Jeremiah 4:29

The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein. WHOLE CITY - all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: to it the inhabitants of the country had fled for refuge; but when it, too, is likely to fall, they flee out of it to hide in the "thickets." Henderson translates 'every city.' NOISE - the mere noise of the hostile horsemen shall put you, to flight....

By saying, that at the _voice _or sound of _horsemen and bowmen_, there would be an universal flight, he means, that the enemies would come with such impetuosity, that the Jews would not dare to wait for their presence, but would flee here and there before they were attacked: for the word _voice _or sound, no doubt, is set here in opposition to wounds. They did swell, we know, with amazing pride; hence the Prophet ridicules that false confidence by which they were so inebriated as not to dread God’s judgment: “The sound alone of enemies,” he says, “will frighten you; so that all the cities, being left by their inhabitants, will easily fall into their hands, for walls will not defend themselves; nay, the gates will be open.” _Flee then will every city_; that is, all the cities will have recourse to flight. Then it follows, _Ascend will they into the clouds_, or into thicknesses: this may...

19-31 The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring would be of no avail. No outward privileges or profession, no contrivances would prevent destruction. How wretched the state of those who are like foolish children in the concerns of their souls! Whatever we are ignorant of, may the Lord make of good understanding in the ways of godliness. As sin will find out the sinner, so sorrow will, sooner or later, find out the secure....

THE WHOLE CITY ... - Rather, Every city is fleeing. All the inhabitants of the tokens flee to Jerusalem for protection, or seek refuge in the woods and rocks. THE HORSEMEN AND BOWMEN - The cavalry Jeremiah 4:13 and bowmen formed the chief strength of the Assyrian armies. THEY SHALL GO - They have gone....

EXPOSITION JEREMIAH 4:1, JEREMIAH 4:2 The form and structure of the translation require a change. Render, _If thou wilt return_,_ O Israel_,_ saith Jehovah_,_ wilt return unto me_;_ and if thou wilt put away_,_ _etc; _and not wander_;_ and wilt swear_,_ As Jehovah liveth_,_ with good faith_,_ with justice_,_ and with righteousness_;_ then shall the nations bless themselves by him_,_ and in him shall they glory_. The clause, "and not wander," seems too short; the Septuagint had a choicer reading, "and put away, etc; from his [thy] mouth, and not wander from before me." It is the close of the prophecy which we have here. The prophet subjoins a p

THE WHOLE CITY SHALL FLEE,.... Or, "every city"; for not Jerusalem only is meant, but every city, or the inhabitants of every city; and so the Targum paraphrases it, "all the inhabitants of the land,'' who would be put into a panic, and flee: "for" or AT THE NOISE OF THE HORSEMEN AND BOWMEN; of which the army of the enemy would greatly consist: it intimates that the inhabitants of Judea would not stand a battle; but at hearing the sound of the trampling of the horses, and the clattering of the bows and arrows, that the men upon them had, they would flee at once: THEY SHALL GO INTO THE THICKETS, AND CLIMB UPON THE ROCKS; that is, either the horsemen and bowmen, who would pursue the inhabitants into those places: or rather the inhabitants themselves, who would flee thither to hide themselves from their enemies; namely, get into woods and forests, and among the thick trees, and cover th...

Jeremiah 4:1. _If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory._ So he sets before them life and death. First, he begins with these words of encouragement. He begs them to come, for God is willing to receive them notwithstanding all. Jeremiah 4:3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and bu

CHAPTER 4 _ 1. True repentance and what it means (Jeremiah 4:1) _ 2. The alarm sounded: judgment comes (Jeremiah 4:5) 3. The doom of the rebellious people (Jeremiah 4:14) 4. The desolation of Israel's land through judgment (Jeremiah 4:23) Jeremiah 4:1. A return must be a return unto Him, Jehovah; anything less is insufficient. Their abominations must be judged and put away. Every return of backsliders must be in the same way--a true return to the Lord with confession of sin, self-judgment, and abandonment

THE VISION OF DESOLATION (Jeremiah 4:23) most impressively describes the Divine visitation of Judah. The earth becomes like the chaos before creation (_mg._) under a sky that has lost its lamps; the very mountains have no longer stability; the denizens of earth and air are gone; the garden-land is wilderness; the cities are overthrown (_cf._ Jeremiah 1:10). Jeremiah has actually seen all this in some ecstatic state, just as George Fox saw its opposite, the paradise of God in which all things were new and all the creation gave another smell! (_Journal,_ i. 28). There follows the application of the vision (Jeremiah 4:27), viz such an interpretation of its meaning as would subsequently come into the pr

CITY. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Subject), for its inhabitants. EVERY. all, as in preceding clause....