Jeremiah 13:19

Jer 13:19 The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open [them]: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.

Ver. 19. The cities of the south shall be shut up,] i.e., The cities of Egypt, whither ye think to flee, shall be shut up against you, through fear of the Chaldees.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jer 13:19-21. The cities of the south, &c. — The cities of Judah, which lay in the southern part of Canaan, shall be straitly besieged by the enemy, so that there shall be no going in and out; or shall be deserted by the inhabitants. Or, as some think, the cities of Egypt are intended, from whence the Jews expected succour. These should fail them, and they should find no access to them. Lift up your eyes, &c. — He speaks as if their enemies were even then upon their march, nay, so near, that if they did but lift up their eyes and look, they might see them coming. Where is the flock that was given thee? — He streaks to the king, representing him under the idea of a shepherd, and the people under that of a flock. Or rather, as the pronouns are feminine, he addresses the daughter of Judah, that is, the city or state. “What wilt thou say, when the Lord shall demand of thee an account of the people committed to thy trust? What wilt thou answer when the sovereign monarch shall see dissipated, diminished, weakened, destroyed, thy beautiful flock,” or, as צאן תפארתךְrather signifies, the flock of thy glory. In the multitude of people, says Solomon, is the king’s honour. What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? — Thou wilt have nothing to say, but be wholly confounded, when God shall visit thee by this sore judgment. Or, when Nebuchadnezzar’s army, sent by God, shall visit thee. For thou hast taught them to be captains, &c. — Houbigant renders it, “Since thou hast made them expert against thee, and hast drawn them upon thine own head;” and Blaney, more literally, “Seeing it is thou that teachest them to be rulers in chief over thee.” “Thou hast frequently called them to thy succour, and taught them the way to thy country, whereof they dreamed not before; and not only thus, but by accumulating crimes upon crimes, and filling up the measure of thine iniquity, thou hast drawn down the vengeance of heaven, and put thyself in the power of the Chaldeans.” See Calmet. Some have understood the alliances, contracted heretofore with the Assyrians by Ahaz, and the conduct of Hezekiah toward the ambassadors of the king of Babylon, to be here alluded to. “But I rather think,” says Blaney, “that the wicked manners of the people are principally designed; which put them out of the protection of Almighty God, and rendered them an easy conquest to any enemy that came against them. Thus they taught their enemies to oppress, and to be lords over them; against whom, but for their own faults, they might have maintained their security and independence.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, of Judah, which lieth Southward from Babylon.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

cities of the south--namely, south of Judea; farthest off from the enemy, who advanced from the north.

shut up--that is, deserted (Isa 24:10); so that none shall be left to open the gates to travellers and merchants again [HENDERSON]. Rather, shut up so closely by Nebuchadnezzar's forces, sent on before (Kg2 24:10-11), that none shall be allowed by the enemy to get out (compare Jer 13:20).

wholly--literally, "fully"; completely.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 19. The cities of the south shall be shut up] Not only the cities of the north, the quarter at which the Chaldeans entered, but the cities of the south also; for he shall proceed from one extremity of the land to the other, spreading devastation every where, and carrying off the inhabitants.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

By the cities of the south, almost all understand the cities of the tribe of Judah, whose portion was towards the south; and by the cities being shut up, they consider that what is meant is, that they would be forsaken; for they say, that cities are open when they are frequented. But I am con- strained here also to take another view. I take the cities of the south to have been those of Egypt; for we know that the Jews looked there for a refuge, whenever they were attacked by the Assyrians or the Chaldeans. Since then they thought that Egypt would be to them a sort of an asylum, the Prophet declares that all these cities would be closed against them, and that there would be no one to open them; as though he had said, “The Lord will drive you out, and will prevent you to take refuge there.”

He would doubtless have spoken more clearly had he meant the cities of Judah; and besides, as he was at Jerusalem, this way of speaking must have been ambiguous, and even improper; and we shall find him presently speaking of the Assyrians as being in the north. He now then warns them, that Egypt would be closed against them, though they at the same time expected that they would be safe there, and that an easily-borne exile was in their power. As then they foolishly trusted that they would be received by the Egyptians, the Prophet says, that the gates would be closed, and that there would be no one to open them. It then follows, carried away wholly has been Judah, carried away completely; that is, “Ye shall all be led away into Assyria and Babylon;” which is the north country, according to what afterwards follows, —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(19) The cities of the south.—The term thus rendered (the Negeb) is throughout the Old Testament used for a definite district, stretching from Mount Halak northward to a line south of Engedi and Hebron. The strategy of Nebuchadnezzar’s attack (as it had been of Sennacherib’s, 2Ki_18:13) was to blockade the cities of this region, and then, when they were cut off from sending assistance, to attack Jerusalem.

