Jeremiah 9:8

Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait. THEIR TONGUE IS AS AN ARROW SHOT OUT, [ cheets (H2671) shaachuT] - rather, 'a murdering arrow' (Maurer). So Jerome, 'a wounding arrow.' Some Rabbis make the Hebrew to be equivalent to [showcheeT] the participle present 'killing.' But others, as the English version, make it equivalent to [ shaachuwT (H7819)] drawn, whether over a whetstone to sharpen it, and so meaning sharp; or on a bow-string, and so meaning, as the English version, shot out. So Buxtorf would read. The original meaning is doubtless drawn, so applied either to a sword drawn across the neck, and so killing; or an arrow drawn on a string, and so shot out ...

The Prophet again complains of the deceitfulness of their tongues; and he compares them to deadly, or drawn out arrows. Gold is said to be drawn out, when refined by repeated meltings; so also arrows, when sharpened, are more piercing. The Prophet then says, that their tongues were like deadly or sharpened arrows: how so? because they ever spoke guile, by either slandering or circumventing others. But the expression is general; and the Prophet no doubt meant to include all modes of deceiving. For it afterwards follows, _With the mouth they speak peace; _that is, every one professed friendship, and his words were honey; and yet _within he did set up, _or concealed _intrigues. _Here in other words he sets forth their perfidy; for the tongue and the heart differed. They shewed by the tongue what was different from the sentiment of the heart. Hence he says, that they _set up treacheries in t...

1-11 Jeremiah wept much, yet wished he could weep more, that he might rouse the people to a due sense of the hand of God. But even the desert, without communion with God, through Christ Jesus, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, must be a place for temptation and evil; while, with these blessings, we may live in holiness in crowded cities. The people accustomed their tongues to lies. So false were they, that a brother could not be trusted. In trading and bargaining they said any thing for their own advantage, though they knew it to be false. But God marked their sin. Where no knowledge of God is, what good can be expected? He has many ways of turning a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwell therein....

From their punishment the prophet now turns to their sins. Jeremiah 9:2 The prophet utters the wish that he might be spared his daily striving, and in some lone wilderness give way to his sorrow, without restraint. A LODGING PLACE - It was usual to build in the desert, either by private charity or at the public expense, caravanserais, to receive travelers for a single night, who had however to bring their own supplies with them. AN ASSEMBLY - Or, a gang. TREACHEROUS - Faithless toward one another. Jeremiah 9:3 Rather, “And they bend their tongue to be their bow of lies, i.

EXPOSITION JEREMIAH 9:1 The Hebrew more correctly attaches this verse to Jeremiah 8:1. OH THAT MY HEAD WERE WATERS, etc.! A quaint conceit, it may be said. But "if we have been going on pace for pace with the passion before, this sudden conversion of a strong-felt metaphor into something to be actually realized in nature, is strictly and strikingly natural." So Bishop Dearie, quoting, by way of illustration, Shakespeare's 'Richard II.,' "meditating on his own utter annihilation as to royalty:" "Oh that I were a mockery king of snow, To melt before the sun of Bolingbroke!" The tone of complaint continues in the following verse, though the subject is different....

THEIR TONGUE IS AS AN ARROW SHOT OUT,.... As an arrow out of a bow, which moves swiftly, and comes with great force; or, "drawn out" u; as out of a quiver. The word is used of gold, and rendered "beaten gold", 1 Kings 10:16, gold drawn out into plates; and here of an arrow drawn out of a quiver; and so it is interpreted in the Talmud w; or is "wounding", as the Septuagint, or "slaying" x; denoting the mischief and injury done to the characters of men, by a deceitful, detracting, and calumniating tongue. The Targum is, "as a sharp arrow their tongue"; which pierces deep, and is deadly; Jeremiah 9:3, IT SPEAKETH DECEIT; deceitful words, by which men are imposed upon, and are led into wrong ways of thinking and acting: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth

Jeremiah 9:1. _Oh that 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!_ Jeremiah foresaw that the Chaldeans would come up, and so many would be slain that the nation would be almost destroyed. Jeremiah 9:2. _Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men._ He mourned because of the doom that awaited them; but he equally mourned because of the sin that would bring that doom upon them. He wished that he could get away into one of those refuges, which were provided in lonely places, where travelers might lodge for a night....

CHAPTER 9 _ 1. The prophet's complaint and Jehovah's answer (Jeremiah 9:1) _ 2. The cause of desolation and destruction (Jeremiah 9:10) 3. The call for the mourning and wailing women (Jeremiah 9:17) 4. Glorying in the Lord in view of judgment (Jeremiah 9:23) Jeremiah 9:1. Here again is a deplorable break. The opening verses of this chapter belong to the preceding one. The prophet still speaks. He is overwhelmed with sorrow; his eyes are fountains of tears. He weeps day and night over the slain. He wish

FAITHLESSNESS AND ITS RETRIBUTION: THE DIRGE OF DEATH. The humblest caravanserai would be preferable to life among these evil men, with their calumnies and the unfaithful use of power by those in authority, their mutual deceit, and their untruthfulness (Jeremiah 9:2)_._ Yahweh will prove them in His furnace (Jeremiah 6:29), because of the wickedness of His people (so read in Jeremiah 9:7, with LXX, which continues preferably, after arrow, in Jeremiah 9:8, the words of their mouth are deceit, and omits with his mouth). Jeremiah 9:9 occurs in...

THEIR TONGUE IS AS AN ARROW. It darts forth, wounds and hurts. It injures by slanders, lies and deceit. "It is. world of iniquity....