Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 4:29
The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city [shall be] forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.
29. The whole city ] the whole land. So LXX, supported by Targ. The word “city” was introduced by mistake from the latter part of the v.
bowmen ] Cp. Jer 5:16. The Scythians were noted for skill in archery. See Herod. IV. 46.
they go rocks ] The original words for “thickets” and “rocks” have been held to throw some doubt on the genuineness of the two clauses. The former is in Hebrew properly dark clouds, though the root in Aramaic would yield the sense “thickets.” So “rocks” seems a “loanword” from Aramaic and occurs but once elsewhere (Job 30:6). For the first word LXX have a double rendering, caves and woods. For the former sense they seem to have connected the word with an Arabic root, to conceal. Rocks, and the caves which they contained, were often used as places of refuge in the course of Jewish history. See ch. Jer 16:16; also Jdg 6:2; 1Sa 13:6; cp. Isa 2:19; Isa 2:21.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
29 31. Embellishments of the person are of no avail. Zion cries out in vain before an implacable foe.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
29 31. See summary at commencement of section.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The whole city … – Rather, Every city is fleeing. All the inhabitants of the tokens flee to Jerusalem for protection, or seek refuge in the woods and rocks.
The horsemen and bowmen – The cavalry Jer 4:13 and bowmen formed the chief strength of the Assyrian armies.
They shall go – They have gone.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The whole city shall flee; the inhabitants of all ranks and qualities shall seek to escape the fury of this Chaldean army, Jer 39:4.
For the noise; either upon the report of their coming, hereby as it were deriding their confidence; or rather at the approach of their vast armies, for they were close besieged before they fled, as appears, 2Ki 25:4.
They shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks; such a consternation there shall be upon them, that they shall run into every hole to hide themselves: thus Manasseh was taken among the thorns, 2Ch 33:11. The Hebrew is abim, the clouds, possibly alluding to dark places on the tops of hills, reaching as it were to the clouds, or among the cloudy shades of trees and groves that usually grew there. The LXX. render it caves, and so the rocks for shelter, or the clefts, caves, and hiding-places in the rocks. See Isa 2:21.
Every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein; there shall be an utter desolation, their cities quite forsaken, not any to inhabit them, Jer 4:25,26.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
29. whole cityJerusalem: toit the inhabitants of the country had fled for refuge; but when it,too, is likely to fall, they flee out of it to hide in the”thickets.” HENDERSONtranslates, “every city.”
noiseThe mere noise ofthe hostile horsemen shall put you to flight.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The whole city shall flee,…. Or, “every city”; for not Jerusalem only is meant, but every city, or the inhabitants of every city; and so the Targum paraphrases it,
“all the inhabitants of the land,”
who would be put into a panic, and flee: “for” or
at the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; of which the army of the enemy would greatly consist: it intimates that the inhabitants of Judea would not stand a battle; but at hearing the sound of the trampling of the horses, and the clattering of the bows and arrows, that the men upon them had, they would flee at once:
they shall go into the thickets, and climb upon the rocks; that is, either the horsemen and bowmen, who would pursue the inhabitants into those places: or rather the inhabitants themselves, who would flee thither to hide themselves from their enemies; namely, get into woods and forests, and among the thick trees, and cover themselves; and upon the highest mountains and rocks, and into the holes and caverns of them, and secure themselves from the enemy; see Mt 24:16, the word for “thickets” signifies “clouds” i; and Kimchi interprets it of places as high as the clouds, as the tops of some mountains are, so that going up to them is like entering into the clouds; and which are sometimes covered with thick trees, and look like clouds; but the Targum explains it of woods or forests:
every city shall be forsaken; of its inhabitants:
and not a man dwell therein; as the prophet had seen in his vision, Jer 4:25, this was to be when a full end was made, not by the Babylonians, but by the Romans.
i “in nubes”, Munster, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Vs. 29-31: THE AGONY OF DEATH
1. Before the noise of an approaching army the inhabitants of Jerusalem are thrown into panic; verse 19 vividly pictures the helplessness and hopelessness of a people who have abandoned and forgotten their God!
2. What will the daughter of Zion do when she is left desolate? (vs. 30a; Jer 13:21; Isa 10:3; Isa 20:6).
3. She may garb herself as a prostitute (Isa 57:9; Eze 23:40 -41), and, widening her eyes with cosmetics (comp. Eze 23:40; 2Ki 9:30), in an attempt to gain the favor of her former lovers – the allies in whom she has put her trust; but, they will despise her, (vs. 30b); it is her LIFE that they seek!
