Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 4:30
And [when] thou [art] spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; [thy] lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
30. Thy harsh captors will scorn thy feminine arts to make thyself attractive in their eyes. But the anomalous gender (masc.) of the Hebrew participle suggests that it is a gloss.
And thou, when thou art spoiled ] And thou, plundered one. The fem. indicates, as often, a collective sense; so in Jer 4:11, Jer 7:29, Jer 10:17. Cp. Jer 4:31; so also Psa 45:12.
ornaments of gold ] Cp. Hos 2:13.
enlargest (Heb. rendest) thine eyes with paint ] i.e. with antimony. It was considered that the lustre and apparent size of the pupil of the eye were enhanced by this practice, which consisted of “blackening the edge of the eyelids both above and below the eye with a black powder called kohl. This is a collyrium commonly composed of the smoke black, which is produced by burning a kind of liban, an aromatic resin, a species of frankincense. kohl is also prepared of the smoke black produced by burning the shells of almonds. Antimony, it is said, was formerly used for painting the edges of the eyelids. The kohl is applied with a small probe of wood, ivory, or silver, tapering towards the end, but blunt; this is moistened, sometimes with rosewater, then dipped in the powder and drawn along the edges of the eyelids. The custom of thus ornamenting the eyes prevailed among both sexes in Egypt in very ancient times: this is shewn by the sculptures and paintings in the temples and tombs of this country, and kohl -vessels with the probes and even with remains of the black powder have often been found in the ancient tombs” (Lane’s Modern Egyptians, 1. pp. 45, 46). For the custom cp. 2Ki 9:30; Eze 23:40; also Job 42:14 (Kerenhappuch = horn of eye paint).
thy lovers ] those whose political alliance thou hast cultivated. This term, hardly applicable to the Scythians, is an example of the modifications of phrase which Jeremiah would introduce when the Babylonians, whose friendship had formerly been sought, had become the foes to be dreaded. See Intr. iv. 3 (end).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Translate, And thou, O plundered one, what effectest thou, that thou clothest thyself with scarlet, that thou deckest thyself with ornaments of gold, that thou enlargest thine eyes with antimony (2Ki 9:30 note)? In vain dost thou beautify thyself; thy lovers despise thee, they seek thy life. Jerusalem is represented as a woman who puts on her best attire to gain favor in the eyes of her lovers, but in vain.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 4:30
Though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair.
Hypocrisy discovered
This renting of the face is, literally, enlarging of the eyes through kohl or antimony–a trick of artificial beauty. And the poor creature has taken out her best clothes, painted herself with the fairest colours, done all she could from the outside, and behold the issue is: Thy lovers will despise but after all is over men feel that this is unreal, untrue, utterly rotten at the core; they say this is a goodly apple rotten at the heart. Let us understand the, that whether we be discovered now or then, we shall be discovered. The hollow man shall be sounded, and shall be pronounced void. Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting; and thou, poor fool, hast covered up the hectic flush of consumption with indigo that will wash off, or with some other colour that can be cleansed away; thou hast made thyself look otherwise than as thou art: but all that is external shall be taken from thee, and thou shalt be seen in thy naked hideousness and ghastliness. This is right! The revelation will be awful; but it ought to be made, or heaven itself will be insecure. Oh, what disclosures then! The canting hypocrite without his cloak; the skilful mocker who has lost his power of jesting; the knave who always said a grace he had committed to memory before he cut the bread he had stolen; the preacher who knew the right, and yet the wrong pursued; the fair speaker, who knew the very subtlety of music as to persuasion, and yet decoyed souls down the way at the end of which is hell. Then the other revelation will also be made. There may be men of rough manners who shall prove to have been all the while animated by a gentle spirit; there may be those who have been regarded as Philistines who are Gods gentlemen; there may be those who have been thought as unworthy of courtesy who shall be set high among the angels. (J. Parker, D. D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 30. Though thou rentest thy face with painting] This probably refers to the custom of introducing stibium, a preparation of antimony, between the eye and the lids, in order to produce a fine lustre, which occasions a distension of the eye-lid in the time of the operation. In order to heighten the effect from this, some may have introduced a more than ordinary quantity, so as nearly to rend the eye-lid itself. Though thou make use of every means of address, of cunning, and of solicitation, to get assistance from the neighbouring states, it will be all in vain. Reference is here particularly made to the practice of harlots to allure men.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
When thou art spoiled; which will certainly come upon thee; or when this destruction shall come upon thee, which is very near thee.
