Jeremiah 2:15

Jer 2:15 The young lions roared upon him, [and] yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.

Ver. 15. The young lions roared upon him, and yelled,] i.e., The King of Babylon and his forces, more fierce and fell than young lions. Would any take the Church’s picture? saith Luther; {a} then let him paint a silly, poor maid, sitting in a wood or wilderness, compassed about with hungry lions, wolves, boars, and bears; for this is her condition in the world.

And they made his land waste,] i.e., They shall shortly so make it.

{a} Loc. com. tit. de persecut. verae Ecclesia.

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_2:15

The young lions roared upon him, and yelled.

Dangers outside the Divine bounds

That comes of going from home, leaving sacred discipline, taking life into ones own hand, assuming the mastership of ones own fortune and destiny. Woe betide the man who goes beyond the bounds which God has fixed! Immediately outside those bounds the lion waits, or the plague, or the pestilence, or the pit hardly hidden but deep immeasurable. Luther said: Who would paint a picture of the present condition of the Church, let him paint a young woman in a wilderness or in some desert place; and round about her let him figure hungry lions whose eyes are glaring upon her and whoso mouths are open to devour her substance and her beauty. Is the Church in a much better condition today? That is the natural condition of the Church. The Church always challenges the lion, tempts the devourer, excites the passions of evil men. When an evil generation tolerates the Church, applauds its dogmas, and flatters its ministry, it is because that Church has surrendered her prerogatives and trampled her functions in the dust. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Know that the Church of the living God is alive, and is fulfilling her destiny, when all round about her are men more cruel than ravenous beasts. Israel, the home-born slave, who ought to have walked arm-in-arm with the son of the house, left the precincts of the family and plunged into the way of lions. (J. Parker, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jer 2:15-16. The young lions roared upon them — Lions, in the figurative style of prophecy, denote powerful princes and conquerors; see Jer 50:17; where the king of Assyria is mentioned as one of those lions which had devoured him, and Nebuchadnezzar as another. If we consider the prophet as speaking here of what was past, by the young lions he probably means the kings of Syria and Assyria, who laid the country waste, not only of the ten tribes, but also Judah and Benjamin; and carried the Israelites into captivity; see Isa 1:7. But the words כפרים ישׁאגוare more properly rendered, The young lions shall roar upon him; and so may be understood of Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar, whose successive hostilities against the kingdom of Judah were foreseen by the prophet, and are probably here foretold. It is true, the following verbs of this verse are in the past time, but the context favours interpreting them of the future. Nor is it unusual for the prophets to speak of events yet to come, and foreseen by them, as if they had been already accomplished. They made his land waste, his cities are burned, &c.

That Jeremiah speaks here of the future, and not of the past, appears from this: that in the time of Josiah, when this prophecy was uttered, the country was not in the condition here described; the land had not been reduced to desolation, nor the cities burned with fire; but the determination of the Lord was past, and the prophet clearly foresaw that these calamities would come. Also the children of Noph, &c., have broken the crown of thy head — By the children of Noph and Tahapanes are meant the Egyptians, these being the two principal cities of Egypt, called by heathen writers Memphis and Taphanes, or Daphnæ Pelusicæ. “This no doubt alludes,” says Blaney, “to the severe blow which the nation received in a capital part, when the good King Josiah was defeated by the Egyptians, and slain in battle; or when, afterward, upon the deposition of Jehoahaz, the glory of the monarchy was debased, by its being changed into a tributary and dependant kingdom, 2Ki 23:29-34, and 2Ch 35:20.

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

2:15 Jeremiah portrays the Assyrians who destroyed the northern kingdom (2 Kgs 17:5-23; Nah 2:11-12) as lions.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Not one shall be left to dwell there.

The Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians.

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

lions--the Babylonian princes (Jer 4:7; compare Amo 3:4). The disaster from the Babylonians in the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign, and again three years later when, relying on Egypt, he revolted from Nebuchadnezzar, is here referred to (Jer 46:2; Kg2 24:1-2).

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 15. The young lions roared upon him] The Assyrians, who have sacked and destroyed the kingdom of Israel, with a fierceness like that of pouncing upon their prey.

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

He afterwards adds, Over him roar the lions. The Prophet seems not simply to compare the enemies of Israel to lions on account of their cruelty, but also by way of contempt, as though he had said, that Israel found that not only men were incensed against them, but also wild beasts: and it is more degrading when God permits us to be torn by the beasts of the field. It is then the same, as though he had said, that Israel were so miserably treated, that they were not only slain by the hands of enemies, but were also exposed to the beasts of prey. And then he adds, they have sent forth their voice; which is the same as to say, that Israel, whom God was wont to protect by his powerful band, were become the food of wild beasts, and that lions, as it were in troops, were roaring against them.