4. Finally, one hears the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, (vs. 31) – her hands spread out in appeal (Isa 1:15) – and crying out as a woman who is in the travail of labor with her first born, (Jer 13:21; Jer 22:23; Jer 30:6); “WOE IS ME!” she cries -her soul fainting because of the slain.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
By saying, that at the voice or sound of horsemen and bowmen, there would be an universal flight, he means, that the enemies would come with such impetuosity, that the Jews would not dare to wait for their presence, but would flee here and there before they were attacked: for the word voice or sound, no doubt, is set here in opposition to wounds. They did swell, we know, with amazing pride; hence the Prophet ridicules that false confidence by which they were so inebriated as not to dread God’s judgment: “The sound alone of enemies,” he says, “will frighten you; so that all the cities, being left by their inhabitants, will easily fall into their hands, for walls will not defend themselves; nay, the gates will be open.” Flee then will every city; that is, all the cities will have recourse to flight. Then it follows, Ascend will they into the clouds, or into thicknesses: this may be applied to the enemies, to shew that they would be so nimble and active as to fly, as it were, to the clouds, and climb the highest rocks. But I prefer to connect this sentence with the former, as intimating, that to ascend the clouds would not be too arduous for the Jews in their anxious flight. Inasmuch as the tops of mountains were often covered with thick trees, in order to form a dark shade, this passage may mean, that they fled to such places. However this may have been, the Prophet here, no doubt, refers to such high situations. Hence, the meaning would be more evident if we retain the word, clouds. As to what is intended, we see that that is clear; which is, that the enemies of the Jews would in swiftness be equal to the eagles while pursuing them; or, what is more commonly thought, that the terror felt by the Jews would be so great, that in their flight they would not seek recesses nigh at hand, but would flee to the highest tops of mountains, and hide themselves there among the trees, as though they had climbed into the clouds. They would ascend into craggy rocks, as they could not think themselves otherwise safe from the attacks of their enemies. (123)
He then adds, that every city would be forsaken, so that no one would dwell in them. We see that the Prophet had ever this in view — to rouse the Jews, who had deaf ears and stony hearts, so that they felt no concern for their own calamities, and even boldly despised God, as though they had made a covenant with death, according to what is said in another place. (Isa 28:15.) He afterwards subjoins —
(123) The verbs in this are all in the past tense, as in some former instances. The Prophet had already seen in a vision what he here states, —
At the voice (or sound) of the rider and of the handler of the bow, Flee did every city; They went into thickets, and into cliffs they climbed; Every city was forsaken, And dwell in them did no man.
The word for “thickets” means sometimes “clouds.” The verb signifies to be dense, thick, gross, bulky: but the plural noun means a thick wood, as well as a thick or dense mass of vapors, which form clouds. It is rendered “ ἄλση, — forests,“ by the Septuagint and Syriac; and “ sylvas — woods,” by the Targum. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(29) The horsemen and bowmen.A specially characteristic picture, as we see from the Nineveh sculptures, of Assyrian and Chaldan armies.
Thickets . . . rocks.Both words are Aramaic in the original. The former, elsewhere rendered clouds, is here used for the dark shadowy coverts in which men sought for shelter; the latter is the root of the name Cephas (= Peter). On the caves of Palestine as places of refuge in time of war, see Isa. 2:19; 1Sa. 13:6.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 4:29. The whole city shall flee All the cities have fled, &c. All the cities are forsaken, and there are no inhabitants in them. Houb.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 4:29 The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city [shall be] forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.
Ver. 29. Every city shall be forsaken. ] See Jer 4:25 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
city. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Subject), for its inhabitants.
every = all, as in preceding clause.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
shall flee: Jer 39:4-6, Jer 52:7, 2Ki 25:4-7, Isa 30:17, Amo 9:1
they shall go: 1Sa 13:6, 2Ch 33:11, Isa 2:19-21, Luk 23:30, Rev 6:15-17
every: Jer 4:27
Reciprocal: Isa 6:12 – a great Jer 6:1 – gather Mic 1:13 – bind
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 4:29. The complete subjugation of the land of Judah is the prediction made in this verse. The Biblical fulfillment is recorded in 2 Kings 24, 25. The historical fulfillment is cited at Isa 3:1 in vol. 3 of this Commentary.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
The inhabitants of every Judean city would run and hide when they heard the enemy coming (cf. Isa 2:19-21; Rev 6:15-16). The result would be vacant cities throughout the land. Archaeological monuments have shown that the Babylonians were a people of archers. [Note: Feinberg, p. 411.]