What wilt thou do? viz. when thou, O daughter of Zion, as Jer 4:31, art besieged by the Babylonians, what course wilt thou take? It is not to be avoided. A kind of an insulting way of speech, as it were upbraiding them with their pride and confidence: q.d. Your condition is desperate.
Crimson, or scarlet, 2Sa 1:24; see on See Poole “Isa 1:18“.
Though thou deckest thee with ornaments; though thou dost superinduce those ornaments, or jewels of gold, that may reader thy attire the most rich and splendid, 2Sa 1:24.
Though thou rentest thy face with painting: it is observed that they that paint much make their skins withered. Face, Heb. eyes, the wantonness thereof being possibly set out more by painting; see Isa 3:16; or rather, face and eyes, being sometimes put one for the other see 1Sa 16:12; Isa 25:8, compared with Rev 21:4.
In vain shalt thou make thyself fair; all thy tricking up thyself, thinking thereby to ingratiate thyself with the Chaldeans, will be to no purpose, for they will work thy ruin, as in the close of the verse, and Jer 19:7.
Thy lovers will despise thee; they will slight thee more than ever; they that have doted on time, thy unchaste paramours, their lust being satisfied, shall abhor thee; see 2Sa 13:15; and the pronoun, being not in the original, it may signify that no lovers at all will look after thee; thou shalt be cast off by all. See thus of Tyre, Isa 23:15,16. Those that were in confederacy with thee, and thy professed friends, Hos 2:5, shall not only forsake time, but join with thine enemies to destroy thee, Lam 1:2. And thus is Babylon to be dealt withal, Rev 17:16,17. The sense is, That notwithstanding all thy allurings and enticements, either to obtain the help of thy friends and allies the Egyptians, whom thou takest to be thy lovers, and didst forsake me to cleave to them, or to stop the fury of thine enemies, the Chaldeans; (possibly alluding to Jezebels practice, in painting herself to stop the fury of Jehu, 2Ki 9:30 O yet shall it advantage thee nothing; thou shalt be no more regarded than a forsaken strumpet, Eze 16:36,37; Eze 23
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
30. when thou art spoiledrather,”thou, O destroyed one” [MAURER].
rentest . . . face withpaintingOriental women paint their eyes with stibium, orantimony, to make them look full and sparkling, the black margincausing the white of the eyes to appear the brighter by contrast (2Ki9:30). He uses the term “distendest” in derision oftheir effort to make their eyes look large [MAURER];or else, “rentest,” that is, dost lacerate by puncturingthe eyelid in order to make the antimony adhere [ROSENMULLER].So the Jews use every artifice to secure the aid of Egypt againstBabylon.
facerather, thy eyes(Eze 23:40).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do?…. Or, “O thou spoiled” k, wasted, and undone creature, how wilt thou help thyself? by what means dost thou think thou canst be delivered? it suggests that her ruin was inevitable; that she could not be recovered from it by herself, or any other:
though thou clothest thyself with crimson; and so look like some rich and noble person; hoping thereby to find mercy, and to have quarter given and kindness shown:
though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold; as a person of high and princely dignity: or rather all this is to be understood of the manner of harlots, who dress rich and grand, in order to allure men; since it follows,
though thou rendest thy face with painting; or, eyes l; which painting dilates as Jezebel did, 2Ki 9:30,
in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; so as to be loved and admired: far from it:
thy lovers will despise thee; as an old harlot is despised by her former gallants, notwithstanding all her dressing and painting; yea, their love is often turned into hatred and abhorrence, as would be the case here,
they will seek thy life; to take it away; so far would there be from being any ground of expectations of help and deliverance from them.
