19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained 'at' the walls of my heart, Make a noise for me doth My heart, I am not silent, For the voice of a trumpet I have heard, O my soul—a shout of battle! 20 Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, For spoiled hath been all the land, Suddenly spoiled have been my tents, In a moment—my curtains. 21 Till when do I see an ensign? Do I hear the voice of a trumpet? 22 For my people 'are' foolish, me they have not known, Foolish sons 'are' they, yea, they 'are' not intelligent, Wise 'are' they to do evil, And to do good they have not known. 23 I looked 'to' the land, and lo, waste and void, And unto the heavens, and their light is not. 24 I have looked 'to' the mountains, And lo, they are trembling. And all the hills moved themselves lightly. 25 I have looked, and lo, man is not, And all fowls of the heavens have fled. 26 I have looked, and lo, The fruitful place 'is' a wilderness, And all its cities have been broken down, Because of Jehovah, Because of the fierceness of His anger. 27 For thus said Jehovah: All the land is a desolation, but a completion I make not. 28 For this doth the land mourn, And black have been the heavens above, because I have spoken—I have purposed, And I have not repented, Nor do I turn back from it. 29 From the voice of the horseman, And of him shooting with the bow, all the city is fleeing, They have come into thickets, And on cliffs they have gone up, All the city is forsaken, And there is no one dwelling in them. 30 And thou, O spoiled one, what dost thou? For thou puttest on scarlet, For thou adornest thyself 'with' ornaments of gold. For thou rendest with pain thine eyes, In vain thou dost make thyself fair, Kicked against thee have doting ones, Thy life they do seek. 31 For a voice as of a sick woman I have heard, Distress, as of one bringing forth a first-born, The voice of the daughter of Zion, She bewaileth herself, she spreadeth out her hands, 'Wo to me now, for weary is my soul of slayers!'
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 4:19-31
Commentary on Jeremiah 4:19-31
(Read Jeremiah 4:19-31)
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.