17 Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster."
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
17 Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity."
17 I'll scatter my people before their enemies, like autumn leaves in a high wind. On their day of doom, they'll stare at my back as I walk away, catching not so much as a glimpse of my face."
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back and not the face In the day of their calamity."
17 I will scatter my people before their enemies as the east wind scatters dust. And in all their trouble I will turn my back on them and refuse to notice their distress."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 18:17
Commentary on Jeremiah 18:11-17
(Read Jeremiah 18:11-17)
Sinners call it liberty to live at large; whereas for a man to be a slave to his lusts, is the very worst slavery. They forsook God for idols. When men are parched with heat, and meet with cooling, refreshing streams, they use them. In these things men will not leave a certainty for an uncertainty; but Israel left the ancient paths appointed by the Divine law. They walked not in the highway, in which they might travel safely, but in a way in which they must stumble: such was the way of idolatry, and such is the way of iniquity. This made their land desolate, and themselves miserable. Calamities may be borne, if God smile upon us when under them; but if he is displeased, and refuses his help, we are undone. Multitudes forget the Lord and his Christ, and wander from the ancient paths, to walk in ways of their own devising. But what will they do in the day of judgment!