k “et tu vastata”, Pagninus, Montanus “et tu, res vastata”, Cocceius. l “scindes in fuco oculos tuos”, Montanus; “rumpes stibio oculos tuos”, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In vain will Jerusalem attempt to turn away calamity by the wiles of a courtesan. In Jer 4:31 the daughter of Zion is addressed, i.e., the community dwelling around the citadel of Zion, or the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the capital of the kingdom, regarded as a female personality (as to , see on Isa 1:8). “Spoiled one” is in apposition not to the , but to the person in the verb; it is regarded as adverbial, and so is without inflexion: if thou art spoiled, like , Job 24:7, Job 24:10; cf. Ew. 316, b. The following clauses introduced by are not so connected with the question, what wilt thou do? as that should mean that: what wilt thou do, devise to the end that thou mayest clothe thee? (Graf); the means if or though, and introduces new clauses, the apodosis of which is: “in vain,” etc. If thou even clothest thyself in purple. , the crimson dye, and stuffs or fabrics dyed with it, see in Exo 25:4. is a pigment for the eye, prepared from silver-glance, sulphur-antimony – the Cohol, yet much esteemed by Arab women, a black powder with a metallic glitter. It is applied to the eyelids, either dry or reduced to a paste by means of oil, by means of a blunt-pointed style or eye-pencil, and increases the lustre of dark eyes so that they seem larger and more brilliant. See the more minute account in Hillel, on the eye-paint of the East, in ref. to 2Ki 9:30. , tear asunder, not, prick, puncture, as Ew., following J. D. Mich., makes it. This does not answer the mode of using the eye-paint, which was this: the style rubbed over with the black powder is drawn horizontally through between the closed eyelids, and these are thus smeared with the ointment. This proceeding Jeremiah sarcastically terms rending open the eyes. As a wife seeks by means of paint and finery to heighten the charms of her beauty in order to please men and gain the favour of lovers, so the woman Jerusalem will attempt by like stratagems to secure the favour of the enemy; but in vain like Jezebel in 2Ki 9:30. The lovers will despise her. The enemies are called lovers, paramours, just as Israel’s quest for help amongst the heathen nations is represented as intrigue with them; see on Jer 2:33, Jer 2:36.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
The Prophet boldly ridicules the Jews, in order to cast down their pride and haughtiness. It was indeed his object to check that pride with which they were elated against God. The Prophet could not have done this without assuming a higher strain than usual, and by rendering his discourse more striking by using metaphorical words. It is indeed the language of derision; he exclaims, What wilt thou do, thou wretched one? The Jews had hitherto been inflated with contempt towards God, and their high spirits had not been subdued. Since, then, their haughtiness continued untamed, the Prophet cries out and says, “Thou wretched, what wilt thou do?” as though he had said, “In vain do they flatter themselves and promise themselves aid from this and from that quarter, for their condition is past any remedy.” (124)
He afterwards adds, Though, etc.; for so I consider the connection of the verse; and they seem right to me who do not separate the words of the Prophet. But the view which others take appears frigid, “Who now adornest thyself, who now clothest thyself in scarlet, who adornest thyself with ornaments of gold, who paintest thy eyes black.” To no purpose do they introduce the relative, for it renders the meaning of the Prophet different from what it really is.
These parts follow one another, and the principal verb is found in these words, In vain dost thou adorn thyself; and the particle כי is to be rendered “though.”
There are those who consider ceremonies to be intended, as hypocrites think that they are by these protected against God’s judgment: but this view is unsuitable and wholly alien to what is here set forth. It is indeed true, that ceremonies are to hypocrites dens of thieves, as we shall hereafter see, (Jer 7:11😉 but the Prophet in this place refers to meretricious ornaments; for the people, as it had before appeared, were become like an adulterous woman. God had formed with them as it were a marriage — contract; they had violated it; and this perfidy was like the defection of an adulteress, who leaves her husband and wanders here and there, and lives as a prostitute. As then harlots, for the purpose of enticement, are wont to dress themselves elegantly, to paint their faces, and to use other allurements, the Prophet says, “In vain wilt thou adorn thyself; though thou puttest on scarlet, though thou shinest with gold even from the head to the feet, yet all this will be superfluous and useless; and though, in addition to all this, thou paintest thy face, (125) it will yet avail thee nothing.”
