_The word of the Lord concerning the dearth_ Hebrew, על דברי הבצרות, _respecting the matters of the restraints_, that is, the _drought_, when the showers were restrained, or, as Moses and Solomon express it, _when the heaven was shut up, and there was no rain._ See Deuteronomy 11:17; 1 Kings 7:35. T... [ Continue Reading ]
_Judah mourneth_ The people of Judah and Jerusalem, here considered collectively, and represented as a mother oppressed with grief for the miseries which have come upon her children. _And the gates languish, they are black_ “They are in deep mourning:” so Blaney, who observes, “The gates of cities,... [ Continue Reading ]
_And their nobles_, &c. This scarcity of water afflicted not poor persons only, who had not such means of supplying their necessities as the rich; but the greatest among them, who sent _their little ones_, (or _inferiors_, as צעיריהם, seems here rather to signify,) to the places made to receive and... [ Continue Reading ]
_O Lord_, &c. The prophet, having described their misery both in its cause, the drought, and the effects produced thereby, here applies himself to God, who alone could remove it, confessing that their many and great sins and backslidings had well deserved to be thus severely scourged. _Though our in... [ Continue Reading ]
_O the hope of Israel_ That is, the object of Israel's hope; the Being in whom alone thy people Israel have been wont to hope, or in whom they have just reason to hope; _the Saviour thereof in time of trouble_ Who hast formerly been their Saviour in their distresses, and who alone canst save them in... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus saith the Lord_, &c. Here God returns an answer to the complaints and expostulations of the prophet, contained in the eight preceding verses. _They have loved to wander_ They have been fond of their idols; and despising the divine succour, have run after that of strangers, and they have persis... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ah, Lord God! Behold the prophets_, &c. See note on Jeremiah 4:10. _Thus saith the Lord_ And what he saith he will assuredly make good; _By the sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed_ They shall fall first by those very judgments, with the hopes of an exemption from which they have flatt... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them_ Either, 1st, The word spoken above; the threatenings denounced in the last two verses against the false prophets and the people, _the deceivers and the deceived:_ or, 2d, As the passage is generally interpreted, and as our translators have understood it... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hast thou utterly rejected Judah?_ The prophet again returns to God, and expostulates with him, humbly imploring mercy for his people, which shows that he did not understand God's words to him, (Jeremiah 14:11,) as an absolute prohibition to pray for them. _Hath thy soul loathed Zion?_ Which was f... [ Continue Reading ]