He then adds, without a metaphor, that his land was laid waste, and his cities burnt without an inhabitant This language cannot be suitably applied to lions or to any other wild beasts; but what he had figuratively said before, he now explains in a plain manner, and says, that the land was desolate, that the cities were cut off or burnt up. Now this, as we have said, could not have been the case, had not Israel departed from God, and had been on this account deprived of his help.

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.

(15) The young lions roared . . .—The real answer to the question, that Israel had forsaken its true master, is given in Jer_2:17. Here it is implied in the description of what the runaway slave had suffered. Lions had attacked him; not figuratively only, as symbolising invaders, but in the most literal sense, they had made his land waste (2Ki_17:25).

Are burned.—Better, levelled with the ground.

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

15. The young lions have roared upon him, and yelled] referring to the frequent Assyrian invasions. The lion was the symbol of Assyria (Nah_2:12 f.). Cp. Isa_5:29 (of an attacking host).

burned up] Many prefer to render, slightly altering MT., are laid waste, desolated, as in Jer_4:7.

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.

Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes,.... These were cities in Egypt. Noph is the same with Moph in Hos 9:6 and which we there rightly render Memphis; as Noph is here by the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; and was formerly, as Pliny (g) says, the palace of the kings of Egypt. It is the same that is now called Alcairo, or Grand Cairo. According to Herodotus (h), it was built by Menes, the first king of Egypt; and who also makes mention of a city of Egypt, called Momemphis (i). Tahapanes is the same with Hanes in Isa 30:4, and here, in the Arabic version, is called Daphnes; and is thought by some to be the same with Daphnae Pelusiae, a city in Egypt. This Tahapanes was the metropolis of Egypt, and the seat of their kings; mention is made of Pharaoh's house in it, in Jer 43:9, now the inhabitants of these, called the children of them, and who are put for the people of Egypt in general, were the allies of the Jews, and in whom they trusted for help, when attacked by their enemies, Isa 30:2 and yet

even these have broken the crown of thy head; which is interpreted, by the Targum, of slaying their mighty men, and spoiling their goods; perhaps it had its accomplishment when Pharaohnecho king of Egypt came out against the king of Assyria, and Josiah king of Judah went out to meet him, and was slain by him at Megiddo; and his son Jehoahaz he put in bonds, and carried him to Egypt, and put his brother upon the throne, and took tribute of gold and silver of him, Kg2 23:29.

(g) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 9. (h) L. 2. vel Euterpe, c. 99. (i) lb. c. 163, 169.

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

Upon him - Rather, against him. Israel has run away from his master’s house, but only to find himself exposed to the beasts of prey in the wilderness.

They made his land waste - The prophet points to the actual results of Israel’s until the multiplication of wild beasts rendered human life unsafe 2Ki 17:25, but the Assyrian invasions had reduced Judaea to almost as sad a state.

Burned - Others render, “leveled to the ground.”

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

Lions; kings of Assyria, &c. The decree for the devastation of Juda had already passed, though it was not put in execution.

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).

The young lions; understand the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians, &c., called

lions from their fierceness, and young from their strength. See this Jer 4:7; 50:17.

Roared upon him, and yelled; noting the terrible voice that the lion puts forth, either in the seizing the prey, some say in sport, Lam 2:7; or the devouring it, Isa 5:29. A metaphor, noting the cruelty of the enemy, Psa 74:4.

Burned without inhabitant, i.e. so consumed and wasted that they are uninhabitable, or shortly shall so consume and waste them. See Jer 2:14.

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

15. Lions roared upon him — “Lions” stand for enemies thirsting for plunder. Mic_5:8; Isa_5:29, etc. They “roared,” not “upon,” but against, him; a symbolical statement of the calamities already experienced as well as of those yet in reserve. The last sentence in the verse sets forth in plain language the present condition of the kingdom of Israel. But while this is the foreground of the picture, the swiftly-coming calamities of Judah are also present in prophetic vision.

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

The young lions, etc. A fresh figure, and a most natural one in Judaea; (comp. 1Sa_17:34) already applied to the Assyrians by Isaiah (v. 29, 30). Burned; rather, made ruinous. (comp. "ruinous heaps," 2Ki_19:25)

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

Lions - Understand the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians, called lions from their fierceness, and young from their strength. Yelled - Noting the terrible voice that the lion puts forth, either in seizing the prey, or devouring it.

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

roar roar, a present tense.

young lions Symbolic of kings.

were burnt were burnt with fire.

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.