Now, we know whom he understands by lovers, even the Egyptians and the Assyrians. For the Jews, when oppressed by the Egyptians, were wont to seek help from the Assyrians; and again, when attacked by the Assyrians, they became suppliants to the Egyptians. The prophets compared this sort of conduct to that of strumpets; for whenever they courted the aid of either of these parties, they broke the bond of marriage, by which they were connected with God, and perfidiously violated their pledged faith. Hence, the Prophet says, “Even if the Egyptians promise wonderful things to thee, as a lover allured by thy beauty and by thy meretricious ornaments, yet they will deceive thee; and if the Assyrians shew themselves ready to bring aid, they also will disappoint thy hope: so that thou shalt be like a destitute strumpet, reduced to extreme want.” I cannot finish today: I must therefore defer the rest until to-morrow.
(124) The words “thou wretched,“ or, more commonly, “thou spoiled,“ are left out in the Septuagint and Arabic, and are retained in this sense by the Vulgate, Syriac, and the Targum. But, as Blayney justly says, it is a rendering that is not correct. “Thou,“ as in the received text, is feminine, and “spoiled” is masculine. The Keri and many MSS. have את instead of אתי; and שדוד, as Blayney supposes, is not a passive participle, but a verb in the infinitive mood, used as a noun. So he gives this version, —
And against spoiling what wilt thou do?
The word “spoiled,” or wasted, may indeed refer to “every city,” mentioned in the former verse, and the word for city is masculine. We may then render thus, —
And the city being wasted, what wilt thou do?
“
The city ” may be deemed as the poetical singular for the plural. — Ed.
(125) The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the Targum give this rendering, —
“
Though thou paintest with stibium thine eyes.”
The Hebrew literally is, as it is rendered by Blayney, —
Though thou distendest with paint thy eyes.
The verb קרע, means first to rend, to divide, and then to divide in the sense of distending or enlarging. Large eyes were considered a beauty, and women used a sort of paint, or rather powder, for the purpose of enlarging them. See Lowth’s note on Isa 3:16, and Parkhurst under the word פך. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(30) And when thou art spoiled . . .The sentence is clearer without the insertion of the words in italics: Thou spoiled one, what dost thou work, that thou clothest . . . that thou deckest . . . that thou rentest . . .? In vain dost thou beautify thyself. The clothing with crimson and ornaments of gold are, as before noticed (Note on Jer. 4:13), an echo from 2Sa. 1:24. The rending the face is, literally, enlarging the eyes with kohl, or antimony, still used for this purpose in the east, the black powder being laid on horizontally with a small stylus, or pencil, drawn between the eyelashes. The daughter of Zion is represented as a woman who puts on her costliest attire, as Jezebel had done (2Ki. 9:30), in the vain hope of fascinating her lovers. The imagery points to the foreign alliances in which the statesmen and people of Jerusalem were trusting, and they are told that they shall be in vain. The lovers, i.e., the allies, shall become her foes.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
30. When thou art spoiled No arts, as of a courtezan, such as the putting on of crimson clothing and ornaments of gold, and rending or enlarging the eyes with pigment, can turn away the ruin. This pigment was a black powder made of sulphur-antimony, and was applied by drawing a style smeared with it horizontally between the closed eyelids. This Jeremiah calls rending the face (eyes) with paint.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 4:30. Though thou rentest thy face with painting See 2Ki 9:30. The prophet here carries on the idea wherewith he began, describing Jerusalem under the figure of a harlot, dressing herself up to captivate lovers. See Eze 16:15; Eze 16:63. Houbigant renders the verse, And thou, when about to be spoiled, what will it profit thee to put on purple, to deck thyself with golden ornaments, to enlarge thine eyes with paint [black lead, or stibium]? In vain wilt thou make thyself fair; for all thy lovers despise thee, and seek thy life.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 4:30 And [when] thou [art] spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; [thy] lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
Ver. 30. Though thou rendest thy face with paint. ] Jezebel-like, 2Ki 9:30 Eze 23:40
In vain shalt thou make thyself fair,
Thy lovers will despise thee.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thou. Figure of speech Prosopopoeia, Put for idolatrous Israel. An adulterous woman.
