2 Judah mourns, and the gates of it languish, they sit in black on the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
Her gates shall lament and mourn; And she shall be desolate and sit on the ground.
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me.
It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen," said Yahweh of Hosts;
Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: Their skin cleaves to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick. Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not; Yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.
At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have grown pale.
Therefore the land will mourn, And everyone who dwells therein will waste away. All living things in her, Even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; Yes, the fish of the sea also die.
Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.
Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you shall bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our latter end.
The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is confounded and withers away; Sharon is like a desert; and Bashan and Carmel shake off [their leaves].
The new wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted do sigh.
My heart cries out for Moab; her nobles [flee] to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah: for by the ascent of Luhith with weeping they go up; for in the way of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.
For the vineyard of Yahweh of Hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah his pleasant plant: And he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; For righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel; and he shall save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked on my people, because their cry is come to me.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 14
Commentary on Jeremiah 14 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 14
This chapter was penned upon occasion of a great drought, for want of rain. This judgment began in the latter end of Josiah's reign, but, as it should seem, continued in the beginning of Jehoiakim's: for less judgments are sent to give warning of greater coming, if not prevented by repentance. This calamity was mentioned several times before, but here, in this chapter, more fully. Here is,
Jer 14:1-9
The first verse is the title of the whole chapter: it does indeed all concern the dearth, but much of it consists of the prophet's prayers concerning it; yet these are not unfitly said to be, The word of the Lord which came to him concerning it, for every acceptable prayer is that which God puts into our hearts; nothing is our word that comes to him but what is first his word that comes from him. In these verses we have,
Jer 14:10-16
The dispute between God and his prophet, in this chapter, seems to be like that between the owner and the dresser of the vineyard concerning the barren fig-tree, Lu. 13:7. The justice of the owner condemns it to be cut down; the clemency of the dresser intercedes for a reprieve. Jeremiah had been earnest with God, in prayer, to return in mercy to this people. Now here,
Jer 14:17-22
The present deplorable state of Judah and Jerusalem is here made the matter of the prophet's lamentation (v. 17, 18) and the occasion of his prayer and intercession for them (v. 19), and I am willing to hope that the latter, as well as the former, was by divine direction, and that these words (v. 17), Thus shalt thou say unto them (or concerning them, or in their hearing), refer to the intercession, as well as to the lamentation, and then it amounts to a revocation of the directions given to the prophet not to pray for them, v. 11. However, it is plain, by the prayers we find in these verses, that the prophet did not understand it as a prohibition, but only as a discouragement, like that 1 Jn. 5:16, I do not say he shall pray for that. Here,