Jeremiah 10:19

10:17-25 The Jews who continued in their own land, felt secure. But, sooner or later, sinners will find all things as the word of God has declared, and that its threatenings are not empty terrors. Submission will support the believer under every grief allotted to him; but what can render the load of Divine vengeance easy to be borne by those who fall under it in sullen despair? Those cannot expect to prosper, who do not, by faith and prayer, take God with them in all their ways. The report of the enemy's approach was very dreadful. Yet the designs which men lay deep, and think well formed, are dashed to pieces in a moment. Events are often overruled, so as to be quite contrary to what we intended and expected. If the Lord has directed our steps into the ways of peace and righteousness, let us entreat him to enable us to walk therein. Say not, Lord, do not correct me; but, Lord, do not correct me in anger. We may bear the smart of God's rod, but we cannot bear the weight of his wrath. Those who restrain prayer, prove that they know not God; for those who know him will seek him, and seek his favour. If even severe corrections lead sinners to be convinced of wholesome truths, they will have abundant cause for gratitude. And they will then humble themselves before the Lord.

Woe is me for my hurt!.... Or "breach" (a); which was made upon the people of the Jews, when besieged, taken, and carried captive; with whom the prophet heartily sympathized, and considered their calamities and distresses as his own; for these are the words of the prophet, lamenting the sad estate of his people. My wound is grievous; causes grief, is very painful, and hard to be endured: but I said; within himself, after he had thoroughly considered the matter: this is a grief; an affliction, a trial, and exercise: and I must bear it; patiently and quietly, since it is of God, and is justly brought upon the people for their sins. (a) "propter confractionem meam", Cocceius Schmidt,

Jeremiah 10:19-20 . Wo is me for my hurt — The prophet here again pathetically laments the overthrow of his country, and, either in his own person or in that of his country, bewails the plundering and desolation of the cities and houses, as if they were so many shepherds’ tents, to which he compares them, Jeremiah 10:20 . But I said, This is a grief, and I must bear it — Blaney thinks the prophet here suggests motives of patience and consolation to his country, in regard to the evils that were coming upon her, putting the words of this and the following verses into her mouth, and making her observe, first, That her affliction, though great, would yet be found tolerable; secondly, That she had less reason to complain of what she suffered, as it was no other than might have been expected from the misconduct of those who had the direction of her affairs, Jeremiah 10:21 ; and, lastly, That she was not without hope in the mercy of God, who, upon the humble supplication of his people, might be moved to mitigate their chastisement, and to turn his hand against the heathen that oppressed them, Jeremiah 10:24 . My children are gone from me, and are not, &c. — My inhabitants are gone into captivity, and will return hither no more, so that they are the same to me as if they were dead. There is none to set up my curtains — They will never be able to contribute any thing to the restoration of my former state.

Verse 19. - It is rather doubtful (as in the parallel passage, Jeremiah 4:19-21 ) whether the speaker here is the prophet, or "the daughter of my people," who, in Jeremiah 6:26 , is called upon to "make most bitter lamentation." Of course, the prophet cannot dissociate himself from his people; and we rosy therefore, perhaps, consider both references united. Hurt ; literally, breach ; a term so used for political calamities. A grief ; rather, my grief ; but "grief" is meant to include both physical and mental sufferings (literally, my sickness ). Jeremiah 10:19

(19) Woe is me . . . —From this verse to the end of the chapter we have, with the prophet’s characteristic dramatic vividness, the lamentation of the daughter of Israel in her captivity, bewailing the transgressions that had led to it. That this follows immediately on Jeremiah 10:18 gives some support to the view above given as to the force of the words “that they may find.” Israel is represented as having “found” in both aspects of the word. Grievous.—In the sense of all but incurable. This is a grief . . .—Better, this is my grief or plague, that which I have brought upon myself and must therefore bear. To accept the punishment was in this, as in all cases, the first step to reformation.

Here the prophet doth not so much express his own sorrow, though that be great, as personate the sorrow and complaint that the land, i.e. the people of the land, manifest. or at least ought to do; which because they do not, causeth no little grief in the prophet himself, who cannot but be affected with their condition, which he calls not only a hurt, but a wound, and both of them very grievous. But I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it; or rather, but I better considered it , and said within myself, I were as good be silent; it is indeed a grief grievous in itself, and grievous that I must smother it, and not complain, but it is my duty to bear it patiently. There is in this expression a double necessary preparation to repentance, viz. 1. An acknowledgment that they had deservedly brought the judgment upon themselves, and that therefore, 2. They would patiently bear it; and it doth imply something of their stupidity: q.d. We could not have imagined the damage could have been so very great, but now we see how it is, we will patiently bear the indignation of the Lord, because we have sinned against him . If this be not the meaning, then it is a further obstinate persisting in their rebelling: q.d. Seeing it must be so, truly it is very grievous , but I am bound now to bear it and rub through it as well as I can; a further persisting in their pertinacy, but I incline most to the former sense.

The captivity of the people, their lamentation for the devastation of the land, and entreaty that the punishment may be mitigated. - Jeremiah 10:17 . "Gather up thy bundle out of the land, thou that sittest in the siege. Jeremiah 10:18 . For thus hath Jahveh spoken: Behold, I hurl forth the inhabitants of the land this time, and press them hard, that they may find them. Jeremiah 10:19 . Woe is me for my hurt! grievous is my stroke! yet I:think: This is my suffering, and I will bear it! Jeremiah 10:20 . My tent is despoiled, and all my cords are rent asunder. My sons have forsaken me, and are gone: none stretches forth my tent any more, or hangs up my curtains. Jeremiah 10:21 . For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not sought Jahveh; therefore they have not dealt wisely, and the whole flock is scattered. - Jeremiah 10:22 . Hark! a rumour: behold, it comes, and great commotion from the land of midnight, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, an abode of jackals. - Jeremiah 10:23 . I know, Jahveh, that the way of man is not in himself, nor in the man that walketh to fix his step. Jeremiah 10:24 . Chasten me, Jahveh, but according to right; not in Thine anger, lest Thou make me little. Jeremiah 10:25 . Pour out Thy fury upon the peoples that know Thee not, and upon the races that call not upon Thy name!

for they have devoured Jacob, have devoured him and made an end of him, and laid his pastures waste." Jeremiah 10:17-20 In Jeremiah 10:17 the congregation of the people is addressed, and captivity in a foreign land is announced to them. This announcement stands in connection with Jeremiah 9:25, in so far as captivity is the accomplishment of the visitation of Judah threatened in Jeremiah 9:24. That connection is not, however, quite direct; the announcement is led up to by the warning against idolatry of vv. 1-16, inasmuch as it furnishes confirmation of the threat uttered in Jeremiah 10:15, that the idols shall perish in the day of their visitation, and shows besides how, by its folly in the matter of idolatry, Judah has drawn judgment down on itself. The confession in Jeremiah 10:21 : the shepherds are become brutish, points manifestly back to the description in Jeremiah 10:14 of the folly of the idolaters, and exhibits the connection of Jeremiah 10:17-25 with the preceding warning against idolatry. For "gather up," etc., Hitz. translates: gather thy trumpery from the ground; so that the expression would have a contemptuous tone. But the meaning of rubbish cannot be proved to belong to כּנעה; and the mockery that would lie in the phrase is out of place. כּנעה, from Arab. kǹ, contrahere, constipare, means that which is put together, packed up, one's bundle. The connection of אסף and מארץ is pregnant: put up thy bundle and carry it forth of the land. As N. G.