Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 4:13
Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots [shall be] as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
13. as clouds ] a further simile for the invader. Cp. Eze 38:16, and Joe 2:2.
his chariots shall be as the whirlwind ] Cp. Isa 5:28; Isa 66:15.
eagles ] rather, griffons ( gypsi fulvus), a species of vulture. Cp. ch. Jer 48:40, Jer 49:22; 2Sa 1:23; Lam 4:19; Hab 1:8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
His troops move on in large masses like dark threatening clouds Joe 2:2.
Woe unto us! for we are spoiled – Jeremiahs own cry of grief.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. See Clarke on Jer 4:11. Ver. 13. Wo unto us!] The people, deeply affected with these threatened judgments, interrupt the prophet with the lamentation – Wo unto us, for we are spoiled! The prophet then resumes: –
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He shall come up as clouds; either noting the vast number of them, Isa 60:8; Heb 12:1; or the suddenness of them, when not expected, clouds often rising on a sudden, and overspreading the whole face of the heavens; or rather, the great speed and swiftness with which Nebuchadnezzar shall march against them, Isa 19:1, hyperbolically described by the swiftness of eagles in this verse, Jer 48:8.
His chariots shall be as a whirlwind; which beside the swiftness, notes also the confusion and amazement that they will cause, Isa 66:15.
Woe unto us! for we are spoiled: the dreadful apprehensions that the people have of their woeful condition, or possibly the words of the prophet lamenting their misery.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. cloudscontinuing themetaphor in Jer 4:11:12. Cloudsof sand and dust accompany the simoom, and after rapid gyrationsascend like a pillar.
eagles (Deu 28:49;Hab 1:8).
Woe unto usThe peopleare graphically presented before us, without it being formally sostated, bursting out in these exclamations.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold, he shall come up as clouds,…. Meaning the lion, Nebuchadnezzar, Jer 4:7,
“the king with his army (as the Targum paraphrases it); he shall come up against them as a cloud that ascendeth and covers the earth.”
“come up against them as a cloud that ascendeth and covers the earth.”
The metaphor denotes the swiftness of his coming, and the multitudes he should come with, and that darkness and distress he should bring with him upon the people of the Jews:
and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind; for swiftness, power, and violence: chariots for war are intended; see Isa 5:28:
his horses are swifter than eagles: the swiftest of birds. The same thing is designed as by the other metaphors; the swiftness and suddenness of the Jews’ destruction:
woe unto us, for we are spoiled; their destruction was inevitable, there was no escaping it; and therefore their case was woeful and miserable.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet here concludes the prediction which referred to the dreadful vengeance that was coming; and he mentions here several similitudes, such as might rouse the Jews and constrain them to fear. He says, that the chariots of God would come as clouds and as a whirlwind; and then that his horses would be swifter than eagles
As to the clouds, the whirlwind, and the eagles, (for the import of the three similitudes is the same,) the Prophet no doubt intended thus to set forth the quickness of God’s vengeance; but yet there is some difference. We see how clouds suddenly arise and spread over the whole heaven; and thus it happens when a whirlwind is in the air. Hence when he compares God’s chariots to clouds and the whirlwind, it is the same as if he had said, that the beginning of the calamity would be sudden, because God would unexpectedly arise, after having been apparently asleep for a long time. But when he says, that God’s horses would be swifter than eagles, he means, that it would be easy for God, when once he had begun, to destroy the whole of Judea, as it were in a moment, or at least in a very short time; for we know how swift is the flying of the eagle; but he says, that the horses of God would be swifter than the eagles.
We now understand the Prophet’s meaning: for when the Jews derided the threatenings of the Prophets, they tauntingly used such a language as this, — “O! we shall, at least in the meantime, feast cheerfully and joyfully; these Prophets will not allow us a truce for one hour; but yet many years will pass away before the evil overtakes us.” We find profane men in our day, who in like manner trifle with God: and when they cannot wholly despise what God threatens, they yet delay the time, and think that they gain something by putting off the day of vengeance. This, then, was the reason why the Prophet said, that God’s chariots would ascend, as clouds arise suddenly, and then as a whirlwind in clear sky, and lastly, in a manner swifter than the eagles, even in their swiftest course.