Shall be shut up . . . shall be carried away.—Both verbs should be in the present tense, are shut up, is carried away.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. the South] Heb. the Negeb, a barren region in the S. of Judah (see Gen_12:9 mg.), whose cities are named Jos_15:21-32. The sense is: none shall escape, not even those most remote from the point at which the invader from the north (Jer_13:20) enters the land.

it is wholly, etc.] We may make a very probable correction in MT., and so (with LXX) render an entire captivity.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north,.... There are a Keri and a Cetib of the words "lift up" and "behold"; they are written in the singular number, and may be considered as directed to the king, as the words following are; and they are read in the plural number, the state and whole body of the people being called upon to observe the Chaldean army, which came from the north; and is represented as on the march, just at hand to invade, besiege, take, and carry them captive. The Septuagint version renders it, "lift up thine eyes, O Jerusalem"; and the Arabic version, "O Israel: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?" that is, the people, as the Targum interprets it, which were committed to the care and charge of the king, as sheep into the hands of a shepherd; and were a fine body of people, chosen of God and precious, distinguished above all others by wholesome and righteous laws and statutes, and special privileges; a people who were a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, and a peculiar people, the glory of the whole earth; but now carried, or about to be carried, captive. It is no unusual thing to represent a king as a shepherd, and his people as a flock, guided, governed, and protected by him, and who is accountable for his trust to the King of kings; see Psa 78:71.

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Jeremiah 13:21

jer 13:21

jer 13:21

jer 13:21What will thou say when he shall punish thee?.... Or, "visit upon thee" (f); that is, either when God shall punish thee for thy sins, thou canst bring no charge of injustice against him, or murmur and repine at the punishment inflicted on thee; so Jarchi; to which agrees the Targum,

"when he shall visit on thee thy sin;''

or else, to which the following words seem to incline, when the enemy shall visit upon thee; so Kimchi and Abarbinel, when the Chaldeans shall come upon thee, and pay thee a visit, an unwelcome one; yet who wilt thou have to blame but thyself? so the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "when they shall visit thee"; these words are directed, not to the king, nor to the queen neither; but to the body of the people, the Jewish state, represented as a woman; who, upon consideration of things past, would have a great deal of reason to reflect upon themselves for what they had done in former times, which had led on to their ruin and destruction:

(for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee;) the Jews showed the Assyrians the way into their country, used them to come thither, and taught them how to conquer them, and be masters over them; or, "hast taught them against thee" (g); to thy hurt and detriment, to be captains or governors;

for an head, to have the rule over them: this was done by Ahaz, when he sent to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria to come and save him out of the hands of the kings of Syria and Israel, Kg2 16:7 and by Hezekiah, when he showed the messengers of the king of Babylon all his treasures; these were invitations and temptations to come and plunder them:

shall not sorrows take thee as a woman in travail? denoting the suddenness of their calamities; the sharpness and severity of them; and that they would be inevitable, and could not be prevented.

(f) "quando visitabit super te"; Cocceius; "quum visitaverit super te", Schmidt. (g) "docuisti istos contra te", Piscator.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Shall be shut up - Rather, “are shut up, and no man openeth them.” The cities of the Negeb, the southern district of Judah, are blockaded, with no one to raise the siege. The captivity was the inevitable result of the capture of the fortified towns. An army entering from the north would march along the Shefelah, or fertile plain near the seacoast, and would capture the outlying cities, before it attacked Jerusalem, almost inaccessible among the mountains.

Judah shall be ... - Translate, “Judah is ...”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

South, belonging to Juda; (Calmet) or Egypt will afford no protection. (Tournemine) (Chap. xxxvii. 3, 10.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Either the cities of Judah which lay southward from Chaldea, and therefore their enemies in the next verse are said to come from the north, and this great evil is said to have come from the north; or (as some would have it) the cities of Egypt, which lay yet more southward, so as the Egyptians should neither come with sufficient force to raise the siege, nor should there be any sanctuary or refuge for them in Egypt, but they should certainly be wholly carried into captivity.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. Cities of the south — The region south of Jerusalem.

Shut up — Not necessarily by siege, nor by ruins which shall block up the entrances, but by being uninhabited.

20

Lift up — The verb is feminine, indicating Jerusalem as the object of address. The flock are the dependent cities lying about her.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The rendering of the Authorized Version is substantially right, as the events referred to are obviously future. The tense, however, in the Hebrew, is the perfect viz. that of prophetic certitude. Jeremiah sees it all in prophetic vision, as if it were actually taking place. The cities of the south; i.e. of the dry, southern country of Judah, called the Negebshall be are shut upi.e. blocked up with ruins (as Isa_24:10) and none shall open them (openeth them), because all Judah will have been carried captive. (For fulfillment, see Jer_34:7)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The cities - The cities of Judah lay southward from Chaldea.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The cities of the South are shut up before those coming upon them from the north [i.e.,] the cities of Eretz Israel are shut up because of fear of Nebuchadnezzar.

she was exiled peacefully Jehoiachin will not wage war, but he will come out peacefully, and he will exile them. Another interpretation. שלומים (gueredon in O.F.), reprisal. That is to say: she was exiled as the recompense for their iniquity. And Jonathan rendered in this manner: the recompense of their sins was received.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.