Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 5:16
Their quiver [is] as an open sepulcher, they [are] all mighty men.
16. Their quiver is an open sepulchre ] Their arrows are deadly. Cp. Psa 5:9.
Their quiver ] Cp. Jer 4:29 (“bowmen”).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Their quiver – See Jer 4:29, note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. Their quiver is an open sepulchre] They are such exact archers as never to miss their mark; every arrow is sure to slay one man.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Quiver; collectively expressed for quivers; a synecdoche for the whole military preparations, and a metonymy of the containing for the contained, viz. the arrows that will be shot out of them, called the sons of the quiver, Lam 3:13; bow and arrow being the chief weapons for war in those countries, and in those days.
Is an open sepulchre; a proverbial speech, Psa 5:9, relating to the dreadful havoc and destruction that will be made, devouring the living as the grave doth the dead, or making work for the greedy, devouring grave, that never saith it hath enough, Pro 1:12. Or, they shall destroy many with one quiver, as one grave will swallow many dead, which may note their skill, and the success they shall have, few of their arrows shall fail of doing execution.
They are all mighty men; these Chaldeans are all men of valour, fit for warriors.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. open sepulchre(Compare Ps5:9). Their quiver is all-devouring, as the grave opened toreceive the dead: as many as are the arrows, so many are the deaths.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Their quiver is an open sepulchre,…. The Chaldeans used bows and arrows in fighting; and the quiver is a case for arrows; and the phrase denotes, that their arrows would do great execution, and be very mortal; so that a quiver of them would be as devouring as an open grave, into which many dead are cast. The Septuagint and Arabic versions have not this clause; and the Syriac version renders it, “whose throats are as open sepulchres”; see Ro 3:13:
they are all mighty men; strong in body, of bold and courageous spirits, expert in war, and ever victorious; so that there was no hope of being delivered out of their hands.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet had already threatened the Jews with the vengeance of God, and had said that the ministers and executioners of it would be the Chaldeans: he now continues the same subject, and says that their quiver would be like an open sepulcher The nations of the East, we know, made much use of arrows and darts, for they had no pitched battles; but they pretended a flight, and then suddenly turning, they hurled their darts and arrows against their enemies. The Prophet then had a regard to this mode of fighting, when he says that their quivers would be like open sepulchres. It may seem at first sight an unnatural comparison; but it is the same as though he had said, that they would be so skillful in throwing arrows as to destroy all who met them. (145)
And he adds, that they would be all strong, that the people might know that it would not be a slight conflict: in short, it is the same as though he had said, that this war would be a certain ruin to the Jews, in which they should all perish. He afterwards adds —
(145) The idea intended is capaciousness. The grave is represented as never satisfied, ready to receive any number. See Pro 27:20. The Chaldean quiver would be so large as to contain a vast quantity of arrows, as though it was an open grave. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) An open sepulchre.Every arrow in the quivers of the Chaldan bowmen was to be as a messenger of death, a blast or pestilence from the grave.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Their quiver is as an open sepulchre Some conjecture this language to be used in allusion to the shape of the quiver; others, with a more delicate poetical sensibility, say, Because filled with death-dealing weapons, so that to see it is to see an open grave. The bowmen of the Assyrian, and probably also of the Babylonian, army, were especially formidable. (See LAYARD’S Monuments of Assyria.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 5:16 Their quiver [is] as an open sepulchre, they [are] all mighty men.
Ver. 16. Their quiver is an open sepulchre. ] As holding arrows that wound deadly, and that shall despatch many, being drenched in their gall.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 5:9, Isa 5:28, Rom 3:13
Reciprocal: Num 16:21 – Separate Jer 6:23 – They shall Jer 25:9 – I Mic 7:2 – they all
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 5:16. A quiver is a case for carrying arrows, a common weapon in ancient ties. Open sepulchre is figurative and means the Babylonians will be so successful in their war activities that the narrow case may be compared to a tomb for the dead.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
5:16 Their quiver [is] as an {p} open sepulchre, they [are] all mighty men.
(p) Who will kill many with their arrows.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The enemy soldiers’ yawning quivers would be like open graves in that their arrows would slay the Judahites and send them to other large openings: graves in the ground (cf. Psa 5:9). All the enemy soldiers would be mighty warriors, not just citizens recruited for military duty.