The Prophet, in the last place, exclaims, in the name of the whole people, Woe to us! for we are lost (109) He speaks here concisely, that he might shew that the false prophets, as well as the people, were going astray to their own ruin, while they were asleep in their vices, and thought their insensibility would escape punishment. He hence exclaims, that though all were then seized with stupor, the people themselves were yet lost. It at length follows —
(109) Rather, “We have been wholly wasted,“ or desolated. The verb is in a reduplicate form, and signifies an entire waste or desolation, —
13. Behold, like clouds will he ascend, And like a whirlwind will be his chariots, Swifter than eagles his horses: “Woe to us! for we have been wholly wasted.”
The mixture of the tenses is intended to shew the certainty of the event. Or we may consider the last line as containing what would be said after the coming of the enemy. What they would have to say was to acknowledge their entire desolation. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) He shall come up as clouds.He, the destroyer of nations, with armies that sweep like storm-clouds over the land they are going to destroy. (Comp. Eze. 38:16.)
Swifter than eagles.A possible quotation from Davids lament over Saul and Jonathan (2Sa. 1:23). The fact that another phrase is quoted in Jer. 4:30 (clothest thyself with crimson, where the Hebrew is the same as the scarlet of 2Sa. 1:24), makes the possibility something like a certainty. It was natural that one who himself wrote two sets of lamentations, one early (2Ch. 35:25), the other late, in life, should have been a student of earlier elegies. For the flight of the eagle as representing the swift march of the invader, comp. Lam. 4:19; Hos. viii 1; Hab. 1:8.
Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.Probably the cry of the terrified crowds of Jerusalem, with which the prophet, with dramatic vividness, as in Jer. 9:18-19, interrupts his description.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Behold Prophetic vision.
Clouds whirlwind eagles Located in the same region as that before suggested in the figure of the dry wind. The dark, angry, swiftly moving masses of clouds, the destructive sweep of the tornado, and the sudden and resistless swoop of the birds of prey, constitute the terrible imagery by which the great danger of the nation is set forth.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 4:13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots [shall be] as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
Ver. 13. Behold, he shall come up as clouds. ] Swiftly and numerously.
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe unto us, for we are spoiled.
“ Currat ergo paenitentia, ne praecurrat sententia. ”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Behold: Isa 13:5, Isa 19:1, Nah 1:3, Mat 24:30, Rev 1:7
his chariots: Isa 5:28, Isa 66:15, Nah 2:3, Nah 2:4
his horses: Deu 28:49, Lam 4:19, Dan 7:4, Hos 8:1, Hab 1:8
Woe: Jer 4:31, Jer 10:19
Reciprocal: Lev 11:13 – the eagle 2Sa 1:23 – swifter Job 9:26 – as the eagle Isa 5:26 – they Isa 30:16 – therefore Jer 6:23 – their Jer 9:19 – we are Jer 13:27 – Woe Jer 48:40 – he shall Jer 49:22 – he shall Eze 17:3 – A great Eze 26:7 – with horses Eze 38:9 – like Dan 11:40 – like
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 4:13. He shall come up refers to the king of Babylon who will come up against Jerusalem by means of his army. In a previous verse this army is compared to a withering blast and in ibis it is called a whirlwind which means a storm or tempest. The lexicon definition of the original is “a hurricane.” which indicates it will sweep everything before it. That was true of the Babylonian invasion as may be seen in the history of 2 Kings 24, 25.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
4:13 Behold, he shall come up as {l} clouds, and his chariots [shall be] as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. {m} Woe to us! for we are laid waste.
(l) Meaning that Nebuchadnezzar would come as suddenly as a cloud that is carried with the wind.
(m) This is spoken in the person of all the people, who in their affliction would cry thus.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jeremiah reflected on the great power of God to bring judgment. He has the power to bring judgment, just as He has power to build clouds that bring rain. The approaching enemy was like a bank of storm clouds growing in the north (cf. Eze 38:16). The coming tornado was like a chariot on which the Lord rode to fight (cf. Isa 5:28; Isa 66:15). He can act even faster than eagles can fly. The foe would swoop down suddenly (cf. Hab 1:8). Consequently, Judah was in big trouble.