lev. 26:33.
27 As Jer. 49:37.
17¶Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the 28mourning women, that they may come; and send for 29cunning women, that they may come:
28 This refers to the custom of those times and places, that in time of great mourning they sent for singers of men and women who could sing artful lamentations to provoke the people to weeping.. See 2 Chron. 35:25; Job 3:8; Ezek. 32:16; Amos 5:16; Mat. 9:23; Mark 5:38. God does hereby intimate that there would be in every respect an occasion of mourning in the land so that one would not be able to bewail sufficiently the miseries of that time.
29 Who are well-skilled in this art of singing lamentations. Compare Jer. 10:9.
18And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may 30run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
30 That is, tears may run down, fall down, flow down, come down from our eyes in great abundance; also Jer. 13:17; 14:17.
19For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, 31because our dwellings have cast us out.
31 Or, because they have cast out or cast away our dwellings.
20Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters 32wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.
32 Hebr. wailing, lamentation.
2133For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off 34the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
33 Or, Surely; and thus the words of this verse could be a pattern or form of lamentation.
34 See of the Hebrew word Psalm 8 on verse 2.
22Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Evenm the carcases of men shall 35fall as dung upon the 36open field, and as the 37handful after the harvestman, 38and none shall gather them.
m Jer. 7:33.
35 As such the Hebrew word, which commonly signifies to fall, is also elsewhere taken for to lie. See Deut. 21:1; Judges 4:22; Judges 19 on verse 26; 1 Sam. 31:8; 2 Chron. 20:24; Jer. 51:4; Ezek. 6:7, etc.
36 Hebr. face of the field.
37 Some ears of corn, which the reaper passes by and lets fall, and looks no more at them.
38 Or, and no man shall gather it (namely, the dead body) in, take it up, take it away, to bury it. Compare Jer. 8:2.
23¶Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man gloryn39in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
n 1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17.
39 Or, of, for, about. Also in the sequel.
24But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
25¶Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will 40punish all them which are circumcised with the 41uncircumcised;
40 As verse 9.
41 Hebr. with the foreskin, that is, with the uncircumcised (as Rom. 2:26. See further Job 35 on verse 13), as if the Lord would say, I will visit the one with the other, My people that is circumcised as well as the uncircumcised, pagan nations. Compare Jer. 25:17, 18, 19, 20, etc. Some understand with or in the foreskin, such as are circumcised according to the flesh only, but are uncircumcised in heart, as is said of Israel in the next verse.
2642Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost 43corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are 44uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are 45uncircumcisedo in the heart.
42 That is, the Egyptians, etc.
43 Hebr. the corner, namely, of their head, that is, those who are shaved round about at the corners of their head, as the Arabians were. Compare Lev. 19:27. Also Jer. 25:23; 49:32. Other, that lie in the utmost corner, that is, the pagan nations (as some conceive) who dwelt in the utmost corners of Canaan, in the east, south, or toward the Red Sea, or in a certain utmost corner of them.
44 Hebr. as if one would say: are fore-skinned.
45 That is, are uncircumcised in heart, though they are circumcised according to the body. See Jer. 4 on verse 4.
o Lev. 26:41; Rom. 2:28, 29.