rentest = enlargest (with paint).
face = eyes.
life = soul. Hebrew. nephesh.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And when: Jer 5:31, Jer 13:21, Isa 10:3, Isa 20:6, Isa 33:14, Heb 2:3
Though: Eze 23:40, Eze 23:41, Eze 28:9, Eze 28:13, Rev 17:4
face: Heb. eyes, 2Ki 9:30
in vain: Jer 22:20-22, Lam 1:2, Lam 1:19, Lam 4:17, Eze 16:36-41, Eze 23:9, Eze 23:10, Eze 23:22-24, Eze 23:28, Eze 23:29, Rev 17:2, Rev 17:13, Rev 17:16-18
Reciprocal: Pro 7:10 – the attire Jer 8:19 – the voice Jer 9:19 – we are Jer 22:23 – when Jer 30:14 – lovers Jer 34:20 – and into Eze 16:37 – General Oba 1:7 – the men of 1Ti 2:9 – not 1Pe 3:3 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 4:30-31. There was no remedy for the undone conditions of the people of God short of the captivity. Joslah and other good men worked diligently to reform the character and conduct of the people, and doubtless won many individuals over to a better way of life. All such were to receive the blessings of God even in the midst of their misfortunes. But all of these individual cases of improvement were insufficient to head off the national calamity. This paragraph describes the state of discouragement that would overcome the people when they see the distressful condition upon them. This terrible situation had been predicted in doleful terms by David in Psalms 137 hundreds of years before. Now as Jeremiah writes the time is near for the awful event to take place which will begin with the captivity in the land of Babylon.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 4:30. And when thou art spoiled When this destruction shall come upon thee, which is very near; what wilt thou do? When thou, O daughter of Zion, art besieged by the Babylonians, what course wilt thou take? As if he had said, Thy condition will be desperate. Though thou clothest thyself, &c. The prophet proceeds in a kind of insulting speech, in which he, as it were, upbraids them with their pride and false confidence. With crimson, or scarlet. Though thou deckest thyself with ornaments, &c. Though thou superinduce those ornaments, or jewels of gold, that may render thy attire the most rich and splendid. Though thou rendest thy face with painting The Hebrew is, Though thou rendest thine eyes, &c.
This alludes to the custom of the eastern ladies, who, esteeming large eyes beautiful, make use of stibium, a sort of black paint, which is laid upon the eyelids with a pencil, and being of all astringent quality, partly contracts the eyelids, and partly, by the contrast of colour, tends to enlarge the appearance of the white part of the eyes. Blaney. See Bishop Lowths note on Isa 3:16. Dr. Durrell has remarked, that the Ethiopians, to this day, paint their eyebrows with antimony mixed with moist soot. See Ludolphi, Hist. Ethiop., lib. 7. cap. 7. In vain shalt thou make thyself fair The prophet carries on the idea wherewith he began, representing Jerusalem under the figure of a harlot, dressing herself up to captivate lovers; seeking, by the finery of her dress and other allurements, to engage their affections, but in vain: so, he signifies, it should be with them; all the arts they had made use of to engage the Egyptians, or other foreigners, to assist them against the Chaldeans, should stand them in no stead; nay, those very allies of theirs would join with their enemies.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
4:30 And [when] thou [art] laid waste, what wilt thou do? Though thou {x} clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou enlarge thy eyes with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; [thy] lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
(x) Neither your ceremonies nor rich gifts will deliver you.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord asked Judah what she would do then. Presently she pursued selfish interests and tried to make herself as attractive as possible, like a harlot, but the nations that pretended to love her would turn against her and attack her (cf. 2Ki 9:30; Revelation 17). No last-minute compromise with the invaders would placate them. The unfaithful wife of Yahweh would reap judgment for the profligacy she had sown (cf. Jer 3:1; Jer 2:35-36).